Penalty Shots: The warmth of Christmas

If you want to know the truth in innocence, ask a child.

That's what Butch Hartman told me during our interview regarding his 4-year-old son, Gunner, giving his old toys to Santa so Santa could give them to children who don't have any.

No matter your personal feelings about Christmas, your heart has to glow when reading that.

There is so much negativity in the world that it's strange to read something that's positive in the national media.

Christmas, in traditional and popular culture, is a time of family. Time spent with loved ones in places of warmth and happiness.

Christmas can, unfortunately, also be a time of sadness and spent in remembrance of those who are dearly departed.

I have read about Leslie Rush's family tradition (not my own) to transition children from receiving gifts from Santa to becoming a Santa and felt I should share it here.

That process begins when the child is 6 or 7 years of age, around the time they start to suspect that Santa's not a real person.

The parent then takes the child out for some personal bonding time, during which it is explained that the child has matured enough to take on some of the duties of Santa Claus - mainly unselfish giving.

By doing so, the child then becomes a Santa.

This explains why there are so many Santa Clauses - because these are people who have accepted the Christmas spirit in their heart and understand the meaning of the holiday in helping others.

It's a touching way to keep some of the magic alive.

Reflections on a waiting year

The year 2017 is limping to a close, with Baby New Year preparing to take the torch for 2018.

When I think about this year, I feel it was a year of a lot of waiting. Waiting for the total solar eclipse to occur, waiting for the state's budget impasse to end and waiting for the bicentennial celebration to begin.

The obvious question is if the major events were worth the wait and for the most part they were. Until the morning of August 21, nobody knew what kind of response the total solar eclipse would bring.

Local citizenry was encouraged to stay home as emergency services feared roads would be so clogged with traffic that responding to calls would be extraordinarily difficult.

Thankfully, that didn't happen and observances of the event were well-handled.

The budget impasse was devastating for many organizations, particularly higher education. It also brought us a tax increase for the sake of "compromise."

As the calendar flips to 2018, we have many things to look forward to - the opening of the St. Nicholas Landmark, return of the USS LST 325 and the ongoing bicentennial celebrations, among others.

As always, thank you for inviting us into your homes every week and a happy New Year from all of us at the Herald Tribune/Steeleville Ledger.