Christmas in Your Home Town

In October, malls and department stores throughout the country get the season started with a flourish. The halls (I mean aisles) are decked with boughs of holly, and the campaigns to lure holiday gift shoppers are in full swing. Retailers have big sales and advertising is dominated by red and green.

I grew up in suburbia, and even all those years ago, it seemed obvious to me that the Christmas season was designed primarily as a commercial campaign to get people to buy more stuff.

But out here in the wilderness we call the Touchet Valley, Christmas has always seemed different. To me it’s more like what Christmas is supposed to be.

In Waitsburg and Dayton, we have parades put on by our friends and neighbors. We have live nativity and live Christmas music. All of that is done in the spirit of celebration. Not for profit.

Even the Christmas shopping seems more real here in our home towns. The stores were open during Dayton’s Christmas Kickoff, of course. And they will be during Waitsburg’s Hometown Christmas celebration this weekend.

But walking into a local Main Street shop run by your neighbors makes you feel like part of a community, not part of a commercial sales campaign.

If you haven’t experienced Waitsburg’s annual Christmas celebration, I highly recommend you make your way there Saturday, and especially Sunday.

In Dayton on Monday night, Ladies Night Out will be bigger and better than ever, with more than a dozen shops and businesses taking part. It’s like a big party, or so I’ve heard.

(And if your boyfriend is feeling left out, bring him along and drop him off at a local pub. The Colts are playing the Jets on Monday Night Football.)

Yes, we’re all going to do some of our shopping out of town or (gasp!) online. But if you live here in our little valley you must take advantage of your good fortune and celebrate Christmas in your home town, the way it was meant to be.