He sat there in the drafty room staring at nothing. Another holiday season passes and he doesn’t even notice. There are no twinkling lights on the roof. Glittering bulbs and handmade decorations sit in dust covered boxes. The fireplace is cold and unadorned with pine boughs and holly. No child will awake Christmas morning to see overstuffed stockings and a gaily decorated tree. Those years are long gone.

His wife passed away so long ago he’d almost forgotten what she looked like. Their children moved across the country and only called when guilt pressured them to. There wasn’t anyone around to care if he stayed up all night and slept all day. No longer did he have to eat full meals or dust if he didn’t want to. After all it was only him in the house.

Ashley looked up the sidewalk to the imposing house. Multi gabled and long overdue for a fresh coat of paint, the other kids in the neighborhood called it the spooky house and the man inside a Scrooge. Never once in all her 8 years did she him plant any flowers. Flowers would make the porch so inviting. He never cleaned his windows. Sparkling windows would make the house look happy and Ashley liked happy things. Without any pretty red bows or candles, the house looked sad and forlorn.

Taking a deep breath she headed up the walk, leaving little footprints in the unshoveled snow. Heart pounding loudly in her undeveloped chest, she reaches up and rings the bell. She begins to wonder if he is at home when the door creaks slowly open. With dim light at his back she looks way up to see his scraggly unshaven face looking down at her with a frown.

What do you want!

Um I came to wish you a Merry Christmas and give you a present Mr. Brown.

A Christmas present? Bah, I don’t want any Christmas present, especially from the likes of you. You kids have been told before to stay away from here, now scat!

Undaunted, Ashley hands him the box. Her mother wanted to help her wrap it, but she was a big girl now and could do it herself. The smiling reindeer paper wasn’t quite even and the silver ribbon sat askew. But the big red bow sat smartly in the middle just where it should be.

You don’t have to take it if don’t want to, but I really want you to. I thought a lot about what you could use. I couldn’t get you a sweater to replace the one you wear cuz I don’t know your size. So I thought and thought and thought. Then I remembered something my mama gave to me when I was a little girl. The best part is that it won’t ever be too small and won’t ever be too big. Mama says it’s one size fits all.

He looked down at the little girl shaking the box in front of him. Why couldn’t she see he didn’t want her silly gift? He only wanted to be left alone. Grabbing the thing from her mitten covered hand he grumbled and mumbled and told her to go home.

Inside he threw the box on the table next to the chair. Ignoring it like he ignores everything else in life he headed to the kitchen to open a can of something for his dinner. Flicking on the tv for noise, he methodically eats spoonful after spoonful, slyly glancing at the table top. It had been too many years since he’d received a present. With a sneer and a snarl he put the bowl down and grabbed the box.

Dang little chit. Who does she think she is anyway? What kind of one size fits all gift could fit in this little box?

Popping off the bow, untying the ribbon and ripping open the love wrapped paper, he lifts the lid. Digging through mounds of shredded paper he finds this:

He sits there staring. Such a little thing she was, but she has a huge heart. He couldn’t remember the last time he had an honest to God hug. Suddenly a flurry of memories assaulted him. The times he walked up behind his wife as she cooked the family meal, holding her close. The times they danced in the living room after the kids were in bed, swaying to music only they could hear. The sight of his babies rushing out the door to greet him after a long day at work. Giving his daughter away at her wedding to the man who would take her away from him to another land. Congratulating his son on his promotion to Sergeant.

Standing he heads up the stairs. He had work to do.

The next day the house in the middle of the street no longer looked so forlorn. Every window sparkled. The walks were clear. Pine boughs and twinkle lights were wrapped around the porch. On the door was a big, big wreath topped with a big red bow.

As people opened their doors they found a present, gaily wrapped and glittering in the sunlight. Inside was a pile of shredded paper. And if they looked at the bottom, each one received a note from Mr. Brown saying…

Open  House Today

No need to call

Presents to be given

One size fits all

Happy Holiday Season to each of you. May your days be happy, your loved ones safe.  Tom & Danni

December 20, 1860 is a date that probably does not stand out in most people’s minds. There were no shots fired, no cable news channels covering the event, no up to the minute analysis. The people involved went about their job fairly quietly but with strength of purpose. Certainly there was debate on the issue at hand. How could there not be? The lives of 700,000 people were at stake. The outcome of their collective discourse could, and would, change the path of history.

It was stated about this meeting that:

“This sectional combination for the submersion of the Constitution, has been aided in some of the States by elevating to citizenship, persons who, by the supreme law of the land, are incapable of becoming citizens; and their votes have been used to inaugurate a new policy, … destructive of its beliefs and safety.

… The guaranties of the Constitution will then no longer exist; the equal rights of the States will be lost. …States will no longer have the power of self-government, or self-protection, and the Federal Government will have become their enemy.”

That is some pretty bold talk being laid out. A number of the men involved remember stories told by their grandfathers and great-grandfathers about how they helped fight to forge this great nation and adopt its Constitution. Now their descendants debated leading the way in another great fight.

One hundred fifty years ago the legislators of the State of South Carolina signed the Articles of Secession paving the way for the bloodiest war this country has ever seen.

On Monday December 20, 2010 near the site where the Articles were written in Charleston, SC, four hundred people attended a gala commemorating this event.

According to event coordinators:

“Despite a short version of 'Dixie Land' sung at the end of the play, this was not an ode to moonlight and magnolias. The play's narrator, and the speeches delivered by the delegates, minced no words about reasons for the secession, from high tariffs to slavery.”

The NAACP isn’t buying it. For the next five years there will be a number of commemorations of events throughout the country, and especially in SC, on the sesquicentennial of the U.S. Civil War. The organization wants those outside the state to avoid any of these commemorations and not put money into state coffers.

What say you? Should we remember this time in history and what our nation went through or should we instead keep it as a footnote in a child’s school book?