L E T T E R
F R O M
T H E
E X E C U T I V E
E D I T O R
REASONS FOR THE SEASON
I
IT SEEMS LIKE YESTERDAY that I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Toys R Us and American Girl catalogues in the mail to make my Christmas list. We’d get dressed up for my grandmother’s Christmas Eve party and visit with both sides of the family (lucky for us, our grandparents were neighbors) and family friends. The next morning my sisters and I would sit at the top of the stairs waiting until whatever crack-of-dawn time we’d negotiated with our parents. These days, I care so little about presents and much more about the time spent with my family. We still decorate the Christmas tree over Thanksgiving weekend, unwrapping decades of ornaments from their tissue paper beds. We’ve outgrown our fights over who gets to hang favorite ornaments like Mickey and Minnie dressed up like Santa and Mrs. Claus. Now we’re content to just hang all of our own special ones from over the years – my mom always gave us each a new one every year based on our current after-school activities or interests. (Yes, there are four UNC ornaments on the tree representing my college years.) We still gather with the same bunch of family and friends Christmas Eve and now everyone sleeps in the next morning. Last year, we cooked breakfast over mimosas and did the scratch-off lottery tickets in our stockings before we even thought about exchanging gifts. Later we watched “Star Wars”; it was pretty perfect. I’m looking forward to more of the same plus mailing all those holiday cards I bought at SOUTH on sale last year. I hope you and your family have something old, something new planned for traditions this year. We’ve got plenty of ideas: Maybe you’ll gather over hot cocoa and read Matt LeRoy’s “Carolina Christmas” poem on page 35 – it gave me goosebumps. Maybe you’ll take a winter hike along the Haw River and warm up in Saxapahaw (see page 50). Or maybe you’ll attend a holiday movie screening at The Lumina and make a movie your annual favorite. However you spend them, we wish you happy holidays! CHM
JESSICA STRINGER @jessstringer
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chapelhillmagazine.com December 2017
jessica@chapelhillmagazine.com