It’s already December, and for Carthage that means it is another busy month. Lights are going up all over town to decorate different neighborhoods, and the light sculptures for The Way of Salvation have been glowing on their regular schedule since Thanksgiving night. Carthage Historic Preservation hosted the Christmas Homes Tour, and the Christmas parade kicked off the beginning of the month. Although it was crazy cold and most of the candy was frozen, many people still came to see the parade.
I started out the month hosting on the homes tour with Sarah and Skyla in John and Greta Nicholas’ home. One of the best things about helping with the tour is going to the preview party the night before. The Rushes, Hoovers, and I toured together and it was fun learning about some of the historical homes in town, especially with a guided tour from most of the homeowners. We definitely enjoyed the smaller crowd and visiting with other volunteers at the after party was fun. The after-after party ended up being a group of friends wandering across the street to check out the remodeling efforts of David and Carissa Gober with their Air BnB, Crossroads Loft, and their new Crossroads Studio. Wow! I am definitely booking these for a girls’ weekend! I loved hanging out with friends visiting in this unique space, and the couch seriously was big enough for 10 people. It was the perfect place to hang out and catch up with friends that we don’t get to see on a regular basis.
Monday night we were able to enjoy the Christmas parade. We have a tradition in my family that as soon as I get home from school, I load up all the lawn chairs and blankets into one of the trucks and run it up to the square to get a good spot for the parade. I always take an electric blanket with me and run it off the inverter in the truck. This year I learned that if I take Dad’s truck and open the sliding back glass, I can run the power cord through it, but I can also put my lawn chair right next to it and create a little tent with my blanket so the hot air blows out the back window and keeps me nice and toasty warm. I’m sure the four blankets I had on my lap had something to do with how warm I stayed, but you have to trap the heat that the electric blanket is producing so it really was necessary to use so many blankets. Well, maybe not, but that’s what I told myself because sometimes you have to justify to yourself that you pretty much just built a blanket fort in the bed of your dad’s truck just to watch the Carthage Christmas parade for at least the 30th time in your life.
Somewhere in all this craziness I also was able to go through the Way of Salvation light display. I noticed that they have updated several of the sculptures, the most obvious being David and Goliath. If you haven’t been, you need to go. David still throws the rock, and Goliath still goes flying through the air, but they have added a little extra to the last part and it made one of my favorite features even better!
There are so many things to do in Carthage during the Christmas season. From special Christmas services that remind us why we celebrate Christmas, to community-wide events like the parade and several area light displays, it’s time to enjoy celebrating Christmas, which is my favorite holiday of all!
Brandi Ensor is a lifelong Carthage resident. She is adamantly single, spoils her nieces and nephews as much as possible, and loves camping and boating with her 16-year-old son, Johnathan.
