“I wish you a hopeful Christmas…”
Dateline: Coalgate, Okla. — Christmas Eve
“Every Christmas Eve at my family’s hardware store we invite everyone in town to come in for a Christmas party.”
— Elite angler Luke Palmer
“Christmas is a season for kindling the fire for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.”
— Washington Irving
Christmas Eve is my favorite night of the year.
It is the only night of the year that I whisper a prayer, the same prayer said every Christmas Eve since 1972.
I bless myself and then this:
“Dear God, please let the killing stop.
Dear God, please make us be nice to each other.
Amen.”
And then I go to sleep and hope that is the gift that one day I find under my Christmas tree.
But so far I only find sweaters and socks.
Christmas in the hardware store
Welcome to Luke Palmer’s hometown of Coalgate, Okla., … population around 1,900 folks, give or take.
“We are about an hour and a half, depending on who’s in front of you on the back roads, southeast of Oklahoma City. We do have a Sonic in town, but the closest Walmart is 20 minutes away.”
Luke is telling me this as he stands inside the family-owned hardware store in town. “Our store, C & C Hardware, has been here since at least the 1940s, my dad and uncle run the place.”
“We are just a small general hardware store, we sell tools, furniture, hardware, appliances, and have, you know, a fishing aisle too.”
And then he chuckles.
Luke is 29 years old, not married. In his first year as a Bassmaster Elite angler he averaged 30th place in the 10 Elite gigs, finished in 26th place in the AOY race and qualified to fish in the 50th Bassmaster Classic.
I don’t bother to ask him how he thought his first year on the Elite series went. He made some money and caught all the fish he needed to catch to make The Classic, that pretty much says it all. Instead I asked this: “So dude, what happens if you become a big-time, famous Elite angler? You going to leave the family business and small town for the bright lights?”
And then I wait while popping a few green and red Christmas M&M’s into my mouth.
In a minute I’m going to know everything I need to know about the dude.
I hear him take a breath so I pick up my pen to write …
“Nope.”
To be truthful that one word is about all you really need to read to get an idea about this guy’s backbone, but …
“I’m just Luke. If things work out well for me, that’ll be great, but I’ll still be cutting grass around town, still working the shop.”
I pop another handful of candy and write exactly this: “Standup dude.”
“…I wish you…”
Christmas in Buffalo, N.Y.
“Christmas is the keeping-place for memories of our innocence.”
— Joan Mills
Since 1893 when they started measuring snow, Buffalo, N.Y., has a white Christmas about 60% of the time. Normally for the typical winter season they average around 8 feet of snow.
They’ve had more, trust me.
As a child growing up there it seemed to me that every Christmas was filled with snowbanks, snowsuits and red wooden sleds.
I’m about 3 1/2 in the photo of me standing in our driveway after dad shoveled. I don’t remember hearing a snow blower clearing it. I do think I might have heard a bunch of cursing though.
My father and snow were not buddies. I was 10 years old before they built a garage for dad to park his beloved black and silver ‘57 Chevy Bel Air in.
It is Christmas morning 1955. Inside a new Danish Modern stereo cabinet Bing Crosby is singing Christmas carols via a scratchy LP record. All the windows in our house have “flocked” snowflakes painted on the inside of them with real snowflakes piling up on the outside of the glass.
For the past month, from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve, every day I would watch WBEN-TV and “Forgetful the Elf” read letters to Santa on our black/white Philco Television.
I listened to what Johnny or Mary or Sam or Betty wanted for Christmas all the while hoping to hear “Forgetful” tell Santa what “Donnie” wanted. I’m told Santa read my letter, but if he did he must have missed that Hopalong Cassidy cap gun and holster special request.
Just saying.
This is a bittersweet photo of Christmas morning 1955. I keep it for the look of pure astonishment and joy on my face. I keep it because if you look close on the floor behind me you’ll see a “billboard” for the train set that I got that year.
That train set is in a box under my bed as you read this today … 64 years later with thousands of miles of moves all over this country chasing jobs and stories.
The photo was in an old photo album that got handed down to me. It was captioned by my father as this: “Donnie standing.”
He told me many years later it was his favorite Christmas shot “of all time,” because as the caption said, “Donnie standing.” What that meant according to my father, “…that was the first Christmas you were out of the full body cast and could stand on your own, that’s a photo of the first time you ever stood on your own next to a Christmas tree, it was the greatest Christmas gift I ever got.”
“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmastime.”
— Laura Ingalls Wilder
Christmas Eve in Coalgate, Okla.
“…all anguish pain and sadness…”
For as long as Luke can remember his family has thrown a Christmas party in their hardware store for all in town, or all those who just stop by.
“We’ve done all the floor mopping and dusting, moved all the furniture to the side of the room, put up all the tables and will be putting on the Christmas tablecloths soon.”
In a town with a population of “about” 1,900 folks, young and old, “…we get maybe 150 or more people show up for the party every Christmas Eve.”
Almost 10% of the town.
“Nope, don’t charge them anything. My father he looks forward to it all year, in fact one man who comes to it talks about it all year beginning just about the next day. People ‘round here do look forward to it.”
I asked for photos of the event, “Um don’t have any, really, not lying to you, folk come here, nothing fancy you know, we’re not on social media, don’t want to intrude on folks you know.”
I just smile, frankly, to be honest, that’s the right answer.
“I remember back when I was a kid, and we did this, we would just have cheese sandwiches and cookies, now we have 10 to 12 briskets for BBQ and a whole bunch of food.”
Me: “Why do you do it?”
Luke: “Um, you know, just because.”
“Kindness is like snow, it beautifies everything it covers.”
— Kahlil Gibran
“…leave your heart…”
May your Christmas story be one of joy, happiness, prayers, letters to Santa and most of all … filled with love and kindness.
From all in my family, from all in the family that is B.A.S.S., from all that is the family of anglers worldwide … Merry Christmas and happy holidays.
Don and Barb, Ashley and Jimmy, Jacob and Chelsea … Maddie, Cally and Riley too.
“…and let your road be clear.”
I Believe In Father Christmas
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
“There seems a magic in the very name of Christmas.”
— Charles Dickens