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CELEBRATION seems to be the mood here in my small corner of rural West Texas. Maybe it’s the news of the COVID vaccine. Or maybe it’s a sign the human spirit will triumph over the dreary year that is almost over. Whatever the case, my little village is sparkling with lights, wreaths, and Christmas lawn decor. Residents have gone all-out this year with decorating for the holidays. The result is a noticeable rise in the cheer level. Spirits are high despite a number of deaths in our community due to COVID. Optimism reigns even though our football team was knocked out of the playoffs last week.

The Hemphill County 4-H Club held a Christmas Parade on Tuesday evening. The organization decided to host the parade as a way to reach out to the community with some Christmas cheer. The group first circled Mesa View and then the Abraham Nursing Home to wave at all the residents, before marching through town and across Main.

Four weeks to go in 2020. The year when our lives were turned upsidedown is almost over. We have had to rearrange our routines, rethink our priorities, and reimagine what it means to be normal and stable. Collectively, the whole world has invented new traditions. The U.S. invented the drive-by birthday party. Italians in Rome and Milan began banging pots and pans every evening to thank and acknowledge the hard work and sacrifice of first responders and healthcare workers. That custom spread to New York and other cities hard-hit by the pandemic. In the cities of the world, musicians performed to audiences of neighbors who applauded from their balconies.

Canadian Middle School competed against River Road and Highland Park middle schools Monday evening in the UIL One-Act Play contest at the Texas Crown Performance Hall. The Canadian Wildcats were awarded second place, with several students taking home individual distinctions.

Merry Thanksgiving! Christmas creep started early this year the day after Halloween. Known as the “pandemic pick-me-up,” putting up Christmas decorations earlier than usual is not just an American phenomenon. Christmas decor is flying off the shelves in Europe too. Psychologists call it “savoring.” Rushing Christmas is a way to connect with feelings of good times full of excitement and magic. Anticipating the holidays extends the euphoria. And in such a horrible year as 2020, we need a little Christmas like Auntie Mame in the musical Mame, who loses all her wealth in the stock market crash in October of 1929. Her response to financial ruin is a snappy tune by Jerry Herman:

JUST SAY NO! That’s how several of my relatives are handling Thanksgiving invitations to share a turkey dinner this year. My brother, Billy, would love to sit down with his son’s family and his grandchildren, but he has RSVP’d a definite “No.” His son’s mother-in-law in Houston is cooking the big dinner with all the trimmings and expects her family to show up. My cousin’s wife, Lesa, encountered the same pressure from her older brother. This will be the first holiday season without their father who passed away in January. Lesa responded with a big “No” to a family gathering.

Busing to Abilene’s Shotwell stadium on Saturday, Canadian’s Wildcat Marching Band could be sure of two things. The 259-mile trek hadn’t gotten any shorter or more picturesque since their last sojourn that direction, and the competition wouldn’t be any less rigorous.

Hemphill County 4-H’ers and youth from 20 Texas Panhandle counties competed individually in the District 1 food show sponsored by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service at the Tri-State Fairground’s Rex Baxter building in Amarillo on Oct. 20.

Friday the 13th will bring only good omens for fans of the Wildcat Band as CHS musicians present “Once Upon a Starry Night” at Wildcat stadium beginning at 7 pm. Bring your mask, socially distance from everyone, and prepare to be wowed by the show that garnered all 1s at the district marching contest.

Despite channeling beast mode on the court, Canadian’s Lady Cat basketball team are as tenderhearted as kittens when it comes to members of our community who may be food insecure. A canned-food drive initiated two Saturdays ago by the players involved their friends, moms, and two local church’s food pantries, and netted over 3,000 canned goods.