Christmas Cards

The Joy XYZ Group from First United Methodist Church meet at JK's Restaurant for a Christmas celebration Tuesday, Dec. 12. Boo Baldwin, the coordinator, gave all members hand-made Christmas tree ornaments, homemade pastries, candy, home-baked cookies and book calenders. Christmas cards were exchanged. Bibby Anderson asked the blessing for the meal. Others present were Lucille Creech, Mildred Gallaher, Ethel Vance, Beunice Roberts, Agnes Lowry, Edith Myles, Alice Tucker, Dorothy Foster, Hazel May and Mary Rowe.

The Joy XYZ group from First United Methodist Church was invited to the home of Boo Baldwin, 160 Casa Landa Way, group coordinator, for a special Christmas luncheon. Each member brought a special salad that was well-prepared and very delicious, including homemade candies and white chocolate bars filled with special combinations. There were also very beautiful candy Christmas trees. Boo Baldwin and Bibby Anderson passed out Christmas bags to members filled with many Christmas items, such as jar candles, handmade Christmas tree ornaments, Christmas candies and special loaves of friendship bread.

City Hall to close Tuesday CRAB ORCHARD - City Hall will close at noon Tuesday for election day. Concert to benefit shooting victim A benefit concert for Ruby Stamper Willis, who was shot through the neck and stomach, will be 1 p.m. Sunday at John Hill Chapel on Jackson Street, Georgetown College. Music will be provided by The Eagle Lake Country Music Show. Performers include Mike Fryman and Les Taylor. Tickets are $10. Willis is a resident of Danville and worked in Georgetown.

Creating one of her detailed card designs can take Angie Hall up to one and a half weeks. It may sound like a lot of work, but for Hall, it's more like a labor of love. "I draw little and small, so everything takes a long time. I love it, but it's time-consuming," Hall said. Hall began designing her custom-made cards back in 2002. A self-described "doodler," Hall has always been interested in art and drawing, but it wasn't until seven years ago that she started to take her work seriously.

Stuart Sanders, director of the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association, has historic interests other than the Civil War. In the recent issue of Kentucky Humanities, he has an article about Dr. Ephraim McDowell, known as the father of modern surgery. "The Kindest Cut" tells about the Christmas Day surgery in 1809 that gave McDowell the recognition as the doctor who performed the world's first successful abdominal operation. Jane Todd Crawford rode horseback from Green County to McDowell's house and office on South Second Street.

Dear Editor: I'd like to remind all those who say that the meaning of Christmas is being changed that one can still go to Hallmark and buy Christmas cards with Jesus' name and picture on them. You can even go to Wal-Mart or the Dollar Store and purchase cards with the manger scene and Jesus' name on them. The true meaning of Christmas was never more evident than last week when my daughter's school put on a wonderful Christmas play, complete with a manger and the true meaning of Christ's birth.

Our mom, Sally Ann Dye Weir, died the morning of Friday, June 17. She was 70-years-old. She passed after a too-long struggle with a foe too mighty. She was at varying times the Mother of my Earth, my sunrise after stormy nights and my teacher of all things really worth knowing. But I’m not special. She only made me feel that way. I am just one of her many children. We are Wendy, Robbin, Shawn, Toby, Kevin, Bobby and Marty. The “Magnificent Seven.” We have been blessed with many children and grandchildren.

Feb. 19, 1988 The owners of the Appaloosa Nite Club, bowing to the requirements of  a city ordinance, agreed to discontinue commercial teen dances at the club on Sunday nights. The two sections of the city's code of ordinances prohibit dances with price of admission from 1 a.m Sunday to 8 a.m. Monday. The Appaloosa had charged teens $3 for six hours of dancing. Discussion continued on the Winchester Municipal Utilities Co.'s proposed rate hikes. Several commercial and residential customers questioned both the need for the effects of the increases.

It's no secret that many Americans are facing hard times. With a slumping economy and purse strings drawn tight, the upcoming holidays are sure to do anything but lessen that burden. Your list of people to buy for likely has not shrunk from this year's list, but your disposable income may have. Julie McAllister, creator of Artcycled, makes personalized and unique cards for every occasion. Her card-making started when she tried to come up with creative ideas for a pretty Mother's Day card.

Feb. 19, 1988 The owners of the Appaloosa Nite Club, bowing to the requirements of  a city ordinance, agreed to discontinue commercial teen dances at the club on Sunday nights. The two sections of the city's code of ordinances prohibit dances with price of admission from 1 a.m Sunday to 8 a.m. Monday. The Appaloosa had charged teens $3 for six hours of dancing. Discussion continued on the Winchester Municipal Utilities Co.'s proposed rate hikes. Several commercial and residential customers questioned both the need for the effects of the increases.

LEXINGTON - Mark Stoops may never have been a head coach before, but the new Kentucky coach certainly understands the value of connecting with fans. I got this note from a Kentucky fan and long-time season ticket holder: “Today I received a Christmas card from Mark Stoops. Been a season ticket holder for 29 years, first time I ever received a Christmas card from the football coach.” Wow. That's the way to reach out and touch a fan base. Send a card of you and your family to let fans know you appreciate them for continuing to spend money and buy tickets, especially at a time when sales decreased.

ATLANTA - If John Calipari has his way, all the “drama” about Saturday's Kentucky-Louisville Final Four matchup will be focused on him and his staff, not Kentucky's players. “We're playing a basketball game. Believe me, we will not change,” Calipari said Sunday after Kentucky defeated Baylor 82-70 to advance to its second straight Final Four and a matchup against Louisville on Saturday in New Orleans. “The drama of the game will be on the staff, but I don't have many Kentucky players on my team.

In the spirit of Norman Rockwell, but with a sense of humor all his own, Eric Johnson's playful pieces capture the classic essence of a 21st-century artist with a modern-day kick. The Community Arts Center will feature “A Johnson Family Christmas” in an exhibit appealing to a broad audience. Johnson went to art school because of his love for the great illustrators, particularly N.C. Wyeth and Norman Rockwell. But it wasn't until he began designing Christmas cards depicting his parents that he began exploring the Saturday Evening Post-like design he has become known for. Friends and colleagues began asking about next year's card design plan and Johnson says they were stuck with the tradition, which then continued on in works portraying him and wife Becky.

Our mom, Sally Ann Dye Weir, died the morning of Friday, June 17. She was 70-years-old. She passed after a too-long struggle with a foe too mighty. She was at varying times the Mother of my Earth, my sunrise after stormy nights and my teacher of all things really worth knowing. But I’m not special. She only made me feel that way. I am just one of her many children. We are Wendy, Robbin, Shawn, Toby, Kevin, Bobby and Marty. The “Magnificent Seven.” We have been blessed with many children and grandchildren.

To the Sun: The Grinch came early this season, and stole my Christmas spirit. The mound of bills to pay, the dreary weather, and no hope of pulling off my usual Christmas miracle had given me the Christmas blues. As I came home Friday night, I rested easy knowing the bills are paid, that we would indeed have water and electric for the holiday, but where would I get those gifts that my children had eyed and hinted about? I didn't know. My spirits were low as I looked through the mail.

In four days, wrapping paper will be flying around living rooms everywhere, little ones will be screaming over the latest electronic gadgets, and older kids will be expressing gratitude for ties, gloves-and-scarf sets and fruit cakes that look an awfully a lot like gifts we had given last year to the people who are giving them to us this year. It will be the annual American Christmas morning ritual of gift-opening. At my house, I will be performing my annual Brock Christmas morning ritual as the "gift elf. " At my advancing age, performing my elf duties of passing out gifts is becoming increasingly difficult, as my knees and back are not as young as they used to be. But serving as the gift elf for more than 50 years, in the house in which I was raised and in the house in which I am husband and father, is a Christmas memory I will always cherish.

Ashley Roach has spent much of the last several years preparing to be an elementary school teacher. The 26-year-old Danville resident is well on her way to obtaining a master's degree in elementary education from Eastern Kentucky University, and she has done well in pursuit of her master's. She recently was inducted into the Golden Key International Honor Society largely because she ranks in the top 15 percent of her class. "I guess you would call me a nerd," Roach says with a laugh.

It doesn't have to be Christmas time for Holly VanMeter to start thinking about her annual Christmas card design. It doesn't even have to be cold outside. But, she admits, the real work usually starts in November. That's when the local artist puts pen or brush to paper and musters up her creative prowess. Some years, the motif includes animals. Some years it's a building. Most of the cards have a wreath placed strategically in the design. "It's one of my favorite things I do at Christmas time," said VanMeter.

The central Kentucky chapter of the American Red Cross in cooperation with the Danville Walmart store is sponsoring a Gift from Home for GI Jo(e), which will send a care package of goodies to Boyle and Mercer county service personnel stationed abroad. The list of goodies was supplied by local National Guard personnel. Walmart will display a sample package that will sell for $20. Anyone wishing to purchase a package to be sent to the service personnel will take a card from the display and pay for that package at checkout.