Everyone has special memories stemming from the Christmas season. They may come from childhood experiences such as the trimming of the family Christmas tree, opening gifts on Christmas morning or spending a first Christmas away from home. Or, they may be less personal and more community in nature.

For example, since post World War II John F. Thompson American Legion Post 52 has sponsored Hartselle Kids Day, the aim of which is to kindle the spirit of Christmas in the hearts of children of needy families by making sure they receive at least one nice gift and a bag of fruit and candy at Christmastime. What a joy this has been to those who have received gifts down through the years as well as those who have pitched in and helped keep the project going.

Many of us can remember Hartselle Christmases of the 1960’s and 1970’s when merchants pooled their resources and gave away a new car to a lucky shopper. A ticket was awarded with each $10 purchase and a drawing was held on Christmas Eve to choose a winner. The combined tickets filled a 50-gallon barrel and some ticket holders had to use large sheets of cardboard to display their tickets for easy viewing. The crowd was so large it could fill a space as big as a football field, and to prevent tickets from littering the ground a $100 consolation prize was offered the following week, with the winning number being posted in the next edition of the Hartselle Enquirer.

What child from the same period can’t remember getting a post-Thanksgiving look at the town’s life-size Santa Claus and watch him wave from a store window at the former E.R. Roberts Department Store on Main Street. The North Pole visitor would appear mysteriously on the morning after Thanksgiving and suddenly disappear after the store closed on Christmas Eve. When the store closed Santa took up a new residence at the home of Dale and Gayle Strider and has continued to appear in view behind a second story window of their home on East Main.

Other memorable Christmas-related events include residential and commercial decorating contests, home tours and Santa’s arrival in a helicopter.

In the words of Helen Keller: “What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.”