It was time to decorate the tree at the county seat. The committee hoped it went better than last year, although it almost would have to. The ladies on the committee voted to keep the Crawford boys away from the tree. Last year they had to decorate the tree twice after the Crawford’s decided to help by pitting the angel on the top. They first knocked the tree over and then set in on fire by shorting the lights. It was a nice bonfire, but they didn’t want a bonfire. They decided that if the boys did anything like that this year they’d be a part of the bonfire.

Hortense Hall was in charge of the committee. She was well-liked by everyone and she was rich, comparatively speaking. She was a nice lady and easy to work with. She did say that if the Crawford boys showed their faces she would personally kick their sorry butts. Hortense got everyone who wanted to take part something to do, except the Crawford boys. Hortense hall managed to get the work done with a minimum of bickering which was the pastime around these parts.

Christmans Eve was the big night. There was a play put on as part of the festivities. The angels were the same group of kids that played the fairies in the school play. In fact, they wore the same costumes. The kids hated it, both the play and the costumes. Especially the boys. There they’d be, all wrapped up against the cold, when the signal for the angels was given. They take off the coats and start dancing around as angels. It was the dancing around that kept the death toll down.

“Lookee there. Bobby Ray, don’t the little ones look cute?”

“Surely do, Maw. Didn’t know angels was also fairies.”

Getting the right tree was a big part of the planning. For one thing it had to be huge. Since it was in the square in front of the courthouse it couldn’t be some scrawny little thing. The second thing is that it had to be free since the whole budget for the festivities was nothing. Every year it was the same thing. Right after the lighting ceremonies the sheriff would get a complaint that someone had cut down a big fir tree. He go out, see the stump, know where the tree was and go home and drink eggnog, without the egg part.

Decorating the tree was fun to watch. Wayne DeWayne Payne would bring the crane over and Orey Manning would get hooked up to it. It was a sight worth watching. Orey would swing back and forth putting a decoration here, another one there, decorations everywhere. He couldn’t tell much from his position so Hortense would tell him where to put what. Then the onlookers would yell out things. Pretty soon, Orey would be confused and start putting things every which way. The tree always got decorated but it always looked awful. Three would be places with nothing and other spots cluttered with stuff.

No one much cared what it looked like. It was the spirit of the thing. It brought the whole county out. Disputes were set aside and old friendships renewed. All the people became one. There were no whites and blacks, no Protestants and Catholics, no rich and poor. Well, that last one was a lie. The rich were still rich and the poor were still among us.

Squire Davis stood looking on when he noticed one of the Crawford boys standing next to him.

“Billy Crawford, you’re a brave man being here. You aren’t planning on helping out are you?”

“Why, heck no. Me an the boys learnt our lesson last year. Darn near got burnt up. We figures we done our part for society, as they say. To heck with em.”