As December winds oh so quickly to the 25th, I find it difficult to believe this will be the Forth Christmas that the Gazette will be in publication. The time has passed quickly and as I look back I am happy to say that the Gazette has survived, has had readership grow beyond expectations and with hope that the economy will turn, even become fiscially successful in the coming year. Please, enjoy these ruminations from Christmas Past....

Welcome all to the premiere and somewhat limited edition of the Waxhaw Gazette.
From The Editor, Friday, December 07, 2007.

In future issues of this “online” newspaper you will be seeing a dedication to not only the principals of quality reporting, but as a Rotarian, a dedication to the well being of our town.

For all of the years I have lived in the Waxhaw area I have always felt that the media did our community a disservice with what little coverage we received. Even the local papers really have done little to tell Waxhaw’s story.

We have a diverse and very interesting group of people living in the area with many new and interesting things happening all of the time. These are the stories I look forward to telling.

Launching a newspaper is, as you may guess, a daunting task. After my many years in business this is a task I truly am embracing, especially speaking with all of you in our great community.

Waxhaw has a bright future ahead if it and I look forward to all of us being a part of it.

Same Place... a very different time.
WAXHAW, December 5th, 2008

Not long ago I was in one of the Main Street restaurants and of course, right in the middle of a conversation, one of our infamous freight trains came rumbling through. As I patiently waited for it to pass I imagined what it must have been like in an earlier time. Looking out the very same oversized picture window I saw instead of cars, trucks and the horn of a diesel train, horses and wagons passing by and in the distance an approaching steam train blew its whistle announcing the arrival of passengers and mail from far away places. Merchandise and goods being brought to our fair, rural town from big cities, perhaps even from a different far away continent. Waxhaw has always held an appeal that centers on its age and history and in our everyday lives as we pass by the old buildings we can in some small way appreciate the ambiance they elicit. Perhaps it is the sense of permanence in a world that seems to be moving by too far fast, that feeling of longevity makes us feel better. It is in the stores and restaurants where the old floors creaking is welcomed like an old friend saying “Hello” and antique mirrors and pictures look as if they were first hung on the walls when the buildings were new remind us of their history.

   Unfortunately most of us don't have the time to relax and absorb the ambiance in our race around lives, but this coming weekend you have the opportunity to do just that and see some of the old homes we otherwise only drive past. This coming weekend you will have the option of taking the Holiday Tour of Homes, sponsored by the Waxhaw Woman's Club. On that tour you will be able to walk through eight of the featured homes where generation after generation lived, as well as the newly renovated Belk Building.

You will have the chance to walk through the homes and see where some of the original Waxhaw Residents lived and prospered, the halls and rooms where if walls could only talk, there are many a story to tell.

A Holiday Epiphany
WAXHAW November 20th, 2009

As the years keep on rolling by I realize that the holidays never seem to be able to live up to the memories we have of those earlier special times. This year I was treated to an excellent feast put on by my niece and her husband and a lot of my close family members were there, still it just wasn’t the same. I suppose there were plenty of reasons… the economic pressures weighing on us… and that it seemed that just about all of my friends were out of town... but mainly it was that my son Matt, who is in the Army now, couldn’t get home for the holiday all conspired to leave me at least, with a particularly hollow feeling. All of this essentially led to my spending the long weekend alone with plenty of time to try and reconcile what does it take to make a holiday special? There have been times when I was happily married with a great job, times when everything came together and should have made for an exceptional holiday but those times didn't leave any memories out of the ordinary. Yet the one in particular that does come to my mind was that Thanksgiving in the first year I was away in college. That was the only time where, after I had left home to get on with my life that I was able to go home for the holiday and still have everything like it was before I left. All of the family members, my sister, cousins, aunts and uncles were all there. I got back together with friends I had grown up with, at least the ones who hadn’t already left for Vietnam. And that was the only time I can remember that going home for the holidays took me back to as close to as to the same memory as when I left. Of course there have been other great times over the years and even some memorable ones like the time the turkey was way over cooked and turned out just like the one in Christmas Vacation. While not pretty then, it is rather funny in hindsight anyway!

   Going “home for the holidays” ...be it Thanksgiving or Christmas is a deep seated aspect of the "American Holiday Tradition" going back generations. By car, train or plane, going home for the holidays is the only place for us to be. Whether it is across town, country or even across the world, there is no place like home. That chance to spend time with those we love, who are so much a part of our lives, to celebrate our good fortune or console the years shortcomings, I for one can’t imagine the holidays without going home, at least for a day or two.

   Well now that we have entered that funny period between holidays, and I have gotten past a blue Thanksgiving, perhaps a spark or two will enter my life and I’ll start showing a little bit of that Christmas Spirit, like I did in years past. Hey I might even dig out a few strands of lights for the house, but don’t hold out too much hope that I will put forth anywhere near the efforts of Clark Griswold! I certainly don’t want to hear anybody telling me “The little lights... they aren't twinkling”.

   And if that doesn’t work maybe I’ll get a little help from my old friend Jack. You remember him, Jack Daniels? So enjoy these few crazy weeks from now till Christmas. They only come once a year and the memories, well, they will be what you make of them.

   When all is said and done, what is on my Christmas list, for all of you that is, perhaps a touch of prosperity, the blessing of peace and happiness! And for me, all I really want is to have my son ...Home for the Holidays!