By Lee Harkness
DJDC executive director
As everyone is aware, the sunrise this morning brings Christmas Eve.
While Christmas Eve is not a national holiday it is certainly a great part of the Christmas tradition. "Stockings are hung with care" as both young and old prepare for the celebration of Christmas. Christmas, of course, is the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, and Christmas Eve is a significant celebration in preparation for Christmas Day, and it is observed by Christians and non-Christians alike.
We here in Jamestown are very fortunate as we have many, many events and activities that provide celebration of this holiday. We have events like the holiday parade, the Nutcracker, holiday performances at the Jamestown Savings Bank Arena, Infinity, the Reg Lenna Civic Center and Little Theater. Our churches and schools all provide sincere performances in honor of our Christmas holidays. It makes you feel good to read all the Letters to Santa published in The Post-Journal because many of our children really do believe there really is a Santa - many of these letters reveal true human feelings some have forgotten.
Christian tradition holds that Jesus was born at night. This recognition inspires great thoughts and songs like "Holy Night" and "Silent Night, Holy Night." Many, many of our churches hold evening or midnight services to commemorate this fact. It is just great to open the newspaper and see the list of churches and their services, honoring the birth of Jesus Christ with not only their normal services, but very special services. This list is composed of not only Jamestown churches but churches of the entire area.
This year has brought some horrible tragedies, not only in the United States but all over the world. We all have difficult inner feelings about these tragedies. However, we have seen many people, organizations, churches, businesses who have exhibited great caring and sacrifice to help those in need-it shows that there still is a great spirit alive which is alive the whole year round as well as Christmas time.
Yesterday morning I was watching the Sunday morning news on television. They were talking about music. There is music for good times. There is music for hard times. There is music for special events and activities. There is music for the holidays. There is music for everything. They were pointing out the fact that in all cases music is an integral part of everything we do and in almost all cases helps to heal and make people feel better. Music, of course, is a huge part of our Christmas celebrations.
We at the Downtown Jamestown Development Corporation want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We hope your music is a music that brings you success and happiness in the New Year as well as the years to come.