State Sen. Cathy Young and her siblings pose for a picture taken around Christmas some years ago. Pictured, from left, are Mary, Cathy, Meg and Michael. Submitted photo

Local leaders and politicians are often seen as the office they represent or the job that they perform. But, from time to time, it is important to dig a little deeper. In honor of the holiday, a few local officials have shared some of their favorite memories and traditions with The Post-Journal. From favorite Christmas presents to cherished holiday memories, the scenarios run the gambit, but the love and compassion behind them is all the same.

State Sen. Cathy Young said her favorite tradition had to do with a handmade manger underneath the Christmas tree. While parents these days can rely on “Elf on the Shelf” to keep children on their best behavior, Young said her mother had her father create a small manger out of rough-sawn wood that did the trick.

“If we were good during the day, every night during Advent we were allowed to take a small fist full of straw that my father brought from the barn to place in the manger,” she said. “We all wanted to have a nice, soft bed for baby Jesus when he was born on Christmas, so we did our best. On Christmas morning, not only had Santa brought presents and scarfed down the cookies and milk we left out for him, but a beautiful, life-like baby doll wrapped in swaddling clothes was under the tree in the manger.”

Young said she and her siblings always waited until after their father came in from doing chores to see what Santa had brought. Even though her mother and father had stayed up all night wrapping presents and assembling toys, her dad still had to go out and milk the cows at 4 a.m.

Cathy Young remembered having many of the iconic toys of the time, including baby dolls, Barbies, a Bozo the clown punching bag and Jane and Johnny West figures.

“I remember one of my favorite toys was a Bugs Bunny puppet,” she said. “You pulled a string and it would say ‘What’s up doc?’ My older sister Meg had the Mr. Ed version, and sometimes we would trade for a day.”

George Borrello, county executive-elect, said his fondest memory of Christmas was spending the holidays with his grandparents.

“For years and years, we went to my grandmother’s house,” he said. “And from the day my grandfather passed away, I stayed at my grandmother’s house every Christmas Eve until she passed away.”

Borrello said he stayed overnight at his grandmother’s house for Christmas Eve from 1987 until 2012.

“That’s a tradition that I miss,” he said.

Borrello said his favorite toy he received as a child was a Lionel train set.

“I loved that train set,” he said. “But then I sold it when I was in high school to buy a computer. So, I regret that, but for many years, I loved that train set.”

Kirk Young, Jamestown Community College enrollment management vice president, said his most significant Christmas experiences tend to gravitate toward family and friends, but one particular experience “winds its way” into his thoughts. On the week leading up to Christmas in 2010, Kirk Young and his wife noticed his son, McKay, age 8, had lost significant weight, as well as a few other signs. Concerned, they made an appointment with the pediatrician for the following day.

The next day, Kirk Young said he was teaching a class, and a secretary came in to tell him his wife was on the phone.

“When I picked up the phone, I found my wife sobbing on the other end,” Young said. “She had taken our son to the doctor and after a few tests, was told that our boy was a Type I Diabetic. The doctor told her to go home, pack a suitcase, report to the children’s hospital, (saying) ‘and you might make it home for Christmas.'”

Kirk Young said the next few days were “a whirlwind.” For hours each day, they met with nutritionists, doctors, dieticians, social workers and other officials. Yet, he said he found hope in an unlikely place.

“It was around this time that a good friend shared a Christmas hymn with me that has become one of my favorites,” Kirk Young said. “The words to the hymn were written as a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow during the Civil War in 1863.”

The hymn is titled, “I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day.”

“And in despair I bowed my head;

‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said; ‘For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men,’

‘Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

‘God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The wrong shall fail

The right prevail

With peace on earth, good-will to men.'”

Kirk Young said the song had been written after Longfellow learned his son had been wounded in the war. During that time, Longfellow was in despair and was concerned for his son.

“Yet, as Longfellow wrote, we must not give up hope that pain and fear can be overcome with a faithful determination to experience ‘peace on earth, good-will to men,'” he said. “Not only did these thoughts get me through a particularly tough Christmas, but the love and support of friends and family carried us through.”

Kirk Young said in the three-and-a-half years he and his family have spent in Jamestown, they have found the same love and support. He said while the area has its problems, and there are times when residents may bow their head and say, “There is no peace on earth,” Young asks that residents consider the love and determination that pulls the community together and allows them to prevail over darkness.

“I have seen it in every Christmas season here as friends and family come together to participate in the holiday parade or to enjoy the many talented choirs in the area, or to volunteer at a local agency,” Kirk Young said. “May we find peace and hope in the love we see manifest around us in our wonderful community this Christmas season.”

County Legislator PJ Wendel said the tradition he enjoys most is spending time with family. Since he graduated college, Wendel said he has spent 22 of the 25 years since as a wrestling coach, so he takes time around the holiday to decompress.

Memories and traditions of Christmas from his youth stem from both sides of his family, he said. From his dad’s side, he fondly remembers the tradition of “treeing.”

“This is a tradition in St. Mary’s Pennsylvania where my dad grew up,” Wendel said. “This is where you travel to the homes of relatives and visit them for the holidays, obviously to see their Christmas tree and catch up on life in general. Since we did not live in town, we always had to catch up.”

Every year, each family had a specific time when they visited other families. Wendel said each year, his grandmother’s brother and sister’s family would visit on Christmas night, while others would visit the week before.

“My dad had a long-time family friend that would always come to the house on Christmas night (each year) for over 40 years,” Wendel said.

The traditions on his mother’s side stem from the Ukraine. On Christmas Eve, traditional Ukrainian foods were served.

“No meat and a lot of pierogis and lentil soup,” Wendel said. “There were other foods as well, but those were the most memorable. Likewise, making and eating nut roll and poppyseed rolls was always a staple.”

When it comes to current traditions, Wendel said his wife started a tradition in which everyone receives new pajamas on Christmas Eve. Also, each person has their own towel for Santa to place gifts on.

“It helps Santa keep track of whose presents are whose,” Wendel said. “Likewise, who doesn’t like a new pair of jammies?”

While he didn’t receive them on Christmas Day, Wendel said his favorite gifts are his children: his daughter was born on Dec. 2, while his son was born on Jan. 4

“When you have your first child, it is always exciting, but having her that close to Christmas was especially happy,” he said. “Then, my son was a little more than a week after Christmas. Both were very exciting.”

The Rev. Luke Fodor of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Jamestown said Christmas is a busy time of year, but a magical season nonetheless.

“It occurs to me that I truly experience Christmas in quiet, authentic moments when I am with friends and family, and we (share) humanity,” Fodor said. “My current favorite Christmas tradition comes from my early 20s when my wife and I were living in Northeast England.”

Fodor said he was pursuing a graduate degree at the University of Durham and he and his wife didn’t have the money to come home for Christmas. His Welsh professor, Douglas Davies, kindly invited them to dinner. The occasion also included the traditional English Christmas Crackers.

“This is one silly tradition we have picked up,” Fodor said. “Professor Davies also passed onto us a tradition that he and his mother had shared on Christmas Day. They would open a bottle of champagne, pour a flute glas full, watch the bubbles effervesce up the glass and think about all that had ‘bubbled up’ over the last year and then offer a toast.”

Fodor said he and his family continue to do this with champagne for adults and sparkling grape juice for the children.

As for a childhood memory, Fodor said his favorite gift was a Swiss Army knife.

“Not only was I a McGyver fan, but I also loved to explore nature and go on adventures,” he said. “This simple present started me on an adventurous journey, encouraging me to take risks and know that I had ‘all the tools’ I needed to succeed.”