I wish all readers of the "Over The Ozarks" a happy Christmas and the joy of living. Each day is a new day. Let's try to live that day better than the day before.
    Be kind and friendly. Was it not Marivaux who said, "One must be a little too kind to be kind enough"?
    Don't be afraid to show yourself friendly, for only so you show yourself worth friendship.
    Yesterday we had a nice visit from Ross Brian Rea of Green Forest, Ark., one of the contributors to "Over The Ozarks." He and his wife are VERY nice people. He told of visiting Mr. Hall (Whitey), the poet whose poems appear in the column from time to time.
    If the lady who wrote me asking about the Peery ancestors will write me again, I can give her some more information I received from the Missouri State Historical Society in Columbia, Mo. Some of the Peerys settled in Clay and Grundy Counties, Mo.
    At this time I am thinking of Christmas of long ago. When I was a girl at home, we always had a tree but no commercial trimmings--only popcorn and cranberries strung on threads adorned the tree.
    Mother would make popcorn balls and hang on the branches. Gifts were hung there, too, not piled on the floor as of today. We hung our stockings by the fireplace. Next morning we found an orange, candy, and nuts and perhaps a china doll in them.
    If there was snow on Christmas Day, Papa would hitch the horses to a sled and away we would go--over the cold and the snow to Grandma's house for a big dinner of baked ham, chicken, stacked pies, and fruit cake.
    Happy days of our childhood--how could we forget the past?
    It's lots of fun now to be with our children and grandchildren on Christmas Day. However, I don't think they have the fun we had then.
    May the coming year bless all with good living, peace and happiness.

Mellie Peery
December 1963