MHC Christmas Eves through time

1923

At a meeting at Municpal Hall, the Henry County Fair Association elected officers for the new year: P.S. Ford, A.L. Tuggle, W.P. Hodnett, H.B. Cheshire, J.R. Gregory, J.T. Thompson Jr., O.R. Easley and J.D. Sparrow.

Annual meeting of the Henry County Red Cross held Dec. 13 in the Prayer Meeting Room of the Methodist Church. Officers re-elected: Miss Bessie Tuggle, president; Mrs. E.G. Penn, vice-president; Mrs. O.D. Ford, secretary; Mrs. J.R. Taylor, treasurer; Mrs. R.B. Semple, secretary of home service; Mrs. A.S. Gravely, publicity chairman. Mrs. P.D. Drewry re-appointed School Nurse for the next year, and Mrs. J.D. Glenn, chairman of the Nursing Committee.

1948

Officers of the Variety Club, which met at members’ homes in Martinsville, were: Mrs. George Wade, president; Mrs. A.R. Ussery, Mrs. E.C. Stultz, Mrs. W.S. Craig, Mrs. J.A. Davidson, Mrs. Edward Wickline, Mrs. Everette Hensley, Mrs. George Wade.

1973

Mrs. Georgia Ward, 78, of Preston each Christmas hangs a handmade Christmas stocking for each of her grandchildren, great-grandchildren and their friends. In 1973, that amounted to more than 80 stockings, all hanging in her living room. She had been doing that for almost 60 years.

1998

Charlene Randolph was the manager of Wrap, Pack and Mail in the Liberty Fair Mall, busy with Christmas deliveries.

The Roundtable Foundation was in its 12th year of hosting the Christmas Shopping Spree and Pizza Party. Members gave gifts to about 600 children and teenagers who attended the party the previous weekend at the Armory. Members included Bruce Dallas, Tony Millner, Jeremiah King, Jackie Dillard, Darnell Sharpless (the president-elect), James Goode, Carlton Riley, Charles King and Mark Stanfield.

2023

These are the popular holiday decorating trends of 2023: gnomes; neutral color schemes, especially gray; solid neutral painted things, such as gray nutcrackers, or black nutcrackers. Buffalo plaid remains strong but has been lingering on for a few years; same with pictures of old red pickup trucks, preferably with Christmas trees in them. In Martinsville, Ian Hogg’s “Christmas tree” made only of suspended strings of lights has been popular for a few years now, and is up at Piedmont Arts at the corner of Mulberry and Starling, and in Ridgeway by the rescue squad and library.

Information from museum records and Henry/Martinsville Bulletin.