Decorating committee prepares for Christmas In Chrisman
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This year, Christmas is coming early for the residents of Chrisman. The city of Chrisman gave the go-ahead for decorations to be put up a week early. Former residents who come home for the Thanksgiving holiday missed the chance to decorate the park with their families. Everyone can now decorate the Saturday before Thanksgiving, but the decor won’t be lit until November 26th as scheduled. The hope is to have more displays in the park. This is all contingent however on the fact that the City has the park mowed one last time.
As part of the decorating committee, Eric & Anita Marvin, Kent Miles and President of the Chrisman Area Community Club Dan Moore have asked residents who live along Monroe & Madison to help with the Christmas decor.
“We encourage residents every year to decorate the bottoms of their trees with white lights,” Anita Marvin said.
One staple of the Christmas in Chrisman decor was Frosty the Snowman. Frosty was on the bandstand for a number of years until last year when the winds tore a hole in him, ripping one of the straps that held him down.
Marvin attended one of last month’s city council meeting to ask if something could be put in his place on the bandstand.
“We need something by the bandstand. It’s the center of our park,” Marvin said.
Mayor Danny Owen and the council are currently working on finding a possible replacement.
Every year, Chrisman community businesses and families come out full force to decorate the park. Displays from family members don’t necessarily have to be a memorial, they can just be a simple ‘Merry Christmas from our family to yours’.
“It would be great to see families make it a new family tradition to gather everyone in their family and get displays up in the park,” Marvin said. “Classes can also do a display”.
Last year, the decorating committee had Chrisman resident Rick Jenness bring a star and cross back to the community. Jenness put it on his rooftop. “That was a big surprise for a lot of us and made such a big impact on the square’s Christmas spirit,” Anita said.
Any type of display is appreciated and adds to the feeling of Christmas during the Christmas in Chrisman parade.
“To see young children run around the park on parade night, laughing and having fun, getting their picture taken in front of the displays makes all the work to make the park festive worth every single minute.”
Besides putting up a display, you can also help out by purchasing white lights. “Every year we have strings not light up and the cost of replacing them adds up quickly,” Marvin said. “People can buy them and deliver them to Dan Moore or me. We greatly appreciate everyone who has stepped up in the past to help us keep the trees lit with white lights.”
Citizens can also help by putting more displays on the sidewalks. The committee hopes to have an arch of white lights to walk through at each of the four entrances to the park. Help is also needed in the putting up and taking down of the displays.
“We plan to start wrapping the bottom of trees with the white lights right after November 1st,” Anita said. “We can do this, but no string extension cords until November 26th.”
If any citizen has ideas on how they can make the park’s Christmas lights better, the decorating committee is always open to ideas!
