Prescott, Arizona

Arizona's Christmas City
The trees around the Courthouse Square are cleared of their leaves. Snow briskly clings to their pale white branches and to the evergreens which have been decorated with strings of lights and clumps of silver garlands. The town is dark. People mill about on the grass, feet crunching through the thin layer of snow, their breath puffing into the air as they greet friends and make new ones. They huddle for warmth, and I hold onto my mother’s hand. Warm greetings reach my ears as friends find each other in the pale winter’s night, “Hello, Steve! Wonderful to see you again!”
“Carl, how are you and the missus? Pleased to see you made it tonight.”
“We never miss this. We’ve come every year.”

I gaze up at the impressive Courthouse, carved from living marble, it’s columns running along the wide steps and looking like a building from another time. Certainly not from the small Arizona Main Street town. Arizona’s Christmas City. I was about to find out why it was given that title, so proudly displayed on the sign that read “Welcome to Prescott!” at the edge of town along the highway.
The atmosphere of the people is one of gentle warmth and humor as we all wait out the cold, standing close on the Square and watching the building. It would not disappoint us.

A quiet gasp ripples through the crowd, and I turn my eyes up towards the white building, and my eyes shine with the sudden reflection of a dazzling array of lights as the Courthouse is lit for the Holiday season. The trees blaze with their colored bulbs, reflecting silver and red and blue and green across the snow and the whole town turned out in jackets and gloves and thick, warm socks. The Courthouse itself has luminaries along its roof, and strands of red twisting down the columns making them look like candy canes. Large lit up candles grace the sides of the building between the stairs leading up to it, whose railings had also been twisted with red and green. The building shines across the main street to the storefronts on the other side, and the stores reflect the lights in their windows displaying clothing and dolls.

The town applauds, and then we begin to sing. Softly at first, and beginning at the front where the choir stands, but soon everyone sings their own version, their own tempo of Silent Night.

As the Courthouse lights the brisk night, and everyone sings, I hold onto my mother’s hand and gaze in wonder. My heart races and my ears ring with the delightful crescendos of the song before it fades away into the night, and people part to go back to warm homes with friends and family, and visit and exchange news. Bidding farewell to new friends and the people they had stood beside during the ceremony. Drawn together by the tradition and the celebration of the beginning of the Holiday season, the small town of Prescott was joined in wonder and song, and the meaning of the season – community.

Stephanie S

Submitted: Thursday 19th February 2004, 12:25 PM

Privacy - Submit - Prizes - Conditions - Contact Us - HOME