What Christmas stories is your paper running?

Because God knows we all could use a little bit of feel good...

Here we've got a police chief who is going to surprise some of his cops by going into work early on Christmas and work their shifts so they can spend Christmas morning with their families.

Who's writing about the holiday spirit?

 

Years ago, when I was writing for a smalltown paper with a Christian college in the coverage area, I always liked to talk to an athlete or two who spent time away from sports spreading the word of Jesus. Some of them had pretty interesting stories to tell about the places they've visited and the people they've met in the name of Jesus. It was a good once a year type story and somewhat sports related. Plus a good reminder that athletes are defined more than by the sports they play, especially those attending a Christian college.

 

"Christmas came early..."

 

Just got told the geniuses bumped our paper section from an expected two pages to five for Friday, days after we loaded all the features into the two heavier newshole days of the 24th and the 26th. And the deadline is like 8 p.m. Brilliant I say. Brilliant.

 

Christmas eve feature: A kid who suffered a stroke on the football field his junior year, ending his D1 hopes, and for that matter, playoff hopes, who since has taught himself how to walk and talk again and while mastering communication got a job at a Walmart where he saved a little girl's life with the heimlich maneuver in the parking lot, and now brightens the day of stroke victims at a major rehab center, convinced he'll one day be able to return to school to obtain his physical therapy degree.

 

This happens to us all the time on holidays. Drives us crazy. Like clockwork some other section fails to produce enough stuff to fill the space so they figure they can dump it on sports. During state tournaments or all-star season, we can't buy the space...

 

I wouldn't know. For the first time since 1989 I don't have to worry about finding enough agate, stories or photos to fill the Christmas Eve and Christmas night news holes.

 

Good for you. If that appeared on my publication's internet site, the anonymous reader comments would nullify the feel good nature of such a story. My gosh those athletes would be crucified by the anonymous posters angry about the mention of Jesus and complaining that athletes should not be trying to spread just heresy. Congratulations to you. I applaud you for the courage to write such a story.

 

In sports today we ran our football all-area team. Maybe not "feel-good" but it eats up a shitload of space on what amounts to a getaway day. It's kind of become a new and practical tradition for us. Not a lot going on this week, so we've started running one award story per day, then the all-area team on Christmas Day. It works out well.

News, sadly, ran a story about a 15-year-old girl who died Thursday morning after falling off a 4-wheeler. Her sister is in the hospital. :'( :'( :'(

 

Not for Christmas Day, but the paper on the 26th, one of our best feature writers and the photog on duty that day years ago went to a Waffle House here in the Heart of Dixie and spent 3 hours - with management's permission - talking to people about why they were eating at a Waffle House on Christmas morning. He turned what could have been a ho-hum filler into an A1 story by eating, smoking and shooting the breeze with some real characters.

Remains one of the best reads the paper has ever produced.

 

This was back in the day before the Internet and reader comments. I don't remember ever getting a lot of feedback, positive or negative. But it seemed like such a no-brainer. Christianity and religion are such a big part of these kids' lives, it seemed like an easy topic for a Christmastime story. Plus, the stories the kids told were pretty incredible.