Today's News

Christmases past were celebrated in a somewhat different way than today.

It appears that "spreeing" was a common denominator in the tales told by the early settlers of the county. For "spreeing," insert the word "whiskey."

This time next year, a new book, “Christmas Anthology of Illinois,” by James Ballowe of Ottawa will be in the bookstores. Included in this work are stories from around the state, Fayette County included, of how the holiday was celebrated in years past.

Teams fell into familiar patterns on Monday as Pana, Flora and Wesclin all picked up wins and South Central Vandalia, and Central A&M fell.

Session III

Game eight

Pana 53

South Central 19

In what was probably the worst team performance of the tournament during pool play, South Central scored only 19 points in a dreadful 34-point loss to Pana, 53-19.

In Vandalia, there are sports camps and leagues for just about everything.

There are basketball camps and shootouts for kids of all ages throughout the year. There is VYO football and flag football. There is Jr. Pro wrestling and numerous other camps and leagues for sports.

But one sport that has been lagging behind in these areas is baseball. Vandalia has struggled to cultivate a "farm system" for the high school baseball teams the way other sports have.

The interest level for baseball isn't as high in the area as it is for basketball and football.

Last Thursday my son, Ethan, and I put up our Christmas tree. It was fairly simple – fit tab A into slot B and so forth. I’ve never had an artificial tree before, so this was a new experience.

After the metal pieces had been slotted, we stood back and Ethan said, "Mom that doesn’t look like the box." I assured him that the metal branches extending from the metal trunk could be covered with cuttings from our cedar tree outside – not to worry.

I was worried. It looked like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.