You sure that guy in the back row is a Sossamon?

Have you been to any Christmas parties this year? How 'bout school or church plays?

And, oh, those infamous office gatherings!

If so, did you have fun?

Years ago, it seems like I went to some holidayrelated event every day during December. By the time Christmas arrived, I was worn out and ready for some normalcy to return.

In the past few years, my social agenda during the holidays has been reduced dramatically.

We go to my sister's house in Columbia a couple of weeks before Christmas for a Sossamon family lunch. We go to my wife's brother's in Spartanburg for a Croxdale family dinner.

That's about it.

Now that the children are grown or nearly so, my attendance at school and church plays is no longer mandatory.

Or so I thought.

When my oldest daughter became a teacher, I didn't realize there would be more school plays to attend. Or that she would be on the stage.

Being the wonderful father I am, I drove to Columbia last Friday night to see Katie in a Christmas play she and her fellow teachers at Sandlapper Elementary starred in.

I was quite impressed with the professional-like production and quality performances by this group of educators. They began practicing in June. Imagine that. What a concept for team building. I don't know if all the hours these teachers spent in rehearsals brought them closer together or not, but it sure did impress me that they worked so hard ON THEIR OWN TIME to pull this production off.

It seems to me they couldn't help but be a better team of educators as a result.

Did I mention 'The State' newspaper (South Carolina's largest) ran a picture from one of the performances on the front page of its local news section? And my daughter was front and center in that picture? Dang newspaper didn't bother to put her name in the cutline, though. What's wrong with them?

It was well worth the drive to see Katie perform. No matter the age, our children will always be "children," won't they?

There was a surprise guest at the Sossamon family Christmas lunch this past Sunday.

President-elect Barack Obama. Yep, my sister and her husband are big time Democrats (bless their hearts) and you could say Obama has been a permanent fixture at their home for some time. Well, not the REAL Obama, but a life-size cutout.

We even let him stand in for one picture during our family photo shoot. Very funny, ha ha. Right? Yeah, I guess so, but what they are doing to their grandchild is not so funny. Ask Connor who he voted for and he'll tell you right quick like, "BAMA."

The poor child doesn't have a chance. He only knows about four words and "BAM-A" is one of them? Needless to say, we don't discuss politics much during these family get-togethers, especially at Christmas.

I've heard horror stories about family Christmas parties and how arguments erupt, fights break out and chaos ensues. I am indeed fortunate that no such problems arise at either the Croxdale or Sossamon family parties.

Now I don't know what might be said after we all part company, but at least while we're together everyone is kind and polite to one another. AND WE HAVE A GOOD TIME.

Same goes for my Ledger family. We just had our Christmas party, which for the past several years has involved catered lunch at our office and playing a game called "Chinese Christmas" or "Dirty Santa." It involves drawing numbers and choosing gifts, which can create hard feelings.

In fact, we've had a few tense moments here over the years when someone took another's gift.

All in all, everyone enjoys the food and fellowship. Let me emphasize, THEY ESPECIALLY ENJOY THE FOOD!

These are but a few of the things I enjoy so much about this time of year and another will come about this Saturday when we have "Christmas is for Kids" — our shopping spree at Wal-Mart for underprivileged children.

The generosity of Ledger readers has always humbled me, but this year has been absolutely unbelievable. We're probably going to end up with more than $17,000 when all is said and done! That means we'll be able to take about 170 children on $100 shopping sprees.

In this time of economic uncertainty, that says a lot about the good people of our community.

On behalf of all the children who you have helped, THANK YOU!

Cody Sossamon (cody@gaffneyledger.com) is publisher of The Gaffney Ledger.