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Special to the Daily Journal/Messenger

Debbie Williams

The holidays usually bring out the best and the worst in all of us. We openly welcome the giving, compassionate side of us as we give to our favorite charity, or help a friend during a difficult time. The not-so-good side of each of us, the inpatient, brusque side that occasionally surfaces when we are standing in a long line to finish up holiday shopping, or waiting to turn at a busy traffic light, is the inside-me that I would prefer to never speak to again.

Tamassee DAR School has been fortunate indeed this Christmas season to be blessed with many angels in human disguise that have shown us the very best human nature has to offer. One of those many angels was Judy Porter of Seneca. Judy adopts a charity each Christmas and works tirelessly to help that charity as part of her Christmas giving. This year Judy joined forces with Jack and Patty Boyd to sponsor “Christmas is for Children” to benefit Tamassee. Working on her own, Judy rang up nearly a thousand dollars in ticket sales for the events, donated a splendid grape vine Christmas tree to be raffled away, sponsored her own benefit luncheon for Tamassee, and still found time to make a gingerbread house for the Tamassee children. It’s hard to adequately say thank you when folks like Judy and the Boyds show us what compassionate hearts can accomplish. But, we keep trying.

Thanks to some literary angels as well: Jan Brannon of Salem is donating a portion of the proceeds of her children’s books to Tamassee now on sale at Sisters’ Restaurant in Salem; and the Walhalla Chapter of the DAR is donating all proceeds from their great cookbook, also on sale at Sisters. We give you profound thanks for caring about Tamassee’s children.

Tamassee children wanted to say thank you back to the Oconee County community this holiday season, and did just that Friday night before Christmas with a program they created for the occasion, perfectly set in the lovely chapel on the Tamassee campus. It was a drizzly, typical winter night, but Christmas spirit ran high. Vickie Lee, our annual giving manager, offered this insight: “This being my first Children’s Christmas Program at Tamassee, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The one thing I knew for sure is that it would be precious simply because it was the children’s gift to us. Teaching parents, Emily Burrell and Elizabeth Good, took children from varied backgrounds and blended them into one unified team to present the musical play, “A Brand New Star.” The Christmas pageant costumes were simple ones made from house robes and handmade angel halos. However, the message of the first Christmas was presented powerfully through the acting and singing of the children. The fact that the children remembered all their lines and the lyrics to the many songs was only surpassed in my mind by the actual talent of the group. One song particularly touched my heart. The senior high girls stood dressed as shepherds, the innkeeper and an angel, and sang “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” This is a difficult song to sing, and they did it beautifully. All the children who participated should be proud of their accomplishment in presenting this play to those of us who appreciate so much the effort they put into it!”

An impressive number of local residents joined the children in the chapel that night to enjoy the simple portrayal of the first Christmas and then mingled in the dining hall for holiday refreshments. It is a Tamassee goal to fill every seat in the chapel next year with friends from the community. It might be a new play or a new program, but you can be sure that the Tamassee children will entertain you and touch that spot in your heart that represents the very best in all of us.

Debbie Williams is the community relations director at the Tamassee DAR School. She is a lifelong resident of Upstate South Carolina and has lived in Oconee County for the past six years