THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 1, 1995 TAG: 9412300193
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Eric Feber
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
Christmas horsin' around
The Crescent Bay Pony Club has added a new twist to the tradition of Christmas caroling.
They do it on horseback.
Each year the Chesapeake-based club gathers together several of its 16 youthful members. During the caroling the club brings along several adults and parents, grabs a few horses and ponies and then rides through a Chesapeake neighborhood crooning Christmas carols, singing tall in the saddle.
The Crescent Bay Pony Club, with 16 members ages 8-20, is affiliated with Chesapeake 4-H. It offers riding lessons and promotes horsemanship. Its president is Jan Goodmunson.
This year the group walked, rode and trotted through the Chesapeake Colony neighborhood not only to sing but to raise money to help those in need.
According to Sandy Coccaro, one of the group's volunteer moms, the club contacted Chesapeake Social Services about how the money it collected could be put to the best use.
``They were very gracious and receptive to what we wanted to do,'' she said.
Coccaro said the horse carolers consisted of six horses and young riders with an additional nine adults and other volunteers who accompanied the group through the Great Bridge neighborhood.
``We did have spirit even though we really couldn't sing,'' Coccaro said with a laugh. ``All of the families we visited made us feel very welcome. In fact, a couple of kids who came out to hear us began to cry when we left. I think they wanted to pet the horses. The ponies all behaved themselves, too. They weren't too scared of our singing.''
Coccaro said the collected food and money will be given to Social Services to help feed needy families in the city during the holidays.
``It was great,'' Coccaro said about the pony caroling. ``It made them (the members) realize that every little bit can make a difference at this time of year. It helped instill the Christmas spirit.'' Storyteller in a pickle
Western Branch resident Bill Blake, who is a member of the Norfolk Story League, was getting ready to get into his role as teller of holiday tales for a recent civic league meeting in Norfolk.
But he forgot the details about the seasonal tale he wanted to tell: the story of the Christmas pickle.
Last year, Blake, a seventh grade English teacher at Waters Middle School in Portsmouth, and his wife, Edith, were in a Colonial Williamsburg shop where they discovered a glass Christmas ornament in the shape of a pickle.
Blake said the German decoration came with an accompanying history about the tradition of hiding a glass pickle in the family Christmas tree.
``The first child in the family who can find the Christmas pickle receives an extra gift,'' Blake said. ``I liked the story. I thought it was different. It appealed to my sense of humor, and when I tell the story I show the kids in the audience the pickle and have them find it.''
Recently when Blake was getting ready to tell the story he had forgotten some of the tale's details and couldn't find the booklet that came with the ornament.
``I was in a pickle,'' he said. ``I hadn't a gherkin of an idea where to look. Could I tell the story of the Christmas Okra?''
Blake, also a member of the Friends of the Chesapeake Public Library, turned to Victoria Strickland-Cordial, reference library at the Russell Memorial Library on Taylor Road.
``I was assured by Ms. Strickland-Cordial that she would keep on looking,'' Blake said. ``Days passed. Perhaps Hans Christian Andersen's `The Little Fir Tree' would be better.''
Finally, after consulting a friend who worked at the Waterside Christmas Shop and having another friend find mention of it in the December issue of American Girl magazine, Strickland-Cordial found the story.
``This is a tribute to the librarians at the Russell branch, especially Victoria Strickland-Cordial,'' Blake said. ``I was finally able to tell my story at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church.'' by CNB