Raised Country!

Cooper Boone

I grew up in a small small town in Minnesota that was basically run by nuns and farmers. Life in my hometown was a place where doors were left unlocked, games were played in backyards not on computers or tvs, people waved when they passed by, the American Flag was honored and a crucifix was not a political statement but one of faith. But, like all things life and times changed.

The world became a different place and the commonly held values and beliefs that I was raised with seemed to become more uncommon as time progressed. This is not a negative statement on progress. I think amazing things have happened over the past 20 years that are magical.
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This post was submitted by Cooper Boone.

Growing up in Florida we usually had warm weather for the Christmas holidays. We still sang ‘Frosty the Snowman’ and ‘White Christmas,’ but we didn’t relate to the lyrics of those songs as much as our friends up North did.

Being raised in an extremely rural area on a cattle ranch, our family made up some of our own Christmas traditions that we dutifully repeated every year. Our mom and a couple of our aunts congregated in the kitchen each Christmas Eve to fry up cornbread to make stuffing for the Christmas turkey, along with delicious pies, cakes and cookies for the big day.

This post was submitted by Publicist.

Hank Cochran

“As a child, I lived with my grandparents and we were very poor. Every year I would hear the other kids talking about Christmas trees and presents – and I really didn’t understand why we didn’t have those things.

We talked about Jesus, but His birthday wasn’t a gift-giving occasion at our small home in Mississippi. One year when I was six or seven, I finally got up the nerve to ask my grandmother why we didn’t celebrate Christmas like everyone else. Her answer was, “You just have to believe.”

Well, that was pretty heady thinking for a kid, but I wanted presents like all of the other kids – so I began to concentrate – and believe.

That Christmas Eve, Grandmother reminded me of my promise to believe, and I went to bed that night praying for “Christmas” with all my might.

This post was submitted by Hank Cochran.