Christmas past comes to life for El Campo woman
By QUALA MATOCHA lifestyle@leader-news.com

Family members dressed in Biblical attire waited for the arrival of Mary Sexton as they celebrated Christmas together the weekend prior to the holiday. Sexton was surprised by her children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren who portrayed characters in the re-telling of the Christmas story. Inside her house even more surprises awaited her. Contributed Photo

With a host of family present, Mary Sexton was pleasantly greeted with several surprises this past Christmas.

"This was the best Christmas ever," she said.

Sexton has six children, 18 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. All were eagerly waiting for her arrival at her home the weekend prior to Christmas, with the exception of one son and his family who live in Kilgore. On her lawn, the costumed-dressed group sang Christmas carols and delivered scripture about the birth of Christ.

"I was just in awe to see my children get together - they did such a good job," she said. " It was just beautiful."

The whole evening was organized by Sexton's granddaughter, Christy Martin, who heard her grandmother talk about Christmases as a child.

"She had heard my stories before," she said. "We lived poorly out in the country." Sexton's father would chop down a tree, bring it inside and her family would decorate it with homemade decorations such as popcorn strings and construction paper chains. Her family did the same and added small personalized photos to the tree.

The main characters were her greatgranddaughter Kelsey Mitchell who was Mary, great-grandson Tyler Bazinet as Joseph and her 7-month-old great-great granddaughter Heather Frazier as baby Jesus.