Hartley Neita, Contributor

The Gleaner is not published on Christmas Days or on Good Fridays. So, this year, I thought I would write about some of the good things which have happened on past Christmas Days, hoping these will bring back happy memories for some readers of 'This Day In Our Past', a daily feature of this newspaper for almost 10 years.

Marcus Garvey and his first wife, Amy Ashwood, were married on Christmas Day in 1919.

Another marriage was that of Dahlia Patterson of Cascade, Hanover, who became the bride of Caswell Levy of St. Elizabeth, at the St. Andrew Scotts Kirk in Kingston in 1955. Another Christmas Day wedding was that of Avery Foote of Savanna-la-Mar in Westmoreland and Horace Emmanuel of Lucea, Hanover, who exchanged nuptial vows at the Westmoreland Parish Church in Savanna-la-Mar in 1947. The ceremony was performed by Canon H.W. Cope. Mrs. J.C. Headman, a sister of the bride was matron of honour and her husband was the bestman. And in 2005, Venise Manning, a student midwife at the Kingston School of Nursing and Hugh Stone, a freelance photographer and sub-editor at The Gleaner, were married at the Faith Temple in Bayside, Portmore, St. Catherine.

Among the many birthdays on Christmas Day was Jacqueline Lynch who was born on Christmas Day in 1956. There was a triple blessing for Mrs. Amanda White and her husband Briscoe White of Mahoe Hill in St. Mary when she gave birth to triplets who were boys. Primrose, nee Tyndale-Biscoe, and Jim Gerrard were the parents of a son on Christmas Day in 1954. There was a glorious Christmas gift of a son for Betty and Lloyd Morant, and Christene Noelle was born to Angela and Andrew Strudwick at the St. Joseph's Hospital on Deanery Road in St. Andrew on Christmas Day in 1969.

Christmas day first-borns at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital in Kingston over the years include a boy born to Jean Dale in 1968. He weighed 8 lbs 2 ozs and he was the 14,589th baby born at the hospital so far that year. Yvonne Powell of Roberts Crescent in Kingston gave birth to a girl at 12.05 a.m. in 1973. Another was a girl born to Yvonne Powell of Roberts Crescent, Kingston at 12.10 a.m. She weighed 7 lbs 4 ozs. In 1977, a boy weighing 7 lbs 2 ozs was born to Ivy May Williams.

Clover Stewart gave birth to a baby in 1980. The child who was delivered by Nurse D. Moodie at 1.20 a.m. weighed 71/2 lbs. One year later, 1981, it was Madge Smith who gave birth to the first Christmas Day child at the Hospital. The baby weighed 7 lbs 8 ozs and was delivered by Nurse Demendes Dennis. In 2000 it was Kyneisha Reid who delivered the first baby. She weighed .25 kg, or 7 lbs 3 ozs, and was born at 1:05 a.m.

And in 2004, Sonia Lawrence gave birth to a son who weighed 3.74 kilos, 8.22 lbs.

Best news

Best Christmas Day news of all was when Albert Sterling, a valuation officer of New Port East, found a package containing $1,103,000 in front of Scotia Centre on Port Royal Street last year. The Medallion Hall Hotel's address was written on it and he took it to their offices on Lady Musgrave Road, St. Andrew. Owner and manager Glen Bloomfield was ecstatic.

"In spite of what criminal elements are doing there are still Jamaicans who are humane," he said. "Be careful when you curse Jamaicans; we are good people."

And so say many of us. Have a wonderful Christmas.