By Marimar McNaughton Z Photography by Allison Potter
old wilmington CHRISTMAS
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Every year at holiday time, Kathy and Don Britt head for the hills of Alleghany County. On the day after Thanksgiving, in
the small town of Ennice, North Carolina, they observe a family tradition at Carpenter and Son
Evergreens, at mile marker 222 off the Blue Ridge Parkway.
“I do it for my family — my siblings, my children, my nieces and my nephews — to get roping,
pine garlands and wreaths. We have a favorite person who we like to make them. Her name is
Margie,” Kathy says.
When they return to the historic Front Street, Wilmington, house that has been their home since
1976, the Britts hang a pair of double-sided Fraser fir wreaths with red velveteen ribbon, opposite.
“When I open my front door and look out through my storm door, I’m looking out at a pretty
side,” Kathy says.
Reared in the Moravian Christian faith, she displays the symbolic Moravian star from the first
Sunday in Advent through Epiphany on January 6.
With evergreens, boxwood and mountain laurel she cuts herself, she decorates her home’s interior.
Inspired by a crèche that once belonged to her grandmother, Kathy Britt builds a nativity scene
decorated with hand-dug mosses from her mountain home place. The nativity, assembled on a
metal tray, fits neatly into one of her home’s hearths. Above it, inside the chimney, she hangs a
miniature Moravian star to represent the star of Bethlehem.
“I can’t imagine living anyplace without a Moravian star. We’ve been doing that for eons,
25 or 30-40 years,” Kathy says.
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