Southwest Christmas

Christmas Eve arrives in the Arizona desert. Azure shadows cast the rocky landscape into detailed relief. The clear dusk takes on a crisp chill as the sun's last glow tints hills and buildings pink. Doves murmur in the chaparral while a mockingbird trills its ancient carol.

Mesquite and cedar fires perfume the night air. The scent blends with the rich aroma of fresh tamales a-making in the kitchen, the sweet cinnamon smell of the biscochos on the table, and the spicy bouquet of the scarlet chili wreaths that festoon the front door.

A tribe of small brown-eyed boys and girls laugh and frolic up the front walk of an adobe home. Glimmering luminarias-lanterns made from sandfilled paper bags in which votive candles burn-light their way. It is Las Posadas, the ceremonial reenactment of Joseph and Mary's search for lodging in Bethlehem.

For nine days the children carry church statues from door to door. At each house, the little peregrinos beg inSpanish and English, "Who will give lodgings to these pilgrims worn out by traveling?" Time after time, they are turned away. At last the occupants throw open their gates and invite them in, reciting the traditional verse, "This is thy house, believe me/Most humbly do we offer it thee."

In many homes, women bake tamales to exchange with special friends on Christmas morning. Traditionally, Christmas Eve was a day of fasting, when people refrained from eating meat. The spicy, meat-filled Mexican treats were made and set aside to be relished as soon as the family returned from Midnight Mass, and extras were traded with friends on Christmas morning. The custom continues. This evening is much like the night, almost 2000 years ago, when Jesus Christ was born in a little desert town called Bethlehem, in Judea. Climate and country there closely resemble the American Southwest. Starting at Nazareth, trace the

COWBOYS CAN BE

Tom Mix and John Hampton. Their lives have spanned more than a century of the American West. In their own theatrical ways they helped shape and enhance the leading character in America's universal morality play: the legend of the cowboy, set on his panoramic stage and supported by Indians, badmen, saloon girls, cavalrymen, sodbusters, and prospectors.

Tom Mix was 38 years of age, a native of Mix Run, Pennsylvania, when John Hampton was born in New York City, in 1918.

Tom, first a valorous soldier, became a foreman on an Oklahoma ranch. He won riding and roping events in big time rodeos. He served as sheriff and marshal, before Hollywood transformed him into a hard-fisted, cleanliving Man in the White Hat on the silver screen. Johnny Hampton, city boy, grew up on Tom Mix movies. Inspired by them, John sauntered down the streets