Showing kindness to others and decorating your house in lights are hallmarks of the Christmas season — and both could be found at Herman and Velma Cowart’s Holly Drive house this weekend.

It was there that, on a sunny and cool Sunday afternoon, next-door neighbor Richard White was busy hanging icicle lights along the edge of the Cowarts’ roof.

&uot;My husband had a stroke, so he is not able to do this type of thing, and Richard was nice enough to do it for us,&uot;&160;Velma Cowart said.

White, the Cowarts’ neighbor for three and a half years now, ascended the ladder to staple the lights, then descended again to view his work with wife Michelle and daughter Morgan, 2.

&uot;This isn’t taking long at all,&uot;&160;Richard White said. &uot;Now, our house took three days to decorate.&uot;

That included a whole day to string lights through the branches of a towering tree in their yard, plus time to string garlands around the house and place wooden snowmen and other decorations in the yard.

The Cowarts don’t usually decorate their house that much for Christmas, but this year is a special occasion.

Almost all their children and grandchildren are coming in from around the country to be with them this holiday.

That group will include sons who live in Montana and Arizona and two grandsons from Texas. For them, the Cowarts will also decorate the ramp to their front door and string lights on the shrub in the front yard.

&uot;But we’re going to wait to put the tree up until they get here,&uot;&160;Velma Cowart said before going into the house to make cookies to send to a granddaughter who won’t make it to Natchez this year.

&uot;I want that to be something we do together.&uot;

The Dart is a weekly feature in which a reporter throws a dart at a map and finds a story wherever it lands.