Brothers help keep up tradition

Published 12:00 am Sunday, December 26, 1999

The two brothers worked peacefully together on a comfortable Christmas Eve afternoon.

Robert Bradley, 16, and Deacon Newman, 7, were filling luminary bags at 205 Margaret Avenue in Natchez.

&uot;We do it every year,&uot; Bradley said.

Email newsletter signup

&uot;The whole neighborhood does it for the one night and then we take them up Christmas Day.&uot;

The boys made an efficient assembly line for the white bags with dirt in the bottom. The boys’ father, Mark Newman, put the boys to work.

&uot;I told them to get out here and I didn’t want to hear any fighting,&uot; Newman said with a laugh.

The boys’ mother, Nora Newman, was concerned that the neighborhood display might suffer this year.

&uot;I’m afraid fewer people may do it this year,&uot; she said.

When fully lit, the neighborhood allows for cars to drive through without headlights on, she said. The lumaries light the way.

&uot;The lights on the houses aren’t as much as some years,&uot; Mark Newman said. &uot;And then some years it’s looked like Las Vegas through here …&uot;

The Newmans had their stash of white luminary bags and were quickly filling them.

&uot;We’ve got to get it done this afternoon because we’re going to our grandmother’s tonight,&uot; Bradley said.

Luminaries stretched across the front yard of the Newman home and lined the driveway.

&uot;Different people do it differently,&uot; Bradley said.

A ninth-grader at Natchez High School, Bradley enjoys science and history.

Newman is in the second grade at Adams County Christian School and says his favorite subject is math.

Newman said he is considering a career in medicine – possibly as a doctor.

&uot;You should have heard what he wanted to be last year,&uot; said Newman’s father.

&uot;Grave digger,&uot; he said with a laugh.

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