Natchez &8212; For some Natchez children during the late &8217;70s and early &8217;80s, no Christmas would be complete without a visit to Christmas Mountain.

And for a couple of the children, now grown, it is the memories of Christmas Mountain and its creator that are one of the greatest gifts of the Christmas season.

Out of white Styrofoam boxes stacked one on top of the other, Alma Carpenter created what Sarah Gray Miller and Brooks Harrington, as children, looked upon as a magical construction.

Filling the center of the table in the Elms parlor and spilling over onto a side table, Christmas Mountain was covered with hundreds of tiny ornaments. The ornaments ranged from little figurines of Christmas soldiers and elves to tiny wooden toys to larger nutcrackers depicting far off lands.

Figurines floated on moons and stars. Angels hovered above whole villages of ornaments. Penguins and ice-dancers skated on frozen ponds made from mirrors.

&8220;It was a magical event,&8221; Harrington said as he and Miller reminisced.

&8220;It was better than Macy&8217;s department store. Natchez didn&8217;t have anything like it,&8221; Sarah Gray&8217;s mother Mimi said.

Each year, Carpenter invited Natchez families to the Elms to celebrate the holidays.

The adults in the family snacked on holiday treats and festive cocktails as the children pored over the tiny ornaments filling the parlor while eating cookies and milk.

&8220;There was great anticipation about Christmas Mountain,&8221; Miller said.

For each ornament, Carpenter had a story to tell. Many stand out in the minds of Miller and Harrington.

Like the tiny wooden figurine of a boy that, when the back of his head was tapped, his tongue would stick out.

&8220;That little boy with his tongue sticking out was always there,&8221; Miller said. &8220;Alma used to say, &8216;He was a bad, bad little boy.&8221;

But probably the most memorable aspect of Christmas Mountain were the tiny personalized ornaments Carpenter hid among the figures for each child to find and then take home.

&8220;The ornament was the payoff,&8221; Miller said with a sly smile. &8220;It is one of the few Christmas traditions that I still remember.&8221;