People say that Christmas is for the young.
Actually, the holiday is for all of those who are young at heart.
Just ask Martha McCracken of Claysville, who at the age of 91 could put most of her younger counterparts to shame.
"I've always been a Christmas person," said McCracken as she sat recently in her living room, which, like each of the other rooms in her home, is decorated from top to bottom for the holiday.
Most of the decorations are those that McCracken has either collected or made over the years. And while she openly admits that the decorations are not "elaborate," she cherishes each one for the memories they represent.
McCracken starts decorating the day after Thanksgiving. And, each day, she continues to decorate until she's fully adorned for the holiday.
"I now get some help decorating higher places and with heavier items," she admitted. "But, otherwise, I'm left on my own."
And McCracken said she wouldn't have it any other way, although she suffers from congestive heart disease and failing kidneys.
"I'm sort of set in my ways," said McCracken, whose mannerisms are never indicative of any health problems.
From her garage to her bathroom, which includes a giant picture of Santa on the shower curtain, McCracken goes about her seasonal hobby. She admits, however, the work is not as easy as it once was but says it's still just as enjoyable.
To locals, McCracken has come to be known as Mrs. Claus, having played the role for 20 years as the side-kick to her husband, Basil, who played Santa for about 30 years prior to his death in 1998.
"We would go everywhere," she laughed. "We always had somewhere to go."
McCracken added, "We made a lot of friends and met a lot of people."
But Martha McCracken's love for the holiday started long before meeting her second husband in 1967. She recalls going all out for the holidays for her first husband, Fred Kuhn, and their two children.
"Things are much more elaborate now," she giggled. "The big thing then was to hang streamers across the ceiling and then hang a paper bell from the center."
McCracken and her first husband were married for 27 years before his death.
McCracken's giving spirit, however, continues the whole year through, as she is, and always has been, one of those people whose life revolves around helping others who are less fortunate. And it's almost as if she was born without a selfish bone in her small body.
Born in 1917 in Roscoe, McCracken was the youngest of five children. Her mother died while she was just a baby.
"I was a sickly baby. The doctor doubted that I would make it," she said.
With four other children to raise, McCracken's father agreed to allow an aunt from Washington to take her and raise her as her own. With the aunt's love and care, the baby would survive to lead a full and long life.
About a year after she went to live with her aunt, her siblings were placed in the Children's Home in Arden. She said her father paid for them to stay there so they couldn't be adopted, but she never really got to know them until later in life.
"My cousins were more like my brothers and sisters," she said.
At the age of 15, McCracken dropped out of school. She went to beauty school but soon met her first husband. The two were married a year later.
"He never liked me to work," she admitted.
After her children were grown and Fred Kuhn got ill, McCracken said, she joined the work force. During her life, McCracken taught Sunday school at a church in Pleasant Grove, which quickly grew from a class of four to more than 25.
Over the decades, McCracken never was one to sit still. In fact, at the age of 82, she said, she went to work for S. White and Sons Monuments.
"I've seen things change a lot in my lifetime," she said.
Today, although she remains busy, McCracken said she's finding it hard to slow down and accept help from others.
"I've always been a giver, not a receiver," she said. "I have to learn now to ask for help."
And there are a lot of people for McCracken to rely upon. She has her two children, who together gave her seven grandchildren and too many great- and great-great-grandchildren for her to count. She also is close with her second husband's children and has many friends in the community.
"She's always been like this when growing up," said McCracken's daughter, Beverly Sloan, who now shares her mother's Claysville house.
As for all of her brothers, sisters and cousins, well, they're gone now, she said.
Unlike many other people, McCracken refuses to let her age or health issues get her down.
"I tell people you're never alone; God's with you," McCracken said. "And remember why we're really celebrating Christmas."