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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1981-12-23, Page 3Santa. Local tradition too Bells ring out through centuries THE HURON EXPOSITOR, OECENICER 23, 1901 A3 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• It's so cold'up here these days RudOlph's nose might turn blue, But Wrs. C1aus'and 1, and all/the other reindeer have been so busy we'v hardly noticed. I've checked my list twice, as usual, to find out whose been naughty and nice. I'm glad you've been such good children this year and I'll do my best to make sure I leave a little something for each and everyone of you. Ahd thank you alsc for all the lovely letters. I read them all. So do the elves, who sometimes laugh so hard they fall off the workbench into a Shoe. On Christmas Eve remember to get to bed early and get a good sleep. Dear Boys and GirId; ,There have been presents to pack, the sleigh to get ready, but no matter. We're almost ready for the big trip south on Christmas Eve. 'I always enjoy stopping in at Seaforth. There are always so many nice chimneys, cookies and carrots, I can see why they call it "the friendly town" MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT! • North Pole Lucknow area fire Christina Did you see a recent edition of the weekend maga- zine (it's bad so many incar- nations that it have trouble getting the name right. If I call it the Star Weekly, you'll know what I mean) in which a large number of celebrities told us about the Christmas present they remember best? it got me to Welting and asking gouge,- And I dis- covered something curious. Neither I nor my nearest and dearest can remember any one Christmas present - that stands out as the all-round. lifetime best. How those celebrities have such terrific recall I don't know. Likely they aresotrorlaidAed with littlettre card boxes. When an interviewer asks a quest* like "what was your favourite present. ever?" they thumb through and there's the an- swer. printed neatly on a card under "C". Another example. I con- cluded, of why those celebri- tieS are where they are, and me and my friends are where we are. As my husband and I poured over Christmases past, remembering this gift and that. I realized that the most precious thing about Christmas is not the gifts but the memories. I remember the people we've shared Christmas with, some of them now on the other side of the world, some of them who will be with us again on Friday. A friend in England wrote last year that she treasures the Christmas she spent with us,.slesping on the floor of our Unfinished house. It was a jeans and long underwear Christmas, a working Christmas but a terrific one, the first ever in Two youngsters killed in the only house we've owned. MAGIC CHRISTMAS I remember the magic Christmases when I was a kid. The time my brother and I definitely heard Sant&on the roof, and saw the shadow of his.sieigh and reindegepn the slew outside the dark-house. My. grandmother great-aunt Sarabel in their §,unday best adding a lot of dignity to the Christmas table, and some- times inviting an elderly friend or two to loin us. Some years strangers would be there. a couple of airmen from RCAF station. Clinton or nurses from* old hosp- ital. They'd put up with the noise of several kids; we'd be entranced with their stories of their Own homes in far away places. A highlight of those child- hood Christmases was the arrival of our cousins from Waterloo. Uncle Jim would play beautifully on our out-of- tune piano. Cousin John would keep us in stitches with his wit. Skipping ahead about ten years, a poignant Christmas memory is my first one away from the fathily. I was in Nova Scotia. and another grand- mother. aunts, uncles and cousins did everything they could to make me -feel 1T-- home. Wehad sweet potatoes with Christmas dinner. another first and I learned something important...don't be afraid to serve something a little bit different each year... it's nice. Tradition is import- ant, but so is change. The most memorable re- cent Christmas is probably the last one 1 had time to enjoy with relish. Our Gaby was nearly two months old and I was still, home with her. We went to church Christmas Continued from page 1 running down his cheeks. PLAYING SANTA Oliver also remembers playing Santa —CtifirS for the-people of Kilbarchan before he was a resident there. His sister was living in the home then so Oliver got all dressed up that morning and came for a visit. "I 'said 'Ho Ho Ho' when I went into her room" he laughs. Both homes have Santa Claus make a visit Christmas day. Either men from the community or men in the homes dress up as Santa Claus to add some cheer. Christmas day is made as 'close to everyone else's as possible. "We want to make it seem like home for this is their home, and the other residents are their family." said the Manor's director of care, Anne Helm. After opening gifts. the residents go to the dining hall for a special Christmas dinner which the cooks work hard to prepare. • Attention must be given to the diabetieS' meats for they can only have Certain quantities. but on Christmas day all other diets are put aside so the residents can enjoy all they want. In the afternoon, visitors come and carols are sung and things gradually get back to normal. The days after Christmas are somewhat 'depressing 'fur the 'residents. Mrs. 'Bode finds, as there are fewer visitors and the decorations start coming down. Eve and then had a super party with relatives from all over the place. Someone brought a magnum of Ohara- pagne. wonder at the,tree and' all the people lit up our new baby's eyes. And the wonder of her. first grandchild to four people in the ro.om, first niece to lots of others, lit up everybody else. We've got ,other good Christmases since. Mass gatherings of the clan with cousins and their offspring from all over the province are always fun, especially for our daughter as those little second cousins take the place of their first cousins she doesn't have. Cousin John A nursing home Christmas Something to sax is m by Susan White stilt has us rolling around With his wit. arid we all get ateng remarkably well for relatives.., In recent years we've spent a couple of Christmases in New York City. that infamous place where nobody cares about nobody. T'aint. so I can afire) now. Christmas, cheer infects everyone in the Big Apple. Stores. museums. restaurants are full of friendly helpful people. Maybe it's just at Christmas...so far 1 haven't had a chance to find out. I'll report after a summer visit sometime. A few years ago we had so many house guests for Christ- mas that the overflow had to move intetowoandstayat my parents' house. They bad fine OM:my parent* Weteret so sure. Upon awakening Christmas morning they found that all the gifts. under the tree, carefully inscribed "To Mother Rim AY" Or "To Alan from, your ;0414 sis- ter" etc. all had pencilled in additions. Theverygift card underthe tree was added, "and Chad and Eric." MAIN that's the real spirit of Christmas, Merry Christmas to every- one of you from me and mine. And a special wish for joy and happiness to the person who's had The most to do with making the holiday season a happy one for me for the past 34 years. She's in. hospital .. this year. recovering-limn-an operation. but the memories she's given us over the-years will stay strong and bright for the whey family. Merry - Christmas, mom. FIRST ARENA CONTRIBUTION — The Seaforth Junior Farmers , made, the first contribution to the Seaforth arena fund Friday when they donated $1.,000 from pioCeeds from dances and other activities.' bonating the cheque is (left to right) John Van Vliet, Junior' Odds n' ends by Elaine Townshend the candlelight flicker on the rough wooden across at the front of the church. When the service was over, they headed home/again waving and shouting "Merry Christmas" to all their friends. 'The drive home seemed to take an eternity. Excite- ment mounted with every mile. At last they were all gathered in the pciour, and Papa was handing out the gifts. Emily's eyes shone when she opened the new crriss mother had made for her. It was pale blue, cotton with a stain bow at the waist. She had never worn a dress so pretty. She understood little Theresa's squeal of delight when she opened the wax doll that seemed so lifelike. Emily remembered how she felt when she got her doll. children; and a pair of socks and warm Bob had made good use of the jack knife knitted mittens for each of them. In the heel" Papa had given him last Christmas. He of each stocking was stuffed a huge orange. whittled a wooden horse for Ben and a train The orange made a special Christmas - for Edward'. When Bob opened the hammer breakfast treat after a steaming bowl of hot with the strong wooden handle and -the porridge. Mother insisted they needed quarter pound of nails.. Papa could tell he a nourishing breakfast to keep them warm was already planning what he could build. on the long sleigh ride to church. As usual, mother and papa were the last After breakfast, everyone scurried into to open their gifts. They always took their finest Sunday clothes and bundled up pleasure in watching the youngsters open in coats, scarves, hats, mitts and boots. theirs first. Mother was delighted with the Mother and the younger children huddled wooden glove box that would sit do her under a buffalo robe in the sleigh with hot dresser and the linen handkerchiefs with bricks at their feet. The buffalo robe was a the lacy edges. Papa said the plaid flannel prized gift from Papa's father. shirtwould keep him good and warm for the The drive to the, church in the village took winter. three-quarters of an hour; but no one Emily helped mother clean, up the minded. It was a bealitifUl morning. A light wrapping paper from around the tree, then snow was falling, and the bells on the she rushed upstairs to try on her new dress. team's harness rang merrily., Thezthdren The younger children played with their toys passed the time bysinging carols and trying in the parlopi, while Bob disappeared- no to guess what presents were waiting at doubt looking for pieces of scrap lumber. home for them. Papa stoked up the fires in the parlour Every pew in the church was filled. The and the kitthen. Mother could spend the children tried, but it was hard to conceit- rest of the day in the kitchen preparing the trate art the minister's message. They did Christmas feast for her family and the enjoy singing carols, though. and watching guests that would soon airrive. The Seaforth and District Community Centres Committees, which meets • again tomorrow (Wednesday) at 8 p.m. at Town Hall, has selected its fund raising comniittee, which it will recommend to the five municipalities it is responsible to-Seaforth. and the townships of McKillop, Tuckersmith. Hibbert and Hullett. Recommending such a committee .vas one of the charges of the centres committee. Continued from page 2 way they are today. On Christmas morning many of us will find our microwave ovens, our digital watches. our mini-computer home entertainment centres under the wrapping. But there are a lot of other precious gifts which we don't find under the tree. We've already got them, and like the kid who quickly discards the _first toy he opens because he only. has eyes for the they may slip and reveal their religious feelings to some stranger who will report it to The authorities. On the other hand we have the right to celebrate this holiday as we wish. or not'at alt if we wish. There are parts of the world where- the religious zealots have taken over completely, where they, who have the only answer about their god, insist that everyone go alongpith their ideas, sometimes with the pettalty bf death for disobedience. • We have the peace part of the Peace on Earth proclamation of the angel choir. We have had this blessed peace for so long that most of us don't know 1,hat it really means. We hear of wars and rumours of wars but we have no first hand experience of the horrors involved. ,It's impossible, no matter how vivid the television news footage, for us to understand. the grief, the frustrations and fears of those who have to live in a country torn apart by war. ' We don't know what it's like to have our homes, our communities reduced to rubble, to have ions killed daughters raped, children maimed. We don't know Whit it's like to go to wood stove, but no cause has been determined. The trailer was burned to its foundation. and was not insured. Police say the 'children's mother. K athleen spotted smoke , and tried to enter the burning home but was driven back by flames. She had been outside with her eldest Son, seven-year-old Allen. trying to catch a horse which had broken loose. She is staying with relatives in Goderich. The Lucknow fire depart- ment fought the blaze. which is alsd to recommend a community centres project and give a detailed report to the five municipalities. Marten K. Vincent is the chairman of the Proposed fund taising committee. Kenneth .1. Cardno co-chairman, Archie M. Leaeh (C.A.) treasurer ind Irma Pryce secretary. Proposed directors are: Ronald Murray. Kenneth Stapleton, DaVid A. Tremeer, William Strong, Terry Craig. Theo Melody. Ed Salverda and Don Jewitt. bed at night not knowing if we will awaken. We will sitdown after the gifts are open for a bountiful Christmas dinner, a Tradition. something we would feel' robbed if we couldn't have. Yet looking at the heaping tables of food would likely make the eyeS-of many third world children pop out as far as their distended stomachs. That amount of food could keep a third world family alive for weeks. We will spend. most of us. more on Christmas dinner and presents than most of the people in the world earn in a year. After if we grumble about what is wrong, that the goVernment is to blame for all the harriships in Our lives, we have the right to grumble. All we have to do these days is look at Poland to realize how precious a gift that is. In many countries, for instance, you wouldn't be reading this column because the writer would , have, been in prison for his past "crimes" against the state. You would be catieus who you grumbled too because if thtise grumbles were reported to the wrong ears, you might be spending Christmas behind bars. There are those who would make us feel guilty at this tiniedthe year for the blessings we have that others don't. There is no real need to feel guilty, unless we are so closed-minded that we fail to see that we are' privileged. We need not feel guilty, but at least we cap pause long enough to be thankful for.the gifts that aren't under the tree. And then if we can take time to give to those wno aren't so fortunate. here or abroad so much the better. BY JOANNE RIMMER For centuries bells have been an intricate part of the Christmas tradition. On Christmas Eve, three ,Seaforth churches will continue thi& tradition when their bells peel to announce services which will celebrate the birth ,of Christ. Originally bells were used to announce. Deaths. weddings. and church services were all announced by the ringing of church bells. St. Thomas Anglican Church's bell. installed in 1863, rang five times per day for the "public's convenience" many years ago. Presently it rings only to announce church services. Bells originated in Asia about 800 B.C.. and were worn by Israelites according to the Old Testament, to ward evil spirits away. The first connection of bells and Christian worship appeared in 420 A.D. with Pauliints. Bishop of Nola. Throughout the following centuries, the bells became more 'commonly used and closely associated with Christianity. At one time, bells were blessed by bishops with holy water and oil. For centuries bells have been rung on Christmas Eve, fot one hour before midnight, to announce the death of the deveil. At midnight the solemn ringing, of the kind that accompanies death, changes to joyous ringing. telling of the birth of the infaet Jesus. StvJames Church's bell, installed in 1894, rings before-its services and at scheduled times each day. Christmas carols sound throughout Sea- forth when the First Presbyterian Church's carilloinellsplay traditional hyhms during Advent. The carillon of bells were installed in the church's steeple in 1967 and have played' hymns twice daily for Seaforth citizens ever since. The carillon of bells, which has a tonal equivalent of 79,462 pounds of cant bronze hells.- was dedicated to the "glory of God and to the service of the community in the memory of Mr. and Mrs. Merton A. Reid and in honour of those who loved and served in the fellowship of First Church through one hundred yeari 1867.1967." ' Many bells have been similarly deflated to churches and most are inscribed with a However. it's not too long until Valen- tine's Day. Salaries Continued from page, 1 eaux, Keith Montgomery, Tim McDonnell, and Murray opposed, one trustee didn't vote. Director of education Eckert said when a trustee does not declare his intention to abstain from voting before the vote is taken, and, there is a tie, the vote is automatically cast in the affirmative. The director of education was offered an increase of $3 .000 for 1982. increasing his 1981 salary of $46,500 to S49,500. Mr. Marcy defended the motion, stating other staff members such as teachers,' custodians-:and board office secretaries all received salary increases over 10 per cent. A 7.3 per cent increase was alloted to the superintendent of education. This salary will increase from $41,000 to $44,000, effective January 1. 1982. The co-ordinator of maintenance and assessment received-a salary increase of 12 . per cent. The co-ordinator's salary increased from S20,860 in ,1981 to S23,365 for 1982. Mileage rates for the board, were also increased, retroactive to September. The rate increased from 25 cents per mile to 28 cents per mile. In other business, the board accepted the resignation of Grace Heleno of St. Patrick's School. Dublin, effective Dec. 31. Latin inscription. continuing with church. tradition. Bells vary in size., the biggest being the one in the Cathedral of Cologne, weighing 2 7 tons. The bells 'in First Presbyterian and St. James are now automated and a timer makes them sound at , the proper time, However, if a 'power failure occurs,, the chimes , will be set for the wrong time. One year. a power fail ure went unnoticed by Harold Coleman. the man in charge of First . Church's bells, since his house was unaffected by the failure. When the bells started pealing in the wee hours of the morning, he knew something was wrong. _m As Seaforth citizens celebrate their Christmas, they will undoubtedly hear the Christmas bells, reminding them of the strong tradition which they are continuing. Clyistmas Day, 1981 No one slept much last night. The parents were up late preparing for the day ahead. The children were just too excited to sleep, even Bob who thought he was too old to admit he was looking forward to -another Christmas as much as the younger ones, When Edward,Entity, Ben and Theresa tripped d'own the stairs and peeked round the parlour door in the morning, they weren't disappointed. The four red stock- ings hung on the fireplace were bulging. Santa had emptied the plate of ginger- bread cookies they had left for him. In their place, he filled each stocking with packets of butterscotch wafers and bundles of licorice sticks. There wereyractical thine, too- a Teed pencil' an an erasure for the older childreh for school; crayons for the younger Farmer treasuier, Roger Morrison-, Junior Farmer president, and receiving is Ken Cardno, fund-raising and Ken Campbell chairman at the Community Centres Committee: (Photo by Rimmer) Two brothers, aged three years and six months. were -.killed Saturday on concession 13 of Ashfield Township when trapped inside their permanently.positioned trail- ' er home by a fire that began about 1:30 p.m. Dead are Jamie Langille and his young- er brother Jason. Another brother, six-year- old Kevin, escaped the trailer unhurt-Provincial police at Goderich say an Ontario fire marshall's investigator says the fire started in the area of a Fund raising to start Behind the scenes by Keith Roulston