The Citizen, 2012-12-20, Page 25THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012. PAGE 25.
For Neil and Joan Vincent, family
Christmas celebrations have not
only been a tradition over the years,
but a tradition that has remained in a
static home.
“We still try to have a Vincent
Christmas every year to celebrate,”
the North Huron Reeve explained.
“Being as this house [in Belgrave]
was the house my mom and dad
built, we try and keep it here. This
year [our daughter] Margaret is
hosting the celebration, but she’s
still hosting it here.”
The celebration is one that people
come to from not only miles around,
but hundreds of miles around,
according to Joan, who said that,
thus far, relatives from as close as
around Huron, from further afield in
Ontario and from as far away as
Australia have confirmed that they
will be in attendance.
“Christmas always has been and
still is a family get together for us,”
Neil explained, with Joan saying
that the two still get together with
Margaret every year for an
immediate family party. “It hasn’t
really changed since I was a kid, it’s
still similar in a lot of ways.
“Aunts’ and uncles’ families
worked to get together when I was
young, but when my generation
began to have families, people began
to spread out,” he said. “In later
years, we tried to get together
sometimes, not necessarily at
Christmas, but still to celebrate it.”
Neil explained that both his and
Joan’s family are well connected
and that they get together in October
to celebrate together. He said that
everyone tries to attend, including
second and third cousins.
“It used to be a real rush trying to
get to two Christmas celebrations on
Christmas Day,” Joan said.
Neil added that a lot of the issues
weren’t even about scheduling the
events or getting there, but figuring
out who was responsible for
bringing what. He added that what
usually ends up happening is there’s
twice as much food as there needs to
be to feed the family.
Joan agreed, but stated that, with
Neil’s larger family, the Vincent
Christmas celebrations had their
own difficulties in being scheduled.
“There is more effort in the
Vincent Christmas simply because
there are more of them,” she said.
“There’s more from our generation
and more from the next generation.
Neil has three brothers, who each
have three children and there’s four
kids in the next generation, that’s 20
or so in the house.”
As far as how today is different,
Neil said the celebrations aresimilar, but everything aboutChristmas outside the family has
changed.
Contemporary Christmas has
become a lot more work than it was
in the past according to Vincent,
regardless of who you’re buying for.
“Now, presents are much harder to
find, celebrations are harder to
schedule and it’s just work and more
work,” Vincent said. “As a kid, you
picked two to three items, that was
your story and you stuck to it.
Society is so much more affluent
these days, however, that people just
go and get things when they want.
When I was a kid, you looked at
things and hoped to get them as a
gift, not expected to get them right
away.”
Vincent said that, even for older
generations, the problem of
affluence is there.
“I know that, for [my] mom and
dad, it got hard to really figure out
what to buy them since people just
go buy things,” he said. “Society
teaches us to get things instead of
saying, ‘That would be nice to get
for Christmas’. I do, however, noticethat donations in peoples’ names area great gift, especially with older
people.”
Neil continued to say that, through
the work he does with being a part of
Huron County Council and North
Huron Council, he’s noticed that
there is a widening gap between the
haves and the have-nots and that
people need to work on that.
“I’m seeing a lot more families
that are affluent, but we have a
number of other families struggling
in this economic climate,” he said.
“For those neighbours who are
struggling to get by, it’s humbling to
see how much a little can help and
mean to them. You also see them
help others, and pay it forward many
times over through their lifetime.”
Joan said that Christmas, for her,
is a time to communicate with
family and friends, even if it is just
through something as simple as a
Christmas card.
“It’s really a time to keep in
contact with people,” she said. “We
don’t write letters, but Christmas
Keeping the homestead homey
North Huron Reeve Neil Vincent, right, and his wife Joan, welcome their families to the family
homestead for Christmas every year, even if they’re not technically hosting the Christmas
celebration. (Denny Scott photo)
Vincent ‘blessed’ to live in Huron County
The magic of the holiday season is in the air
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to gather and celebrate the joy this
holiday season has to offer.
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By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 26