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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2008-12-24, Page 24VICKY BREMNER Photographer Christmas is always about family. The highlight is having everyone gathered together, whether in body or heart. Christmas now is spent with my husband’s family. We stay overnight at his mother’s Christmas Eve then help to prepare the meal. This group is large in number so the dinner is at a local hall to accommodate. As a result the day is less about ceremony than about being together. But I still think back from time to time about elegant Christmas dinners at my maternal grandmother’s. Grandma was born in Germany in 1906, the youngest of 13. At the age of five she was sent off to South America to live with a wealthy aunt and uncle who eventually adopted her. She married my grandfather, a banker, while still living in South America. When she was pregnant with her fourth child, my mom, he passed away and she came to Canada. I remember her as quite a classy lady, who went into great detail in hosting a gathering and the family Christmas dinner was no less impressive. No matter how many of us were going to be there, nor how many different family groups she would be hosting, she always treated it like it was a very special occasion and we weren’t just family buthonoured guests. Fresh linens, china,crystal and her best silver flatwaregraced the table. We would open our presents eachChristmas morning before heading to grandma’s and even as a child I noticed her table. To a young girl, she gave the impression of something being very special about this family meal. It was a nice touch. I mean the food still tastes the same no matter how it is served, but this was grandma. Many of those fine things have been divided up among family or lost. But I was fortunate enough to have inherited her china and maybe some day I will use it to put her special touch on our Christmas meal. ELISABETH GORDON Her traditions remembered PAGE 24. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2008. Keepsake Citizen photographer Vicky Bremner, left, is now the owner of her Grandmother Gordon’s china, while Bremner’s mom, Mary Jardine inherited her mother’s crystal. With them are Bremner’s children, from left: Aislinn, Brinna and Carlene. (Courtesy photo) Grandma’s table made holidays special Downtown Brussels 519-887-6856 www.mccutcheonmotors.ca Best Wishes From the staff & management of J.L. McCutcheon Motors MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR Deliveries November 1, 2008 to January 10, 2009 J.L. McCUTCHEON MOTORS LTD. The Citiz en Wishing you a season of joy and happiness. Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas and all the best in the coming year! From the staff at The Citizen cfp@machan.ca Machan & Associates Financial Planning Services Brian Machan, CFP William Chan, CFP Season’s Greetings Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We look forward to serving you in 2009. Opening January 5, 2009 406 Queen St., Blyth Continued from page 23 we were already tired and now had to drag a tree through the deep snow. Then, of course, came the task of trying to find a way to get the tree home in those days when we didn’t have a pick-up truck or a van, or even roof racks on a car. Eventually we’d get home, get the too-tall and too-wide tree into the house, cut a couple of feet of trunk off the bottom, get the tree straight in the tree stand and tie it to the wall in various directions to make sure it remained upright. By today’s standards, it was a thinly-limbed, spindly specimen of a tree. To we children, who had no “ideal” tree to judge it against in pre-television days, it was a thing of beauty and excitement. Which perhaps explains why I don’t worry if I get the rejects at the tree lot when I’m picking a tree today. I know in the long run the tree is beautiful for what it represents, not for the better thing it should have been. And the great thing is at the tree lot there’s no snow to fall down my neck. Child’s eyes see the beauty