HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1973-12-19, Page 2fiT.4,14.*REFP.•
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Brussels Post
,WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1973
ONTARIO
Serving Brussels and the surrounding community
published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
by McLean Bros. Publishers, Limited..
Evelyn Kennedy Editor Tom Haley - Advertising
Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association.
Subscriptions fin advance) Canada $4.00 a year, Others
$5.00 a year,' Single copies 10 cents each. —
Second class mail Registration No. 0562.
Telephone 8874641.
Christmas for everyone
Tis the season to be jolly" and these days most of us
are , — though we may grouch about too much
shopping to do-and not enough time left to do it in.,
Even the Scrooges among us have been known to put
aside year round 'nastiness and bad temper and do a
good deed or at least smile at someone during the
Christmas season.
In our affluence and our bustle we may find it hard
to believe.that for many people — the poor and the
lonely, for example, Christmas is the saddest season
of the, year.
Suicide rates alWays go up in December. Ministers
report receiving more calls from distraught people.
,There are always more murders and serious
domestic fights in the big cities as Christmas
approaches.
Why are some of Us more full of joy and hospitality
during the holiday season than at any other time of
the, year while others are depressed enough to want
to kill themselves?
It could be becaUse the festivity and frivolity of our
Christmas season is somewhat painful if, like the
little match girl who froze in the snow, you are
outside in the cold looking on. An article in the
December Esquire says that the way we celebrate
Christmas, with all the stress on material things and
the idealized pictures of family togetherness, makes
the holiday season very hard to take for those who
don't have money to buy their kids the latest jazzy
gift or who 'don't have family or friends to celebrate
with.
Christmas with its emphasis on success and
happiness points out to those who haven't "made it"
in terms of the classic American dream their
inadequacy and failure. That just might help account
for high December suicide rates.
Christmas is,a time to be happy and to thank our
lucky stars that we can be happy. But it doesn't hurt
to remember, and to help in every way we can, those
who aren't happy during the Christmas season.
Christmas is a time to practice brotherhood and
good will to all men. We can also give thought to
removing the social problems like poverty,
alcoholism and loneliness that make the holidays a
,trying time for too many people:
Halve a lovely time celebrating this holiday season,
but remember those who have very lithe to
celebrate. Merry Christmas one and all!
-s?:5
-MX&
When there are no kids around,
Christmas loses• a lot of its excitement. At
least that's the way it seems around our
house this year.
We've always had .a family Christmas,
most often at the farm of the grandparents,
Those Were'great old traditional festivities.
We drove to the farm, left the car at the
highway 'and staggered through the snow
up the lane to the house, loaded with gifts,
The kids, wrapped to the noses, were fairly
hysterical by the time we entered the big,
warm farm kitchen.
There we were assailed by the
enveloping scents of roasting turkey and
pine needles,• a wonderful combination,
'Then came the opening of presents,
• with everybody protesting, "Oh, you
shouldn't have.. . ." Except the kids. They
would rip off the wrappings, scarcely a
glance at the contents and start looking
under the tree for another package with
their name on it.
A lot of love and thought went into the
gifts, and so metimes there were tears of
pleasure.
- The women talked a blue streak and
caromed Off each other as they charged
around the kitchen. The men sat around
drooling..And the children were the centre
of attention, funny and delightful, and they
loved it. •
Then came the great orgy at the table,
with everyone froni the littlest to Grandad
, tucking into the turkey and trimmings-until
their eyes were bulging.
This was sort of the climax of the
holiday, and like every climax, it had its
anti-climax: great stacks of dishes to be
washed; distended hellies;, exhausted kids,
In its way, it was 'a pretty pagan
celebration.
But by evening, everything was cleared
up, digestions would begin operating
again; and there'd be carols and quiet talk
— and a' general feeling of wartnth and love
and Security. •
This WAS the culmination of several
WeekS of Christtrids pageants and
Christmas parties at the Legion Flail for the
kids, and writing cards to old friends, and
scrambling around for gifts, an d putting up
the thrice-blasted tree and pretending
there weren't going to be a lot of presents
this year.
They were good times, and i'miSs theta,
but f Oft know whether .1 cotild stand the
thee any Mete,. I was working about twelve
hours a day, and there seemed to be a.
festivity or Setrietiling every bight.
There
we
-a: couple of Christmases
that ate funny in retrospect, though at the
stionliteitt.iiete WAS a Marked lack of Christian
One was the time we bought the
television set for the grandparents. It was
in the early days of TV, and we all chipped
in to buy the set. None of us could afford
one for ourselves. There was tremendous
secrecy. It was to be the surprise of the
century.. My brother-in-law andl dragged
the great brute of a box up the lane on ,a
toboggan and wrestled it into the
farmhouse. It was to be opened under the
. tree.
• Kim was about three, and full of that
wild excitement that invests kids at
ChristmaS.' We had ,barely deposited the
big box in •the house when she piped,
"Hope you like the tee-bee, Granny."
Somesecret. Some surprise.
, And there was the Christmas we held at
our place. The grandparents and the aunts
and other assorted bodies were invited. My
wife had spent two hours the night before
scrubbing and waxing the kitchen floOr. I
had spent three hours preparing, the
turkey. We were going to' show them that
we could entertain in style.
All was in readiness. The Old Battleaxe
told me to take the tuck out of the oven. I
did, skidded on the wax, and roasting pan,
turkey and all went flying through the air,
Wall-to-wall grease. Turkey basted in
floor ,vvax, It was one of the less-memor-
able moments in 'a happpy marriage.
And I remember Christmases a long
time ago, in the DepresSion, when a child's
one and only present might be a suit of
long underwear, or a handknit Sweater.
Depressing, was the Depression.
Of recent years, Our kids have come
straggling in front university, sOnletinies
With a friend, for Christmas, And we've
..had music and good food, and fun.
Last year we were alone, If I remember
correctly, we dined on frozen meat pies. I
had bought the usual two trees. I got the
little one up. The big Sprtice`WaS leaned in
a corner', and I threw it out on Boxing:
Day. •
This year, we'll be alone again, But
things are going to be different.
So/II-high won't be home. He's off
deepest Quebec. gut he's, already
h d hs
present, Daughter kith Won't be home,
because I ddn't particularly want my
grandchild both on' a bus.
So. We're' thinking of closing up thd-
joint and going' to the city,My wife Can
supervise the layettes I can write cheques.
• We'll stay in a hotel,. Where soiriebody else • had to grapple with the tree, ,
And, if things filth' out just right, We
might get the finest Christmas present
we've ever received, A bouncing baby
grandchild,