The Rural Voice, 1985-12, Page 60-72216
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58 THE RURAL VOICE
ALWAYS CHANGING
A durable
Christmas list
I just bet that almost every farm
home has a drawer filled with papers.
They often include a cute birthday
card, a two-year-old wedding invita-
tion, and some letters from friends.
But there are certain letters that just
can't be thrown out. I occasionally
sort through my drawer and throw
some pages away, or at least move
them to a different drawer. One letter
that always returns is a Christmas list
from my parents in 1981.
Here is my favourite farmer's
Christmas letter:
Dear Daughter,
Things are pretty dull. I have been
trying to plow, getting stuck and
covered with water and mud. I have
not thrown my hat away this year. 1
am getting better. (My dad's symbolic
gesture of anger toward an unco-
operative plow is to throw his hat on
the ground and mutter a few words of
disapproval. My job was to chase the
hat and retrieve it before the wind
.blew it into a mud puddle.)
You asked me for a Christmas list
so here goes.
1. Please move closer to home.
2. Get me a box of chocolate turtles.
3. One can mixed nuts.
4. One combine: 16 foot.
5. One tractor: 110 horsepower.
6. One new plow: 5 furrow.
7. Three pair McGregor Happy Foot
sox, size 111/2
Take your pick.
Poor old Dad
Now is that a great Christmas list!
- One great thing about it is that we can
use the same one every year. He
hasn't received the tractor, plow, or
combine yet, and the socks always
wear out before next year anyway. So
the list is always appropriate.
Not to be outdone, my mother add-
ed her Christmas list to the letter.
Hi Phyllis
You didn't ask me for a list but I'm
sending one anyway. Hope you are
having a good time. Don't spend too
much for Christmas. One gift apiece
is enough. Hope you get home before
Christmas so you can hang up your
sock. My list: two pair of panty hose.
With Love, Mom
With parents who can write like
that, it's no wonder I write for a liv-
ing. But I'm sure their simple
Christmas notes say more about a
family farm than I will ever write in
my career, with all my research and
following of journalism rules.
By the way, there's lots of room in
my letter drawer (at least 3 cm).
Maybe it's time to see what a 1985
Christmas list might say. ❑
Phyllis Coulter lives in Stratford and
is news editor Jor The Rural Voice.
Chartered Accountants
P.O. Box 1690,
497 Mein Street.
EXETER. Ontano NOM ISO
(519) 235-0101
orris
lomuth