Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1988-12-21, Page 10Page 10 Times -Advocate. December 21, 1988 • Recalling the ti r Yvonne Reynolds • with • quotes from, Charles Dick- ens' A- as Carol "I -am the , st of Christmas hast: " - EXETER - Christmas Day is ex- tra special for Exeter resident Es- trella Finkbbiner, Shc was married December 25, 1918. . Why.choosc'that date? That day proclaimed the birth of the Saviour •she has served faithfully all her life. • Besides, Estrella confided, with a . mischievous smile, she has always liked to read, and had been captivat- ed -by the romantic story of a fic- tional• heroine who .had chosen. Chrisunas Day as her wedding day. The wedding was very simple: It took place in her parents' farmhouse near Listowel. Standing up with the bride and groom were Estrella's parents and her brother, his wife and •child: A bad sleet storm made trav- el difficult, and the. raging flu epi- demic stopped people from gather- . ing together.... Everyone sat down to a goose din- ner prepared by the bride,'s mother and sister-in-law. Estrella remem- bers 'the table looked especially at- tractive, set with all the good china and silverware. Thc, newlyweds' boarded the train the next day for Centralia, stopping tiff at a London jewellers where Dan Finkbeiner bough`[ his bride a beau- tiful necklace.' The stage coach • took the Finkbciners from Centralia to Estrella's new farm home north- west of Crediton. Going -hack 10 the Christmases of her childhood, .Estrella recalls sim- plc pleasures. The day would begin like any other, ,with a porridge breakfast followed by morning wor- ship. oeship. On this day, her father would read the Christmas story from the Bible. Gifts were exchanged unwrapped and with little ceremony. Estrella might get a new dress, and a string . of beads. Exotic gifts like Chinese checkers and dollar watches sent by a sister in Oklahoma always caused a flurry of excitement, "Wc didn't do much celebrating. Money -was always short. I don't think 1 handled a quarter until 1 was 17," she reminisced. The tree was trimmed with pop- corn strings, coloured paper chains. and other inexpensive, home-made decorations. Candles were used one year, then abandoned as too danger— ous. One +ear her father brought home a crokinole board, the first in that neighbourhood. "We thought we really had some- thing. It was the nicest board I've ever seen. My father paid 95 -cents for it; it would have been a dollar but it had a little flaw," Estrella said. Estrella doesn't remember the • Christmases of yesteryear Estrella observed. "But as time goes on, 1 realize that everything tsptntual means more and more to •me." •*, * * "I' will honour .Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the. Past; the Present and .the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach." The front garden of Marion Bis- sett's William St. home is alive with holly. More of the glistening green branches are tucked into a per- ky red hag fastened to the front door. The Christmas symbol has special meaning for Marion. Be- sides celebrating Jesus' birthday on December 25. she celebrates her forever. The Carling home was a second home to Muriel • and me', Marion said nostalgically. The Carling house was 'always beautifully decorated for Christmas. Out came the silver bonbon dish " kept in the closet under the stairs, to be filled with chocolates and Jor, dan almonds. Our great-aunts find uncle made a lot of us. 1 was the. youngest, and 1 could.do no wrong,". Marion recalled. . Thc. two sisters usually received generous gifts of money from their elderly relatives. . "They didn't know what to buy us, or what we needed," Marion ex: plaineoi. Stockings hung up the night -be- fore bulged- with candies, nuts, and oranges - a fruit seldom seen the rest of the year. in the last few years has Marion had a hirthday pany on• her actual birth date. 'Thc .first was a surprise. Af- ter the last Christmas Eve Com- munion with .Rector. Jim Sutton, everyone .was invited to a parry at the rectory. Suwon disappeared into the kitchen, •• then returned trium- phantly .with a hirthday cake for Marion - chocolate, and in the shape' of a snowman. A year ago October, Marion's church family hosted another sur- - prise party as part of a potluck din- ner for Bishop -Townsend. A new altar Cloth was purchased as -a .trib-. .ute to Marion. Another longstanding tradition is having Christmas dinner with the Fletcher • family, who stake sure there is a birthday cake. for their guest. Estrella and Dan Finkbeiner were. married in Listo el• on December 25, 1918..The meds returned to Dan's farm near'Crediton. y Christmas of 1925. Illness had struck the Finkbeiner family in the fall. By Christmas her oldest child Walter was very ill with mastoidi- tis, a scourge since yanquished with the discovery of •antibiotics. Thc child was hospitalized when menin- gitis set in. In February,. Walter came home in a casket on the morning train from London, and_Estrella took the afternoon train back to the city, an- other very ill,son cradled in her arms.. That child recovered. "You have to go on, and think of the ones living," Estrella said phil- osophically. She has done just that, and "God willing," will cele- brate her ninety-third birthday in June. "There's a lot more to attract the attention now at Christmasa-time," own. Marion made her first appearance on a snowy Christmas morning in Strathroy. - Her pleased three-year- old sister Muriel told everyone.San- ta had brought her a little red sleigh and a little baby sister. Marion's childhood memories of Christmas are happy ones. Shc and het -sister moved to Exeter to live with their grandparents a year after their mother -died of typhoid when Marion was only two.: She had returned to her roots. Carling Street is named after Mari- on's great-grandfather. and Anne Street after his wifc. Three of her grandmother's sisters and a brother lived in the Carling house, since torn:down 10 make way for South Huron Hospital "I thought that house would stay Christmas dinners featured either roast capon or turkey, topped off with the traditional carrot -apple Christmas pudding. Christina% Eve communion at Trivitt Memorial, Marion's church home, has always been an • impor- tant. part of Christmas for the long- time Exeter resident.- For many years Marion has decorated the Christmastime altar in memory of her family: Muriel, who died of in-. tluenza complications at age 18, the grandparents she lost 'two years lat- er, the other dear relatives. She did not have her own "first - real hirthday cake" until one No- vemher day her Thursday Night Bridge. Club gave her a surprise birthday party. -While growing *up, Marion shared her sister's (ktohcr hirthday. Only "It was the only time of year • we got an oxange. And • beautiful- red apples from Ontario" "I've never felt sorry I was bon on Christman day. It's a •kind of honour in a way: And my church fainily think it's great," Marion said in anticipation of her next hirthday, only live days away. •. * * * "Christmas a humbug, Uncle!" said. Scrooge's nephew. "You don't mean that,- I'm sure?" "I do." ,said Scrooge. "Merry Christmas!- What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You're poor enough." "Come. then.". returned the neph- ew gaily. "l%'hui right have you to be dismal? What reason have you to he morose? You're rith enough," • * * * * "it didn't take much to satisfy kids .when 1 was young," recalled 78 - year -old Lome Voigt, who spent his first eight years on a farm at Gilbert Plains, Manitoba, between the Duck and Riding Mountains. "It was the only time of year we got an orange. And beautiful red apples from Ontario - I always took one to the teacher." Lorne didn't see his first Santa Claus until he came to Ontario as a ,five-year-old with some of his fam- ily on a visit to stay over Christ- mas with relatives in Mildmay. Af- ter dinner, the farmer and his hired man disappeared. The sound of jin- _glc bells was heard outside, and in came Santa and his helper. Lorne was .frightened at first. His appre- hension •vanished when the • jolly chap opened his bag and began to hand out treats. Chores had to be done on the prai- rie farm on December 25 the same as any other day, and Lome was ex- pected to do his share. One Christ- mas he crept out to the hip. roof ham at daybreak to see for himself if, as legend held,.animals really did kneel in prayer on this day to wor- ship the Christ child. To his disap- pointment, the cattle were neither lowing nor kneeling - they were all sound asleep. Christmas gifts, and Christmas activities, were much simpler when Lorne was a child. He would grate- fully accept a Sandy Andy and a Tinkcrtoy, and be glad for a tic or pair of socks. "We had no gift for our parents. We had no money, no allowance, Lorne said. The duck was carefully carved to leave the rib cage intact. Later, Lorne's father would circic•it with string, insert a flat piece of wood to wind the string tight, and hold everything down with beeswax. The children would gather round, waiting for the moment the warm- ing beeswax -let go, and the rack leaped forward. • After Christmas dinner, the chil- dren hung around the house playing games-.parchcesi.was very popular - or took their sleds out to the slope of the barn gangway.' Later, when the family moved to Harmonx, On- tario, the children would join two sleighs with a long plank, and 10 or -12 would pile on for a ride down the hill. Lorne, a lift -long bachelor, has lived in Crediton for over 50 years. With good friends and neighbours, and six sisters anda hrothcr,•hc al- ways has a place to go at Christ- mastime. • Lorne has fond memories of his childhood Christmases., He has no recollection of expensive gifts, or sumptuous feasts. .Hc does remem- ber a happy day shared with a lov- ing family. 'As he observes the elaborate celebrations of the modern Christmas, Lorne wonders if chil- dren today, who get so much, ap-. preciate how fortunate they arc. * * * * And it was always said of him, Mat he knew how to keep Christ mas well,- if any man alive pos- sessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us: and all of us! And so, as Tiny tim observed. God bless Us, Every One! Estrella Finkbelner chose December 25 as her wedding day 70 years 8.0. Lorne Voigt displays models he has constructed of the three Crediton United Churches. The original log structure, shown in miniature beside Lome, was built in 1854. A model of its SucessOr, built In 1866, is inset, Marion Bissett holds the silver bonbon dish that was part of her child - and the large structure is a replica of the present church. built In 1896. hood Christmases. r • • 4111.