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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1987-12-23, Page 5/\ Christmas with our corres -from page 3 Christmas dinner, as well as "huge" gifts. One such gift was an electric train for Mrs. Hartman's brother. Another interesting item in the box was a large supply of Mars bars for the brother and sister to last them over the year. A big fan of the Yuletide season, Mrs. Hartman said she gets into the spirit of Christmas, "as early as possible. I love Christmas." In fact, when talking to the News -Record on. December 3, Mrs. Hartman already had hgr house decorated and her presents bought and wrapped. d'I love Christmas. It could last all year. I love Christmas shopping, I do it all year long," she said, adding that she dug out the seasonal music in mid-November. The season is going to be different for her this year, though, because her parents recently retired and moved to Florida. The Hartmans, and a friend of their son's, took off for Florida on December 5. They ex- pected to be home the Monday before Christmas. In preparing for the trip, Mrs. Hartman made sure the Christmas feeling wouldn't be lost on the long trip to the warmer climate. "I have all the (Christmas) tapes packed. I'm going to try and take a bit of Christmas with us." Blanche Deeves Christmas for Blanche Deeves is a time to be spent with friends and neighbors. Because the children of the News - Record's Holmesville and Middleton cor- respondent don't live in the area, Mrs. Deeves isn't able to visit with them. Her son, Len, his wife, Donna, and their children, Len, 4, and Shallyn-Marie, 2, live in Nova Scotia. June Cooper, her daughter, lives with her family in Chatham. Although she can't travel to Nova Scotia to see her son and grandchildren, she did note, "I'd love to see them for Christmas." Instead, the big day is spent with friends. "We usually just spend it together here, or over with our neighbors. "We just usually have a quiet Christmas." The celebration for Mrs. Deeves, and her husband Ed, begins on Christmas Eve when they go to church. Family gifts are opened following the service. The next morning kicks off with a Christmas breakfast, and then it is over to see their neighbors for the noon dinner. One childhood memory she has of the season was a yearly trip taken in and old Model T pickup with her grandfather. There was always one hill the truck couldn't climb, and everyone had to pile out of the back and push it up the hill. "Grampa would stop on the other side, and wait for us to hop in," she explained. "I'll always remember that one, that hap- pened every year with that pickup truck." Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR) parties also stand out in her mind. "We always got to go to the RCR parties when we were kids. We got to pick a gift out of the Eaton's or Sears' catalogue, and at the party we were presented with the gift." She feels the giving of gifts within families has changed over the years. "I don't think we got as many gifts when we were kids as kids do today, and they weren't so expensive." While she said things aren't the same as they used to be, she is still a fan of the season. "I like Christmas. I don't think I would want to go to church unless I liked Christmas. The real Christmas, with Christ, not buying gifts." Mrs. Deeves has been busy this Yuletide season, attending many Christmas gather- ings, and organizing bus trips to go and see Christmas shows. She took a full busload of people to see a show called The Living Christmas Tree at the Peoples Church of Toronto. A trip was also taken to see the 1987 Christmas Frolics, perhaps better known as the Geritol Follies, at Hamilton Place. Christmas cards also had to be sent out to Mrs. Deeves' penpals in such far off places as New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. With all of this hustle and bustle, Mrs. Deeves concluded, "I'm always glad when Christmas Day comes, and I can kind of take it easy." Helen Owen For only the second time since coming to Canada 10 years ago, one of the News - Record's Bayfield correpondents, Helen Owen, will be spending Christmas in the village. Every other Christmas has been spent visiting her son, Rev. George Bruce, his wife Theo, and their three children in Ottawa. On one other occasion she didn't make the trip because her son was in England, but this year she's staying in Bayfield for a very different reason. Early in December she travelled to Ottawa for Rev. Bruce's ordination. She described the Ottawa Christmases as pretty hectic. "We start very early in the morning when the kids wake up. They want to look in the stockings hung the night bdfore." After the stockings are taken care of, everyone goes to church, and then when they return, more family drops in for dinner. During this time the children and adults are not allowed to open any presents. After all the dishes are cleaned away from the dinner, the youngest can finally start with the unwrapping. Mrs. Owen explained the rest of the day is spent nibbling at food, playing games, and sometimes watching television. "We're usually pretty exhausted by this tikne," she said. She related a funny story about a Christmas spent in a little village in the Midlands in England during WWII. When she heard of a chap selling geese, she thought she would pick one up and send it to her mother for Christmas. She arrang- ed to buy the goose, and couple of days later When she returned home, she was told the goose was in the barn. "There was a goose, but it was alive," she said. Not knowing much about geese, Mrs. Owen assumed she could Just grab the goose and break it's neck. however, the two, '' Ended up chasing each other around." �' 'inally, she resorted to having a man CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1987—Page 5 DORIS HUNTER from the village kill the goose for her. After going through all of this trouble, she ran into another nasty turn of events though. When she called her mother and told her about the bird, she was told neither her mother or father liked to eat goose. She eventually found someone else who wanted it, and she offered to bring the bird to their house. Mrs. Owen had to make the delivery on a bicycle with no brakes and no lights, with the goose in a basket on the front. BETTY McCALL "The head kept falling out and getting caught in the wheel," Mrs. Owen recalled, noting this caused a few mishaps along the way. "I finally got there, but the goose was a bit mangled." The trip home was almost as difficult, riding in the dark on a bicycle Mrs. Owen had to stop by putting her foot in the front tire. Understandably, Mrs. Owen said, "I never forgot that goose." JOAN BEIRLING Christmas as a child was an enjoyable time for Mrs. Owen, because she lived right in the heart of London. "We'd go to the big stores and see Santa. The streets were beautifully decorated. It was an absolute wonderland to go and see," she commented. Trips on a steam train to go and see her mother's sister were another memorable part of her childhood Christmases. These days, the favorite part of the Yuletide season for Mrs. Owen is Christmas morning. "All the anticipation that has been built up is about to burst. I feel I can start relaxing and enjoying it." She has to start getting into the spirit of the season early because Christmas cards that are going to her penpals have to be finished by early November. She has cor- responded with one Indian woman for 35 years. Another penpal is a women she started school with when she was five. "As you get older, that's a big part of Christmas," she said. She said she really gets into the spirit, "As soon as I see the lights and the Christmas trees, I sort of have that feeling about Christmas that it's special." Christmas for Mrs. Owen should be a little quieter this year as she will be spending it with friends in the village, but she noted there are lots of things to do in Bayfield dur- ing the season. She pointed out she was receiving invitations to go places every day. Mrs. Owen concluded with a nice thought about Christmas before telling of a sign she once saw that read, "Jesus is the reason for the season." "I think whatever the setting or background for Christmas, and however sophisticated people become, it does have significance. It doesn't lose significance." Dora Shobbrook For the News -Record's Londesboro cor- respondent, Dora Shobbrook, "Christmas is different since becoming a widow." However, she recalls that the children would use their father's stockings to hang up at Christmas because they were the biggest in the house. Turn to page 8 • from your newest Automotive Supplier ... 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