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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1985-12-23, Page 4PAGE 4--GODERICH SIGNAL,STAR, MONDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1985 I"tn in a real mess. Each day I get myself deeper in trouble with myfour year-old son Bradley over the Santa Claus mystery. The child, unfortunately, won't merely accept the explanations offered but has to analyze tl?e thing to death. I have to admit his, arguments are reasonable and logical, which ultimately leads to the deterioration of the myth. He is still a staunch believer, but presents arguments and questions that have put this agent on thin ice. I have almost perpetuated the myth to the point of no return. At the supper table he casually mentioned that he had it on good authority that Santa is relatively old. "I know that Santa is very, very, very, very old dad. Did you know that?" he asks while I pretend not be interested. "Oh, of course I knew that. Do you know how old he is?" I ask. DAVE SYKES "He's about 30 years old dad." the child offers with an incredulous look on his face indicating that 30 is somewhere between fossil and pre -historic. "Well now, that's pretty old all right," Jr suggest while the mother of the child fails miserably in her attempts to conceal her glee and laughter. "Do you know how old your father is?" "Well, no. Are you as old Santa, dad?" Grrrrr. Later the same evening, the child asks if buses or trains go as far as the North Pole. Armed with the suggestion that only a few menhave ever ventured that far north, it gives him the slightest edge he needs. "Then I've decided that I would like to go to the North Pole and work in Santa's toy shop. ( whatever happened to the forklift career) Except I would miss you guys (how touching). How big are elves? Do they make all the toys? They must have a lot of glue and stuff to make all those toys," he rattles off without thinking. "You realize that if you get a job at the North Pole, you will have to live there wutwut (,us µauLuer, ,ltiums c+llel aastery Laura," I suggest trying to make him fe j, guilty about his career selection. "Wei,, I could come on home on the train on holidays," he says rather pleased with himself for thinking of the.ildea.. The very thought brings tears to his mother's eyes and she flatly informs her son that he will at least complete elementary school before tackling the job market or excursions to the North Pole. For the past month we have been counting the days to Christmas, speculating on how reindeer could fly and whether or not they move their legs in the process and proffering arguments on whether or not Santa and the missus are gainfully employed during the summer months. Those are fairly standard queries for youngsters, I would suggest, butmy son has also delved into the obscure when it comes to no favorite fellow;,, After mailing his 'annual letter to Sap* Bradley asked his mother what the Jay: fellow might do with the envelope a er• reading the letter (I wasn't prepared for to one)., Suggesting he would simply throw it in the garbage, number one son proceeded to grill 'his parents on where they would take the garbage when it was full and who would pick up their garbage if they put it on the boulevard. Or did they indeed put their garbage out at the North Pole. The kid had me going in circles. There were other incidental questions relative to the air -worthiness of Santa's sleigh, what the reindeer put on their feet for traction and what they ate. He also questioned Santa's ability to know what every boy and girl is doing and his ability to gain entrance to homes. I know I won't be able to perpetuate the myth much longer. Opinion THE NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT SINCE 1848 the Gderic SIGNAL -STAR BEST ALL ROUND COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER IN CANADA I C et aeon Class 3500 4500)C C h A Baca Newspaper Composunn 1984 P.O. BOX 220 HUCKINS BT. INDUSTRIAL PARK OOOERICH, ONT. N7A 4B8 PUBLISHED BY: SIGNAL -STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED Founded In 1848 and published every Wednesday at Ooderich, Ontario. Member of the CCNA end OGNA. Bubacrlptlons payable in advance 822.00. (Senior Citizens 819.00 privilege card number required] In Canada, 800.00 to U.B.A., 800.00 to all other countries, Bingle copies 80C. Oleplay, National and Clesslfled advertising rates available on request. Plsame ask for Rate Card No. 18 effective October 1, 1985. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with the reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for but that balance of the edvertleement will be paid for et the applicable rets. In the event of a typographical error advertising goods or services et a wrong price, goods or sarvices may not be sold. Advartiaing Is merely en offer to mall, and may be withdrawn at any time. The Signal -Star la not responsible for the loss or damage of unaoliolted manuscripts, photos or other materials used for reproducing purposes. President and Publisher Editor Advertising Manager ROBERT G. SHRIER DAVE SYKES DON HUBICK FOR BUSINESS OR EDITORIAL OFFICES...please phone (8191524-2614 Second class mail registration Member: number 0716 eNA CCNA Merry Christmas! Since its humble beginnings in Bethlehem, Christmas has evolved into a rather signficant event. Christmas means something different to everyone. Traditionally, it is heralded as a time of joy, good cheer, fellowship and caring. It is a family time. It is a time to bask in the warmth of love of family and friends. It is a time of giving and sharing. Of course, the degree of commercialism has tainted the image of the holiday in many peo- ple's minds but ('hristrnas still has the power to draw people together and to bring out the best qualities that we all have to offer one another. Th Christmas spirit should be in evidence throughout the year. Our world would be better for it. The management and staff of Signal -Star Publishing would like to extend the warmest wishes of the season to you and your family. Merry ('hristrnas. D.S. Have a safe holiday As we rutin do ()ugh the final days of the preparatory stage of the festive season there is a certain excitement that grows out of the, turmoil and chaos People are busy as the final days unfold before Christmas. making last minute prepara- tions for that gathering with family and friends. During the hustle and hustle of the season, it is quite easy to overlook the safety factor in- volved in main situations Driving becomes critical over the holiday season as thousands of people will be travelling the highways of the province. heading home for the holidays. This time of year, the weather cane] be most unpredictable and caution is required when travelling. While motorists have to be alert because of the increased volume of traffic on the highways them is`<alsn a good r }lance that many drivers will have been drinking. With tough new federal and pruvinrial laws recently introduced. people are becoming much more responsible about drinking and driving Make surf' that responsible attitude extends over the holiday season You and your family mill be better off for rt i,et others drive if you feel you have had too much to drink and be a responsible host as well 1)nn't force drinks on people who are drivirtt and offer alternatives to guests who must travel Prevention must also lo' F'xF'rr )sed in the home to ensure your holiday is a safe and happy. one Your ('hi.trnas tree. the focus of gift giving at ('hristrnas. can be a hazard. Be sure the lights :are not in use if ynu and your family are out Both artificial and real trees can catch fire if y ou hay e lights (in the exterior of y our home. make sure they are working properly Children are fascinated with Christmas and it shright lights, ribbons. bows and presents Make sure your children are aware of the dangers of lights or lighted candles in the horse ('hnstrnas is a speical time, a tune to celebrate life with family and friends it is a tine to share 1 time for love and friendships May the celebration of Christmas and the holiday season he 1 source of fond rnernnrie• for coo and your family 1) S Waiting for Santa by Todd Mowatt Sugar and Spice By Bill Smiley Ah, Christmas! Ugh, Christmas! Aggh, Christmas! One's enthusiasm seems to drain as one grows older. I don't mind the first carols beginning before the Grey Cup game. i don't mind a big turkey dinner, after eating frozen turkey dinners all year. i enjoy a Christmas tree, if somebody else will pick it up. make the darn thing stand up and decorate it. i love a big fire in the fireplace, if somebody else will fetch the wood from the cellar. Otherwise, it's about as exciting as Labour Day And you don't have to sweep out the needles on that holiday. However, there are remembrances of Christmas pasts. And some of them are great ones My childhood Christmases were all anyone could want, although during the Depression, gifts were pretty scanty. But there was always an apple, an orange, and some nuts in the stocking. Maybe a book under the tree But usually a new set of long - johns 1 remember a Christmas at an RAF station in North Wales. We rookie officers were introduced to an old custom: the officers served dinner to the "other ranks". We did it with a certain elan, considering that all the WAAF's were giggling and trying to pinch or pat our hums as we weaved, and 1 mean weaved. among the tables. We had fortified ourselves before the meal. Some officers were so well fortified that they slept through the officers' dinner in the mess afterwards. i remember another in prison camp. We had saved and scrounged from the last Red Cross parcels to get through it began, as i recall. with cocktails ( potato whiskey), Peace is part of Christmas feelings. words and wishes Messages of hate and promotion of discord become doubly disturbing at this time when our beliefs and traditions reach for hope. with a need to trust that interna- tional reason and sanity will prevail on our planet, that old wars will subside elsewhere, that new destruction will not be started, and that violent conflict will not reach us here. It is thus with alarm and incredulity that 1 read about a Toronto entrepreneur who has recently produced a virulently anti-Soviet video, using the Soviet Union's national an- them for the background music. The proud producer sees to it that the video will be increasingly used at anti- Soviet demonstrations, here and in the States, starting in Toronto. With Washington's help, it will be beamed into the communist countries, to put down their "evil empire" and to promote our "free world". The good man hopes that it "will hurt the Soviets". He also visualizes cheer- fully that his video, marketed for about $20 apiece, will make him a millionaire fast. This hustler of hate and maker of millions I feel uneasy to be part of a culture where peace promotion is frequently ridiculed and where there is a respectable place for hate profits and wallowing in war mentality. In our country we have recently started sending to jail individuals who were said to promote hatred against an indentifiable group. At the same time it appears that some types of hatred are entirely accep- table, even fashionable. We are not at war, but many people on this continent start to sound and act, as if we were. The volume of shrill American propaganda is turned up with intensity. For whatever reason, in our country there is now a mindless and most unfortunate echo of American attitude of moral superiority towards the rest of the world. Canadian public opinion seems to be increasingly influenced by utterly simpleminded Soviet -bashing a la President Reagan and such crude propaganda films as White Nights and Rocky ISI. went through creamed salmon on toast and wound up with a vast cake, unleavened, made of ground Graham wafers, chocolate, and dried milk, beaten with water. Anyway, we lay around and groaned, for the last time in six months. Another Christmas dinner was in a sanitorium. That was a real gasser. Lukewarm turkey, lukewarm everything, and five other guys cooughing their guts out. However, we got our plum pudding, which looked suspiciously like the usual tapioca pudding, with a spring of holly, or pine needles on top. Then it was great Christmas dinners at Cranny's, for a few years. Five hours frantic preparations in the kitchen, one hour to eat, then the women back in the kitchen for two hours, washing up, while the men stretched out like pythons, just fed. Jolly good. However, these great dinners were not without incidents. On one occasion, my brother-in-law and 1 went in on a television set for the folks on the farm. With great secrecy, we put it on a toboggan, and slid it 200 yards up the snowy lane to the house. We hoisted the great box into the kitchen. Kim, about three. said, "i hope you like the TB, Gran." The whole clandestine surprise busted by a kid. Anyway, Gran liked it. On another occasion, my wife decided to do the honors. It was the first real home we'd had - half a house. She spat and polished, even the stoves, and invited her parents and a favorite aunt for the big Christmas dinner. She was like a whirling dervish. making gravy, bashing potatoes, while 1 stood around being helpful. Finally, she handed me the platter with the turkey on it. I headed for the table, and the dang turkey - you know how slippery they are - slid right off the platter and onto the fresh - polished floor. I have never been closer to death. However, everyone was great, and they had a good turkey dinner. except for Tiny Tim - yours truly - who spent the rest of the dinner washing the floor, Another big flop was the time we invited Gran and Grandad out to a hotel for Christmas dinner. Gran was a bit past the getting of a gargantuan meal. It was my ide,,i last of the big-time spenders. We all got dressed up. which we didn't do at the farm. The dinner was third rate, and we were all embarrassed, even the kids. Limp, cool turkey, dressing made from old running -shoes, gravy from a can. The only thing i could think of was, "well. no dishes to do." This cheery note was greeted by stony silence. Last two years, haven't been so bad. Auntie Iris invited us all for Christmas dinner. and it was the good old style. Last year, after about thirty seconds dialogue, we agreed to go out to a restaurant, and it turned out to he first-rate. No turkey, but all you could eat. My grandboys put away about twice as much as any adult. My only real regret is for the time my mother cooked a great turkey dinner, to be served about three o'clock. My older brother and sister and a friend went out skiing and arrived home at five, full of themselves My kid brother and i sneaked off to the matinee, and arrived home, guilty about the same time. My mother didn't say a word. but the dinner was ruined, and I've never felt so guilty since. Governments who feel superior in virtue and are set on a mission of stamping out the evils of their perception elsewhere, are a danger to peace That is why I am more con- cerned about what President Reagan and his confederates might do than wondering what Mikhail Gorbachev and his comrades have in mind. 1 do not admire the Soviet system, that is why 1 live here Rut 1 am also aware that the American system is not universally loved. Everybody in the world does not have to do what the Americans do. Not everybody wants to live as we think is right on this con- tinent. What i have in nand is what Gorbachev expressed so well in an interview with American journalists: "i think it is the immutable fact that whether we like one another or not, we ran either survive or perish only together. As you say, live and let live." He added. "i would like once again to tell all Americans the most important thing They should know: war will not come from 4_ Agnimmim. ELSA HAYDON the Soviet Union." 1 believe him. The terri- ble siege and destruction of Russian cities and countryside, with over 20 million men, women and children killed in the last war, does not make a country seek repetition. Had this continent experienced such direct terror and loss on its own soil, there would he fewer hawks in our ranks or belligerent agitators within our borders. War is terrible in pictures and when fighting enemy soldiers in distant places from where many husbands, sons and, brothers )fid not return. It is altogether different again to ex- perience enemy occupation. to seek shelter in air attacks several times a day, to see your home hit and family killed, with city after city destroyed in firestorms, year after year, with famine, no heat. electricity, clean water or functioning sanitation system. Hiroshima and Nagasaki added another dimension to the horror, with an in- dication what to expect when we continue to play with the fire of war. Far too many on this continent do. It is a pity and a shame that the Toronto entrepreneur did not see an equal chance of becoming a millionaire with a videotape promoting better international understanding of the realities of our times - the need to speak out for peace. There can never be too much of it. As a peace camp sign on Parliament Hill said - "One nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day." Warm greetings and hest. wishes to all for a Christmas celebrated and enjoyed in peace!