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Home My WebLink AboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-12-22, Page 25esvi octal in rH Vlrs. f' n Sat d like av also n Ne ;oderi the ouherich vx..altvx.vx,vx<x.v.=&v=3kvxv&v.x.vxvx.vx.4 EAR --5l IGNL-- STAR THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1977 • ristmas - a mix f tradition and now JOANNE don`s Hay r a aGodechmost commonly fated with town politics. member on town council past seven years, r Mrs. en's name has app d the Signal -Star many usually in connection her work on council. It is difficult to imagine Haydon in any other city. But she does have interests and one of • baking - surfaces ially around the tmas season, rs. Haydon wants to it clear right from the that she is not presen- herself as an excellent She calls herself only a nable". cook. She has d how to cook on her through' ex- entation. She says her ng habits are tem - ental and sporadic. aperiod of time shemay and different recipes !hen she will revert back basic, simple cooking for several weeks. ver, every Christmas Haydon can be counted whip up seKeral, batches cookies and squares, ng inmind the different s and shapes. She them the variety on a big to tempt family and any, e also has a little turas tradition going hernext-door-neighbour. neighbour brings her a SE:C,OND SECTION bag of bird seed for her homede bird feeder every Christmas and she in turn presents this neighbour with a plate full of her home made cook ies. Last year Mrs. Haydon made 12 different kinds of cookies but this year she thinks she will try only eight different kinds. She says she has a very good recipe for Christmas cake but has to' admit that this year she bought one. Cooking, she says, requires concentration and the best part of a day. She has found herself too busy with other activities this year to devote as much time to it. NOSTALGIA Bakingcookies in her home creates a nice Christmas atmosphere, for Mrs. Haydon. An ideal picture of Christmas ,for her, she says, is puttering prAound in her kitchen, baki listening to nice records and watching the snow fall outside. As she does this, she reflects on past years. Christmas, she 'says, is a time for nostalgia. Mrs. Haydon was born in Estonia which is in the vicinity of Finland and Sweden. She was half -way through university studying general arts when the second Russion occupation began. It was a dangerous time for young people in Estonia who were often sent to places like Siberia to work. After the second World War, Mrs. Haydon carne to Canada from a displaced persons camp in Bavaria. There was something about this. country that appealed to her she says, although it was not one of the easiest coun- tries to get into, She expected .the greatest personal freed$4n in Canada. She .had lived in several places in rope and says she was al ays an admirer of British ins itutions. No place is a Shangri-la says Mrs. Haydon but Canada, she feels, has one of the best systems of all. Mrs. Haydon has had what she calls a long and ad- venturous life. She has lived under both Stalin and Hitler. But she doesn't like to dwell on these aspects of her past. Instead she likes to think way back to when she was a very young child living in a small country town in Estonia. The Scandinavian culture was prevalent and Mrs. Haydon remembers the Christmas celebrations very well. The main celebration, took place on Christmas eve: Most Estonians, says Mrs. Haydon, are of the Lutheran faith and everyone goes to church on Christmas Eve. Estonian winters are very severe and sleighs drawn by horses were used for travelling to the church when Mrs. Haydon was a girl. At the time, says Mrs. Haydoni, she didn't ap- preciate the beauty of it all but now she looks back on those Christmas Eves and can almost imagine the scene as being taken from a pic- turesque Christmas card. The horses would he beautifully groomed and wearing hells and the sleighs would be decorated with their hest sleigh covers. The winding country roads all led to the church and Mrs. ,Haydon remembers the procession of sleighs all converging on the church with their lanterns glowing in the dark. BY church there was a huge lighted Christmas tree and everyone sang Christmas carols which were much the same as those sung in Canada she says. After this great celebration in the church, everyone went. home for their big Christmas meal which usually consisted of goose, veal and -or pork roast according to Mrs. Haydon. One nice thing about Christmas in the country too, says Mrs. Haydon, is that the whole family would go to feed the animals something special together. There were a variety of animals like sheep, cattle, pigs and chickens, Mrs. Haydon sees this tradition of feeding the animals on Christmas Eve as symbolic since Jesus was horn in a stable, FATHER CHRISTMAS Also on Christmas Eve in Estonia, the presents would he opened. Santa Claus, directly translated, was Father Christmas in Estonia and Mrs. Haydon remembers "a very lovely custom'' concerning Father Christ- mas. Little children, herself included, would draw their bedroom curtains shut every night. Starting two weeks before Christmas, the children would leave a corner of their curtain turned hack. If Father Christmas thought you were good, he would leave a treat on the window sill where the curtain was turned hack. This provided great suspense, says Mrs.Haydon. The grown-ups decorated the,Christmas tree which was set up in a big room like a parlor she says. Real candles were clipped onto the tree in little candle holders and decorations which were kept for generations were also put on the tree. These decorations were mostly in pink and silver colors. Once the tree was finished, the adults would open the doors- to the. roam.. so the waiting children could see the finished result. This was a very exciting moment says Mrs. Haydon and a beautiful sight that could never he forgotten. On Christmas Day, after the big celebration on Turn to page 7A • Councillor Christmas Cook As a town councillor for the past seven years, Elsa Haydon's name has appeared in the Signal -Star many times, usually in connection with town politics. But Mrs. Haydon has other interests too and one of them, which is baking, surfaces especially around the Christmas season. She makes several varieties of cookies for family and friends, Mrs. Haydon, who was born in Estonia, also likes to think back on Christmas as a child in that country. (staff photo) ti"-tr. � W -1 1 "ti l.... ,.... } . �. � y - . J t1i � sv 19 a 0 r9 i9 Peace on Earth despite all the discomforts of life In the trues Irlt of the stage these young singers In the choir of the operetta Noah's Ark didn't let mild discomforts keep them from their duties. The �ouvsr's`o,�me, singing in the choir at theem]St. +�J�Iroysephh''ss at Kingsbridge Christmas ] ` ''��A��F�s ,, ,4,AVA: g,A. w VAki'lln"`l µ a"'v `�I� f�avw,��C�*+�Cs . i►w+�► Concert, kept right on singin runny noses. Sharon Van Osch scratch an itchy leg practically a runny nose without missies rA 13 g despite wandering m n s, c y g either scratches his leg or cheeks to see if his pet frog is still in his pocket. fl , left, never missed a beat but managed to Steven Tulk appears to let his mind wander to pillows and bed sheets and tl unnoticed while Tommy Van Diepen checks couldn't stifle this yawn daring a break in the singing. (staff photo) aword . of the p�song and �Maarcial LeBreton��ep��.�1t Mt het a 1 �e ] �, cif � �. �. Miia .XC ketZAt as ki.MIZAi:Aki � i... A :Altg kii:Me► 1► wi"a Stk:Akit VA`t . • r