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The Huron Expositor, 1978-12-21, Page 3AND LOOK 'WHAT WE FOUND IN THE STOCKING! — Sean Jeremy Clark; son of Robert and Marian Clark of Market 'Street, Seaforth, is demonstrating the Christmas stocking babies are given this season by the Seaforth Hospital Ladies Auxiliary. Here Sean tries out his stocking 'in the arms of Dorothy Hays, representing' the Ladies Auxiliary. Paper late nict week . Because of the Christmas and Boxing Day holidays, the Huron Expositor will publish one day late, next week. The New Year's issue will be available Friday rather than Thursday morning. Advance preparation will be done Wednesday and Thursday and the Expositor will be printed Thursday night and will be in the mail Friday morning. Newi will be picked-'up from the paper's correspondents Wednesday morning, rather than trusting to the holiday mails. The Expositor staff and correspondents wish all our readers a Very Merry Christmas. "What do you want for Christmas?,", my husband has asked , me about 200 times in the last three weeks. Everytime I give him the. same` answer, • "Alice Munro's new book and the McGarrigle sisters' latest triescteon.rd" but he doesn't really He just puts the question to The, hurriedly, so that in the next breath he can tell me what he wants. Nothing much, . . a new stereo, binoculars, a three stage rocket, a tape deck . . ' .a little like the occasional letter to Santa Claus that we see here on its way north. The sort where the kid doesn't get bogged down with "dear Santa" And "your friend " but just sends in .a list of toys. Simple. . ' .down to brass tacks. The better half has his gift list streamlined too and he repeats- it • every -chance --to - gets. I've even caught him chanting it to the baby in the hopes that shell persuade me to get him what what he wants but she just looks baffled and says "go, .go". HOME GROWN • Now don't get the idea that my dearly beloved is the crass commercial type. (They are the people who give presents two days after Christmas, after they've bought them at the Boxing Day sales). He's not„ He likes, his Christmas very home grown and simple. If you doubt that at all drop in to our place over''the. Christmas season and see the evidence of his frugality and back to basics (except for the few electronic gadgets listed above) nature. First there's our tree.' I picked it out this year so it's not the usual "I felt sorry or it" sparse and stunted ess ththhelik e. But ecorations are some- g I can't 'do a thing a. out. I read recently about a Detroit decorator who'll come and "do" you tree. It costs from $500 to $2000 and lovely. AI , the better half wanq let me get rid of them either, He ,even does his best to the 911 d ld cp4ttil lge aonnti-o ssidcereaomf argument that My brother Alan and I used to have back • home, over whether or' not to put icicles ,on the tree. I liked them and 'he di or at least that's how the argument runs nowadays). Christmas cards he doesn't object to, as long .as they're simple, written by me, and sent without stamps so, the recipient has to pay the freight,• : RECYCLED. Wrapping paper should be recycled Until . it's thread- bare, the better half be- lieves, if one must be so commercialized as to use wrapping paper. Brown papers bags and masking tape were big Christmas gift ' coverings in the-- family vof- boys in which Andy grew up. Because I keep buying it, Mit have to save every year's old stuff too we've got quite a collection of Christmas, paper, and currently it's taken over our dining room. Though not exactly your $1000 a tree style, it's one room that does look „Christmasy, and confused. We don't haVt any boughs or holly around because they don't grown on our property. The better half is tryin? 'to persuade me that trimmings. from the row of poplars would look just as good on the mantle, And that the cornstalks he saved frau' the garden would look great entwined on the bannister (if we get the bannister up for Christmas its absence makes Gaby's grandmothers very nervous). USE WHAT YOU HAVE I could go on andon about the virtues of making use of what you have for Christmas, he does. Birtivhat the heck. As much as I moan about a husband who likes' a tree to look like a rummage sale, definitely wouldn't be com- fortable with one who wanted to call in a decorator and pay for "the look", • And if he canput up with a wife who longs (or Says she does)'for colour co-ordinated Christmas decor, • I can weather -keep -it simple .- - husband who wishes for the latest electronic gadget. Neither of us will get what we want but both of us have so much more than we need. It will be better for the two of us if we can share some of that at Christmas and during..„. the rest of the year. Froin every one at our house to every one of you, a • very Merry Christmas and peace on earth, good will to all people. Amen by Karl Schuessler A • natural Christmas A Christmqs list* SING A SONG OF CHRISTMAS — The Grade 1 and 2 classes with some lovely Christmas music at the school's Christmas at St. Patricks' School, Dublin, entertained friends, and family concert held last Friday afternoon. (Expositor Photo) Sugar and spice By Bill Smiley Lastember? The minister's message The lighfshines for Christina December is ,a trying time. For one thing, it's so dang sudden. There you are, tottering along a day at a time, thinking it's still fall and you must get the snow' tires and storms on one of these fine Saturdays, and throw some firewood into the ceilar, and get some boots and replace the gloves you lost last March. Christmas is away off there. And then -- bang! - you look out one morning, and there's December, in all it's unglory: a bitter. east wind driving snow, and a cold chill settles in the very bones of your soul. • Winter wind as sharp as a witch's, tooth sneaks in around uncaulked doors and windows. Yourwife complains of the terrible draught from under the basement door. You investigate and find that one of the . baSement windows has been blown in and has .smashed on the woodpile. You clamber up over the wood, knockinuieces off Shins and knuckles, and jam some cardboard in the gap. Creep cautiously outside, and nearly bust your bum. There's ice 'finder that thar snow. Make itto the garagend find that your car doors are all froza solid ' shut. Beat them with your bare fists until the latter are bleeding and your car is full of dents'. Finally .get them open with a bucket of hot water and° a barrel of hotter language. Slither and grease your way to work, arriving in a foul mood and with bare hands crippled into claws, bootless feet cold as a witch's other appendage. . . -Come out of work to go home and find :a half-inch 'of frozen rain and snow covering your car;, and no sign of your scraper, and another deep dent where some idiot slid into your car door on the parking lot. • • I could go on and on, but it's only rubbing salt in the wounds of the average Canadian. Get home from work and find that the furnace is -on the blink, and the repairman is tied up for the next two days. And your wife is also fit to be tied up over your dilatoriness. Surely there is some way , around this suddeness of December.. Is there not some far-seeing politician (if' that is not. a contradiction in terms), who would introduce a bill to provide for an extra month between, _ let's say,_Novernber 25th arid Dece er 5th. I wouldn't care what he called it.t could be Lastember, referring to your ast-dying hope that there wouldn't be a winter this ' year. Or Last Call, or Final Warning, or She's Acominl Anything that gave us a good jolt. . ,1. It would be a goad thing for merchants. They could have special Laitember sale of gloves and boots and snow tires and ear muffs and caulking guns and weather stripping and antifreeze and nose warmers, before plunging into their pre-Christmas sales, which are promptly replaced by their January sales. It would be great for the Post Office, which'could start warning us in June that all Christmas Mail must be posted by the first day. of Lastember if we wanted it delivered before the following June. It would mako- anice talking, point for all those deserters and traitors and rich people who go ' south every year. Instead of smirking, "Oh, we're not going south until. Boxing Day. Hate to miss an old-fashioned Canadian Christmas," they could really shove it to us by tearing, "Yes, we thought we'd wait this year until the last day of Lastember, you know. Avoid the pushing and vulgarity of .the holiday rush. If nothing else, it would 'give us a break from the massive nauseating volume of pre-Christmas advertising, which begins toward the eral Of October and continues, remorselessly;, right into Christmas Day. Best of all, perhapS. it Would give dummies like me a chance to' avoid looking like such a dummy. Procrastinators, who flourish during a sunny November, such as we had this year, would have no more excuses. All their wives would have to do is point to the calendar and say, "Bill, do you realize it's only three days until Lastember. Isn't it time you did your Lastember chores?" - • • In fact, if that fearless politician who is going to introduce, the, Lastember Bill in the house wants some advice, here is a codicil for him. Somewhere in the Bill, should be the Warning, in bold type: "Procrastinators will be Prosecuted!' • Jeez, why not? They prosecute you for everything else. If such a month , were • added to the calendar - maybe we could start it with Grey Cup Day - people like me wouldn't go on thinking that Christmas is weeks away. Instead, on the last day of Lasteinber, with all their winter chores in hand, they'd know that Chtistmas was practically on top of them, like a big, old horse blanket, Wand they'd leapInto the proper spirit, lining up a Christmas tree, laying in their booze, tuning -up -their pipes-for the carols. - As it is now, we know that Christmas is like. a mirage.' It's way off their somewhere, and no need to panic. Then, with that startling Suddeness, it's December 22nd, all the Christmas trees, have been bought, the only remaining turkeys look like vultures, and the liquor store is,/bedlam. Who's for a Lastember? the guy has a huge waiting list, That's pretty Silly, you and I will both likely agree, but tree decorating, like ' all things, there's • a happy medium. Our tree is at the other end of the 'scale . Our decorations are heir- looms, like the paper chains little Andy did in First Grade (as they call it in the Excited States where he was born and raised.) Then we've got tin cookie cutters that be- longed to his grandmother, tied with red ribbons that look a little threadbare now.. I attached them when we were first married, • We've got plastic reindeer from 'the same grandmother, as well as a couple of fragile old ornaments that are really treasures and that Andy's dad remembers from the • Christmas trees of his child- hood, -She-was•.a true-White,• Grandma Nellie and never threw a thing out, just passed it on to us. Since I don't want to come down trio hard, on the other side of the family I admit the tree spOrts a few relics of my childhood too. Like tiny china angels that are missing most of thier paint, and .plastic balls that my mother bought in frustration after her four little dears broke too many tree decorations. They're • I'm trying. I'm trying. Honest. I'm trying to celebrate a simple Christmas, a natural Christmas--one that doesn't get tied up in mad sprees and all sorts"of splurges and urges, shopping and-hopping all over the place. , I'm trying. I'm trying to convince my money that my. pockets aren't lined with some horrible disease. I tell my money it doesn't have to want out all the time--and so fast. I'm trying. I'm trying not to contribute too many dollars to the 8.4 billion Canadians are expected to deposit in retail stores for their Christmas gifts and goodies this year. And that staggering amount ,doesn't include the booze, either. I'm trying. I'm trying not to get; caught up in yards of ribbon and acres of garlands. No one's going to see me spend •all that much on tinsel-ribbons, bows, tree decorations and wrappings. That alone has a $100 million price tag on it. I'm trying . to think good Christmas thoughts--high and holy thoughts aboukthe One• whose birthday we're remembering, I'm trying to keep in mind inflation, recession, tight money, unemployment, cutbacks, slowdowns and conservation. I'm trying, but it's• not easy. Take the fellow I•heard on the radio last week. He started on anti-Santa Claus campaign. And because I'm trying so hard this year, I gave him a good listen. He told me not to go out and buy gifts, Why don't I make them? And if not make them, then why don't I give Something of myself? Offer a. service. Such as ten nights of baby sitting or five hours of house cleaning or sifow-Slioveling window Washing. Great idea, fellow. But doesn't he realize I 'm not a craft man? Why, I can't nail two 'boards together without some major disaster. I can't do one decent butt joint out of ten • trys. And a respectable miter? That's bordering on the miraculous. I'd blush if I ever had to pass off one of my carpenter's creatives as a Christmas gift. Needle work has never been my line. And in the culinary department, crunchy granola is my only speciality. But at this time of year, my wife has every corner of the kitchen 'covered. She doesn't want messes either. Everytime I mixup my masterpiece, she says she's stuck cleaning up. She claims she's' washed every dish I ever used in making granola. And, , she' reminds me, she's the, one who bags and shelves every •ounce I make. Still. I can't see myself giving out • Christmas, gifts of crunchy granola. That's a stock item on our cupboard shelves. Some treat that would be. And as for making out little-tickets that say this piece of paper is worth one hour of housecleaning, forget it. I'm in•no mood to turn myself into a cleaning establish - ment. I've managed to stay clear of a vacuum cleaner for 26 years, and I'm not stupid enough to start now. 'The anti-Santa man had other ideas. He said, 1 should give recycled gifts. Give things thaf have been hanging around the house for years. Still good, of course, but ,Itardly. used. Maybe I • have some clothes with plenty of wear left. Pass these on to someone I love. Wrap that up and put it under the Christmas tree. Is be kidding? He deosn't know my family and friends. I can hear them now. Recycled gifts are for the birds. Cheap. Cheap. Cheap. The more I think about that guy, the more I think he needed an excuse for a Christmas vaction. So he traveled North from below the border, to attack the jolly red giant. Not too many people dare to slay such a sacred symbol. No wonder the radio stations were willing to give him air time. But then maybe he's only a disguised ad • man for Sally Ann or a secret agent for ail the Goodwill Stores in the land. But who ever he is, he's not plugging the hole in my 's losing like nev pocket. It er-before.- - But maybe I' in.:gaining tow For it's in giving, I receive. I think that Anti-Santa fellow forgot that one thing. He didn't realize giving often exceeds the grasp. It's extravagant.-Lavish. Extended. Too much. It brings more than expected, more than you ever .drea med or hoped for. Maybe it's got something to` do with God's gift to us. He didn't give second - 'best. Cast-offs. Mistakes: Left overs. The Ordinary. He gave His Very Own. His Very Best. For this reason, I wish you this Christmas the very best, His Very Best and the most joyous season ever. ti Correction Zone Commander 'Peg Coombs did not present Legion Auxiliary Life- membership to both Dora Taylor and Hazel Dillon. President Eva Brown presented Hazel Dillon with hers. Jamaica (Continued from Page 7) with ginger beer; sorrel drink and cake. Today, Nortrh American customs are •being adopted more and more ' in the Caribbean, islands although the exception to this rule is Christmas cards. As. a child, she grew up with cards that featured scenes of soft, white snow 'and sang , "I'm Dreaming of • a White Christmas". Now; West Indian cards feature scenes and inetifs ' , from the islands. Rut Pat Rodney, who has spent her last few Christmases in Seaforth, has learned one sad, fact of life - the snow in Huron County isn't nearly as soft and pretty as it is in the snowscapes featured on Christmas greeting cards. i'ti.****10.1****.0+0.*.:0*-40.**** Expositor *asks: by Rev. T. A. A. Duke of • First Presbyterian Citurch;Seaforth These short -days with dark dreary mornings make many of us reluctant to get out of bed. In the northern.hemisphere some people wonder if it wouldn't be better to go "down under" to Australia or sortie Other place south of the equator for a few months. 'were the people are , experiencing the longest day of the year just now. In our area Christmas is associated with the-season when the wailing daylight begins to give way to the return of the sun. The longest night of the year has passed. There 'is a natural instinct in human beings that causes them to prefer light to darkness. People from early times have valued fires and lamps as a source of light. Today we use lights of Many different forms to overcome the natural darkness. This iS not • true of the spiritual aspects of life. Darkness when it means evil is desired by. most pe6ple. "People love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are The Christian believed that spiritnal light is desirable. This is the significance of Christmas. "The light has come into the world." This is not a physical' light generated by a flickering flame or a giant turbine• producing electricity. It is the Product of the love of God for human beings. It is not the light of twinkling Christacias trees, Or the power of the sun. It begins with the birth of the baby Jesus in Bethlehem and has shone in the lives Of men and women through the ages. Long ago it was written, ,"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has, never piit it out This 'was the real light - the light that comes• into the world and shines on all mankind." (John 1:5,9) It makes no difference whether you are fit Australia or Africa, Canada or China, if this light shines on you and in you feat and darkness disappear and love, joy and peace ate your most precious gifts. Christmas (Christ's birth) is light. "The Word became a human being and, full of grace And truth, lived among us. We saw his glory; the glory, Which he received as the Father's only Son. Out of the fulness of his grace he has blessed us all, giving us one blessing after another-graee and truth came through Jesus Christ." Not many will see the light this Christmas. Perhaps the sparkle of electric tree lights, or the flickering candles or the flood linhts of Theproblem of Shivering library staff has been solved. Mrs. Stella Beattie said the library furnace is now operating as it should since the second visit by repairmen. stre is streets, noticed.arens and parking lots will be all that The true light still shines for those who are ready to see it. May the eternal light - God's love in Jesus Christ - be in you the light of life, The start ai the library have been plagued by cool temperatures in the building for The last four years, which have sometimes resulted in the library being temporarily closed., (Continued from Page 2) Mrs. Lloyd Mcbonald of >f R. 1 , Hetisall said she would just be having a quiet Christmas at home. Joseph Givlin of R.R.1, Dublin said, "It's hard to say what I'm going to do," Mrs. Eldon Allen of R.R.2, Staffa said, "We're having our children home and the grandchildren. She said her family, her mother and her family, and their families are all going, to the Staffa Family Life Centre for a' pot luck supper in the 'evening. She said if everyone comes there will be about 60 at •the family supper. Anne toown,..y of 79 West William St., in Seaforth said. 'Well I intend to go Ati ray brother and sister-in-law's for Christmas Day." She said she would be there for dinner but then will go to work at Kilbarchan Nursing Home. She also plans on attending church Christmas morning. • It's obvious Allan Hayter's family of R.R.1, Varna, won't be able to go too far on Christmas Day, "I think we're staying home because we're just starting into the mumps," she said. 511_9-said there are'five in her family who hadn't had the mumps since her husband has them at the moment, They're expecting to have a family Christmas at hom'e. PEACE on EARTH' Best wishes for a joyous Christmas. Librar'y warm now a