The Citizen, 2012-12-20, Page 31235 Turnberry St.,
Brussels
519-887-9661
Hwy. #8,
Mitchell
519-348-8485
We really appreciate
your filling our year
with so much joy.
Merry Christmas
everyone!
RADAR
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20 King St.,
Clinton
519-482-3445
Water Pumps & Pipe Lines - Conditioners
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Dale Pump & Farm
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For All Your Water Needs
269 Ontario Street, Clinton, Ont. N0M 1L0
Phone 519-482-3274 Fax 519-482-9540
GRUNDFOS - MYERS
STEVE McCULLOUGH NEIL DALE
Season’s Greetings
to all our customers and friends
and a prosperous New Year!
406 Mill Street (corner of Dinsley & Mill), Blyth
519-523-4793 • www.spaessentialsblyth.com
Kelly Wharton, Carla Pawitch, Julie Luffman, Katie Ansley,
Ruth Feeney, Laura Kelly and Emma Wilts
wish you a relaxing holiday!
Vodden holidays filled with cards, letters and calls
Brock and Janis Vodden have a
quieter Christmas celebration than
some other families might have, but
that doesn’t mean they don’t look
forward to it just as much.
Brock, a councillor from North
Huron and resident of Blyth, said
that, while they don’t really
celebrate, they do look forward to
things that happen during the
season, including hearing from his
children.
“The phone calls from our kids is
a feature of Christmas day we look
forward to,” he said. “We stay close
to home to get the calls from the
kids. They call other times too of
course, but that’s kind of a
tradition.”
Another highlight of Christmas
for his family now is letters from
friends both new and old.
“What I really, really like about it
is the letters we receive from
friends,” he said. “Some of the
friends from far away, or friends we
haven’t seen for sometimes 30 or 40
years.
“Sometimes they aren’t very
exciting, but you touch base with
people and we send out a letter,
though we’re not putting out much
this year, so you are up to date with
them,” he said. “It’s really great to
touch base.”
Staying in touch with friends and
family is a big part of how
Christmas is around the Vodden
house because there isn’t a lot of
religious recognition in the home.
“There’s no celebration in a
religious sense and that’s really been
the tradition in both our families,
Janis and mine,” he said. “It was a
time when the family got together
for both of us when we were young.
When I was a kid we would usually
have two Christmases and they were
great times, and we got along well
and enjoyed each other Christmas.
“Now, though, we celebrate by
staying in touch with friends and
family,” he said.
Vodden, who was raised in Blyth,
said, in a previous interview with
The Citizen, that Christmas when he
was young was different than it is
today because of the situations
surrounding it. People weren’t able
to travel for hours to visit people
years ago and they had to celebrate
at home.
“The ability to travel had a lot to
do with people shopping locally…
[and caused] a lot more community
activities around Christmas,” he
said. “The amount of snow had a lot
to do with that. We had no snow
blowers and concessions weren’t
plowed. Highway 4 between Clinton
and Wingham was basically a one-
car wide tunnel carved out of the
snow.”
Vodden said that, even venturing
to visit people close to home could
be problematic, recounting a story in
which his family car, in the time it
took to park it on the side of the road
and visit a relative on what is now
Stone School Line, became
completely buried.
He also remembered the arrival of
Santa in town as a widely celebrated
event.
“Santa came to Blyth by the train,”
he said. “He would arrive at the
Dinsley Street station and there
would be a parade from the train
station to Memorial Hall.”
Along the route of the parade and
at the hall, local firefighters would
give out oranges and candy to the
children. While the candy was
special, the oranges were really a
treat, Vodden explained, as they
weren’t readily available due to
transportation from where they
could grow.
Santa’s arrival was a great event
for the community and for Vodden
every year, but one year marked a
very special occasion when, as a
youngster, the North Huron
councillor found Santa’s gloves in a Blyth Gary, Linda & family 519-523-9354
Best wishes to all our friends and customers
now and in the coming year.
Caldwell Construction
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
GODERICH
519-524-7251
WINGHAM
226-422-2020
CLINTON
519-482-3677
Doctor’s Nisbett, Padfield,Weaver,Taylor and
staff would like to thank our patients for their
support during this challenging year.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a
Happy NewYear
Huron Optometric Centres
Years gone by
The Vodden family celebrates Christmas a little differently but they still do it with family and
friends close to their heart. Shown here in a family photo from 1976 are, back row, from left,
Myrtle, Janis, Harold, Mary Ellen, Trevor and John Vodden. Front row are, from left, Pamela,
Andrew and Kent Vodden and, standing watch from the back is Brock. Brock, a councillor from
North Huron, said that he and Janis and the six children drove 1,000 miles for this visit and had
to rent two rooms in a hotel on the way, however one room didn’t have heat so the eight of them
shared a single space making for a cozy Christmas. (Denny Scott photo)
Continued on page 36