Times Advocate, 1994-12-21, Page 17Children and Christmas
Our annual collection of Christmas wishes
from the students of our local elementary
schools. Pages 18-27 inside:
■
Perfect tree, perfect tradition
Awaiting decorations, some of these trees will become the central part of local families
Christmases. Others will remain as a windbreak on the Aisenpreis farm.
For many families, there is no substitute
for the hard work of picking out and cutting
their own `perfect' Christmas tree
. KIPPEN - It's hard to have a traditional Christmas
these days. Electronic games replaced wooden toy sol-
diers long ago, and whose family sings Christmas car-
ols around the piano.
Still, there are those who insist on keeping as many
Christmas traditions alive as possible. There are those
who still read The Night Before Christmas to the little
ones in front of the fire Christmas Eve, and there are
those who insist that a Christmas tree has to be care-
fully chosen before it is cut down.
This is Petra Aisenpreis' first year in the cut -your -
own Christmas tree business, and she says it has been
fun to watch families arrive at her Kippen-area farm to
pick out that perfect tree.
The trees she has for sale weren't planted as Christ-
mas trees. but form part of a windbreak that now has
to he thinned out to let the larger trees grow. A few of
the trees were transplanted to the far-sidcof theme;;
but about 50 of them have been marked for cutting:
and what better use for them than Christmas trees?
"Everyone comes in and they're all in the spirit," said
Aisenpreis. "And they get you all excited too."
Having a thick crust of snow on the ground also
helps set the scene, and Aisenpreis said that business
picked up once the snow arrived.
"The whole fancily comes out. The wife and the
kids, they walk up and down to pick the tree out," she
said, but added it is nearly always the husband's job to
make the final cut.
Sometimes a husband will come out by himself to
pick out a tree, but will leave, insisting that he has to
bring his wife along because he can't make the de-
cision alone as he first thought.
Aisenpreis said she and her three sisters arc selling
their trees for up to $20 each: a price competitive with
other local tree sales. Considering that the trees took
seven years to grow to this height, and were cared for
regularly over that time, Christmas trees don't seem
like much of a.get-rich-quick scheme.
Aisenpreis said she has no plans to get into the
Christmas tree business permanently. After all, a fully -
stocked lot would have to have other typepf trees for
those who prefer something other than tII6 Norwegian
Spruce planted for the windbreak. Those families who
just have to have long needles on their trees will have
to search elsewhere.
"This wasn't meant to be a business...but I don't
know, there aren't a lot of people doing this in the
area," said Aisenpreis.
She agrees it might be fun to have some land set
aside for regular tree planting. to watch the Christmas
spirit arrive every year.
"It's just fun to see people coming in," said Ai-
senpreis, but added it would be virtually impossible to
make a living out of tree sales.
"Ctjtstmascomes only-oneea year," she said: -
The arguments about real versus artificial Christmas
trees may continue to rage. but for those seeking to
keep old traditions alive, only a real tree will do.
"Nothing can replace the smell," observed Ai-
senpreis. "But then again there are people allergic to
it."
Aisenpreis and her sisters have their tree picked out
already, but it will remain standing on the lot until
Christmas Eve, when in the best German. tradition, it
will be cut down and brought in for decorating.
Christmas Eve, she said, is a time set aside for tradi-
tion.
"You're proud of your own tree. You picked it. You
put things on it...it is a big part of the Christmas spirit,"
she said.
"It's even more fun than unwrapping presents," said
Aisenpreis, explaining that when the tree is complete,
Christmas is just beginning. When the presents are un-
wrapped, much of the excitement is over.
A dew quick strokes
of the saw turned this
spruce tree into a
Christmas tree. Petra
(left) and Silke Ai-
senpreis hold up what
was part of a seven-
year old windbreak,
but is now a Christ-
mas tree for a waiting
customer. Many fam-
ilies, however, prefer
to make the cut them-
selves, keeping the
tradition complete.
Christmas Bureau
giving little slower
An earlier deadline caught some donors
and organizations off guard this year
By Heather Vincent
T -A staff
EXETER - Donations came in a
little slower this year to the Christ-
mas Bureau said local organizer
Ray Soper. He said there was a
problem of awareness due to earlier
drop-off dates.
The dates were
changed to Net-
ter ac-
commodate the
volunteers dur-
ing the holiday
season. All
goods will have
been picked up
by families in
need by De-
cember 16.
Many schools
and other or-
ganizations do
not have events
scheduled until
the 16th. Many
of these events
raise donations
for the Christ -
The Huron County
Christmas Buroau's
organizer Ray Soper
receives a cash
donation of $1000 from
Jeff Bowen, South Huron
Distrkt High School's
treasurer, shown above.
The school also donated
$85.30 In Canadian Tire
Money. Shown below,
Exeter Publk School's
Atyssa Darling and
Sarah Wuerth brought in
the school's girt
donations Wednesday to
the Bureau.
mas Bureau. South Huron District
High School dropped off a cash do-
nation of $I,(XX) plus $85.30 in Ca-
nadian Tire money last
Wednesday. Exeter
Public School also
made a donation of
gifts to the bureau on
Wednesday.
The Pentecostal Tab-
ernacle at 670, Main Street, Exeter
accepted donations of food and
clothing until the end of last week.
They were especially in need of ar-
ticles of clothing for teenagers.
"People tend to pick out nice lit-
tle outfits for small children, they're
cute," said Soper.
Twenty eight families were
served on Monday and Tuesday at
the Tabernacle and the numbers ta-
pered off slightly towards the end
of the week.
Although the donations were
slower to come in this year, Soper
said, "The people of Exeter and
area are very generous."
He said he is pleased by all the
food donated by local companies
such as Big "0" which have
dropped off truckloads of canned
goods.
"The people
of Exeter and
area are very
generous."
Any food or cloth-
ing not picked up by
families last week
will be given to area
charities such as the
Salvation Army in
Clinton.
Last year all the remaining goods
were returned to the Goderich Chil-
dren's Aid.
h
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