The Merry Christmas Addition

Issue #969
Including:

From Olivia

From Kyra

From Lauren

From BC Sue

From Russ

From Nova Scotia Sus

The Ontarion

Hi All,

This years is certainly different from what we are used to as most of us who celebrate Christmas will be doing so only within our own households. That’s how it is for us. Due to current pandemic requirements the kids and grandkids can not come here and we can’t go there. If that’s what it takes to get us through this then that’s fine. My only regret is that had this country locked down as tight and as quickly as some did, we would not be in the mess we are in now as we wait for the vaccine. However, most of us have FaceTime or Skype etc and most of us can again get together with family when this is over and when put in perspective with what people had to go through during the wars and other global emergencies in the past, we really have very little to complain about.

With the enforced solitude and quietness it’s easy to let the mind wonder back, way back, to Christmas related memories from the past. And to be clear, I don’t know if I’m actually remembering situations or remembering impressions so don’t hold me too tightly to the facts. Now, lets go way back to the ‘50s. As kids we were dragged to church each Sunday morning regardless of if we liked it or not, thats was just the way it was. Church and therefor Sunday school took place in the old Freeport church up on the Freeport Hill overlooking the Grand River (across from where we I would live much later out on Hidden Valley). That old church had been around since pioneer days, was very small and was unsuccessfully heated by a big old stove in the middle, and had a choir room off the back which was more like a big closest than an actual room.

Now for the setting; winters in the 1950s were brutal with endless cold, wind and snow. Just ask Uncle Russ who was a beat cop in those days. Cars back then were not at all dependable, not at all comfortable and very few had heaters that worked or snow tires to help with the unplowed roads. Each year there would be a nighttime Christmas service and we would all attend. It would be almost dark in that old building, and very chilly. I can still see the choir shuffle out from the back room in their gowns and seat themselves in the choir loft (if that’s what you could call it). Along the wall above them was a mural that was put up every year showing a night vista of the nativity scene. Incidently, no one seemed to know what became of that mural after that old church closed. I remember very little about those services but do remember that once a given Christmas service was over, we’d all shiver our way back out to the parking lot where all those old cars were refusing to start. The ‘men folk’ would be trying to get them running, often boosting or pushing them. The snow would be deep in that parking lot and those bald tires would make things that much worse. Eventually and somehow, everyone would be headed home, the windows of the cars iced up, us kids huddled in the back seat trying to get warm. And perhaps we would glimpse some Christmas lights on the way home if we kept an eye out for them.

I wish I could remember that old choir singing, or the Christmas message delivered from the pulpit, but I can’t. Most of us are now much older than most of the elderly people were that made up that congregation. Kids nowadays have no idea what it would have been like to shiver in a little old church and to shiver while riding in an old clunker of a car through those brutal winters. I think todays kids are missing out on things that no longer exist and could never be given a price because those times were priceless. And, if memory serves, that old church was moved to the Doon Pioneer Village.

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Well now, since I don’t do any Christmas music I’ve decided the next best thing would be to include a vid of one of my own original songs called ‘Nighttime In The Mountains’. There is nothing Christmassy about it except that it mentions nighttime and it mentions snow. A long stretch but thats the best I can do. Enjoy.

Nighttime In The Mountains

doug

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From Olivia (5years old)

“Feliz Navidad” means have a Merry Christmas. My favourite thing about Christmas is being kind to each other. My favorite thing to eat at Christmas is the desert. Ice cream is my favorite. It’s very sugary. And the topping is M&Ms. My favorite thing to do on Christmas morning is open up the presents. And I like giving out presents to other people because it’s very nice. Have a very good Christmas to you guys!

Olivia

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Kyra’s contribution to the Squamidian for Xmas 2020

Hello this is Kyra. Today I finished school for the rest of the year.

So we had a dance party tonight in my dad’s music room, it was pretty cool my dad bought these lights that change colors. It was fun!

It’s Christmas in about seven days and I’m not allowed to see my grandma and grandpa this year because of COVID-19, but I’ll see them next year (for my birthday).

Anyway, that’s all I have for now.

The end.

Kyra

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From Lauren

What a year! A crazy, crazy year! But out of the bad, comes some good... although Ryan’s industry came to a crashing halt in mid March, he has been home with us since then, & it’s been amazing! The girls & I have loved having him home for so long, & truthfully, I’m not looking forward to him leaving again.

I have worked consistently throughout the pandemic. We had lots of changes, constant cleaning & isolation for inmates coming in from other institutions etc., so we have had an entirely different approach to dealing with it all, & a lot of staff were off for various reasons, or if they presented with potential covid symptoms, they had to go off work & a whole lot of contact tracing would begin.

I dodged most of the bullets & worked a lot. In fact, I took advantage of Ryan’s being home & not traveling like we used to anywhere on vacation ourselves, by basically working a ton of overtime in the summer. It was readily available & I could literally work every single day off if I wanted to! I got some decent money out of it it & we set up a nice home gym!

We also bought a house in the summer, it’s been so nice having all the extra space & not on a busy highway (our townhouse backed onto one), or noisy neighbours. Our new house is so peaceful. We also face the Fraser river from our back deck & living room (we can’t actually see it), but boy, do we have some amazing sunsets! It came with a fish pond, so Ryan has some additional pets!

Ryan & I started with elf on the shelf for the kids this year. Kyra decided she wanted one, even though we were gifted one when she was a baby, she had not showed interest until now. It’s been challenging, but fun coming up with ideas of where to put them each night, Olivia is the most excited & goes on a great big hunt every morning!

Anyway, hopefully Christmas will be better next year, ours will be extremely quiet, I am working, but will see Ryan & the kids in the afternoon!

Merry Christmas everyone!
Lauren

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From BC Sue

I don’t know if you guys were aware that Doug and I feed a variety of birds all year round.

We have a number of brilliant coloured hummingbirds that regularly visit our feeders in the nicer weather. Starting in September, all the girls head for warmer southern homes to miss the cold and wet weather. The boys are so protective of their territory that they stay regardless of the weather to protect their piece of sky from the other males.

Doug always brings their feeder in for the night now that the cold days have arrived so that the water doesn’t turn to slush.

We also feed Stellar Jays (noisy, bossy cousins of Blue Jays), Flickers, Chickadees and Juncos, year round. They get a cup of seed and nuts each morning from Doug and they do not hesitate to tell him when he is late getting started. We also have suet blocks in wire cages out for the winter.

Well early this week, Doug came into the kitchen to get them their food. He opened the door and was faced with disaster! Something had been here overnight and managed to drop a feeder thru the glass patio coffee table, breaking it into tiny glass rectangles. Hooks and suet feeders were gone with the holes left where the hooks should be, empty birdseed feeders on the deck floor and suspiciously large bear foot prints left in a light dusting of snow.

So now all feeders come in for the night and hopefully the bear has moved on.

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Doug and I have been busy making microwave fudge and peanut brittle this past week. It is our only real Christmas tradition and we have been doing this for at least 5 + years. Over the years, we have made at least 100 treat bags per year containing of 2 pieces each of homemade chocolate and caramel brown sugar fudge and 3.5 ounce bags of peanut brittle.

I make the candy and Doug is the official fudge slicer and package control officer.

We give these treats to the staff at the Gondola, our Optometry office, the Dentist’s office and our good neighbours and close friends in our coffee group. We have started distribution today and should be completed with the drop offs before Christmas. These recipes are so easy using the microwave, so if anyone wants to try making it give me a shout and I’ll send you the no fail recipes.

Sue

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From Russ

Monkeys

“All the monkeys are not in a zoo, every day you meet quite a few....you can be better than you are, you could be swinging on a star” (Bing Crosby).

I saw her run into Sobeys – she was ‘remarkable’ because of her thigh-length, grey hair! Wearing a man’s cap, dark glasses, and of course the ‘compulsory’ mask, it was near impossible to guess her age. I put her somewhere between 30 and 60, and nowhere else. Her skinny legs were enclosed in tight leggings, looking similar to a pair of ‘pipe-cleaners’. Her legs went up and disappeared under a pleated mini-skirt. How was I able to get all these details, you ask? Answer: She was always in my way, as I followed the arrows on the floor of the aisles. That alone burns my old address! The things I want are always up the “Do Not Enter” lanes!

I was searching for coffee, it was not in its usual place. Stores do that so you need to search, and while searching, you find things, not on your list, but which may come in handy someday, and you end up buying much more than intended. But you knew all that.

Pardon me – I can’t find coffee.

“I think it’s in aisle #7 – follow me” said the harried Sobeys staffer. Boy! was she fast – I had to put my shopping cart into “passing-gear” to keep up!

Suddenly she hung-a-right up a Do Not Enter lane and grabbed onto, none other than our grey-haired lady who had somehow climbed up a vertical shelf – no doubt to get something out-of-her-reach.

“COME DOWN FROM THERE!” she shouted as she tried to help the ‘creature’.

“I’M TRYING – LET GO OF ME!” hollered the lady monkey – as she kicked at her would-be helper. I wished I’d had my camera – I have never seen anything like this in my 91 years!

We were at aisle #7. What was it I wanted here??

I ran into our climber again at the 12 Items, or less ‘Express Check-out”. It was the only one with the light on – but there was nobody home. I saw a Sobeys person walking around in circles, she saw me and said, “I can look after you” and pointed to the Express lane. I proceeded to place approximately 3 times 12 things on the conveyor belt, while monkey lady was shooting anger darts at me. She was in a terrible hurry and began piling her stuff onto the belt while the check-out was still ringing-in my stuff! The COVID Rules require the next-in-line wait until all items of the first shopper have been cleared in order for her to disinfect the belt and debit machine. I hate ‘packing’! I know how to, but when rushed I tend to throw stuff into my shopping bags as if I were taking out the garbage! But I kept my ‘cool’ this time. The more mini-skirt fumed, the slower, and more methodically I placed each object lovingly into its place. Now, the check-out was getting angry with me, and although not allowed to help me pack my own bags, she kept pushing my groceries away from her and closer to me in order to leave space for “miss appropriate”.

PS I hope you enjoy reading my little stories as much as I enjoy writing for Doug’s famous Squamidian each week. I want to take this opportunity to thank Doug for his incredible endurance, his great musical recordings, his photos of the breath-taking scenery, for keeping us informed as to what’s happening in the Heavens, and his interesting, and sometimes humorous complaints as to the ‘dumb drivers in BC.

At this same time I want to congratulate Greg for his loyalty in always writing an interesting account of things he remembers of his childhood growing up near Breithaupt’s Bush, his accounts of experiences as a Firefighter, the trips he takes in his little MG (in summer), and that Jeep of his he so proudly drives around town. Greg, your ambitions put us all to shame. Who else is building wooden toys for children? I admire your skill as a ‘columnist’, and greatly appreciate your unending friendship.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all readers and contributors of the endearing Squamidian.

Your old Uncle Russ.

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From Nova Scotia Sus

What would we do without the Squamidian?

not be so informed and connected with our family and friends

Saturday mornings with nothing to read

not so entertained by music and stories

not challenged to write and contribute

not learn and laugh with Russel's stories

not learn about all the places we live

what's happening in Kitchener from Greg

and much, much more!

The Squamidian has kept us close, in a time like this with the world in chaos, it is more important than ever. We are very lucky that Doug has created a place we all can go.

Thank you Doug for all your efforts, you are amazing! Also thanks to everyone who contributes and those who faithfully read and enjoy the Squamidian.

Merry Christmas to all and a safe and healthy New Year.

Sus

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THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone!

Well, we are only 6 days away from Christmas and have yet to get any significant snow on the ground. Not that I’m complaining but usually this time of year we’re inundated with the white stuff! I was prepared today to go out and use the blower on the walkways and driveway but to my surprise, one of our lovely neighbours had already run his or her blower over our walkway. That meant that I only had to use my shovel to clear the light skiff off the driveway and that only took me about 5 minutes. Many thanks to whichever lovely neighbour happened to do that good deed this morning! Maybe, just maybe the “Old Farmer’s Almanac” will be wrong in it’s prediction this year and we won’t get that 60’s style winter this year at all! I’m hoping that they were wrong in their prediction of a heavy snow winter this year and things will stay mild and low on the snowfalls! Oh well, if it comes, it comes!

One of these days someone will say “Wow, is it ever coming down!” To which I will invariably reply “Well, have you ever seen it go up?” Just one of the many colloquialisms I remember from my father’s collection over the years! LOL! I’m sure you’ve all heard many of those old sayings from the older folks in your past! My father was filled with those quaint sayings. Like the time he was first took me out hunting when I was 15 and had received my first and only shotgun for Christmas. We went out hunting rabbits shortly after the new year and I missed the easiest shot of the day, my father looked at me and said “son, you couldn’t hit a cow’s ass with a banjo!” Just another one for my collection of fatherly sayings! It wasn’t long after that when my hunting days were over. I went out many times with dad over the next couple of years but the only thing I remember hitting with my 12 gauge double barreled shotgun was a tree or two and thank goodness they weren’t dead after I shot them! I never did really take to hunting because the thought of killing anything didn’t sit well with me at any time in my life! I guess that’s one of the things that appealed to me with my job on the Fire Department was the thought of saving rather than taking a life!

While hunting with my dad, the best part of the day out was the day out with my dad and not the thought of shooting some poor defenseless little animal. Just being out in the woods in the clear crisp winter air and enjoying the peace and solitude of the countryside was the enjoyable part of hunting with my father. I guess these days it’s called “Bonding with your dad or son!” I still had that old shotgun but had stopped hunting after reaching the age of 17 years. Before I retired from the fire department in 2002, I gave the shotgun to one of the young firefighters that had only been on out department for about 4 or 5 years. A neighbour of ours in Linwood had tried to Break open my old shotgun one day while looking at it and literally broke the stock in half! The stock was only attached to the barrels by the metal trigger guard and so it sat in the case for another 10 years or so until I gave it to that young firefighter who happened to be the son of the then Chief of the Waterloo Regional Police Force! The young firefighter’s name was Chad Gravill and his dad’s name was Larry Gravill. Chad told me that he was skilled at making wooden stocks for rifles and shotguns as a hobby. So, the subject of my old shotgun came up and he offered to make a new stock for it. At that point, I decided to give him the old shotgun for his collection if he wanted it. He happily accepted my offer and the shotgun then found a new home! I haven’t seen or heard from Chad since my retirement so I don’t know if he ever managed to complete the repair of that old gun but I’m sure he has a prize with a story to go along with it having it in his collection!

I’ll have to contact him one of these days and see how he made out with the project! In the meantime, I’m concentrating on the upcoming holiday celebrations here at home! Speaking of which, Carole and Adam and I want to wish all of the Squamidian readers a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Also, a hearty thank you to all for being such loyal readers of our little news letter over all these years!

It’s good to hear from so many of you over the years and it’s especially good to hear from Karl and Karen all the way from Australia as often as we do! Keep those lovely pictures coming our way Karl!

That’s it for this week folks!

I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!

Bye for now … Greg

PS: Something to Think About>

Please try writing more often to the Squid in the coming year! We all enjoy hearing from anyone that takes the time to write! PPS: Thanks to Doug and Russ for their continued support!

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