PC42_Special Section, Circ under 9,999: Barry's Bay, The Valley Gazette - Christmas Wishes 2020

Happy Holidays This has been a year for the history books, and not in the best of ways. Not one of us has been without added struggles this year, even those of us who have otherwise had something good happen to us.

At The Valley Gazette things changed for us dramatically in March. We went from reporting on school sports and activities at the Seniors’ Centre, to watching all of these community events evaporate into thin air. It was with a sense of incomprehension as we watched this happen – why would a few cases of a cold shut down the NHL, we wondered then.

But we persevered – all of us. Us at the Gazette kept our heads above water, hoping for the best and adjusting our focus as required. Everyone in the Valley did the same. We got used to our masks and hand sanitizer, we got used to Plexiglas screens and standing apart. And we breathed a sigh of relief as things eased-up a bit over the summer, when we saw many of our regular activities return. Our stores managed to remain in business, though it was no banner year here in vacationland.

We told different stories this year. It was not the same Canada Day we celebrated and took pictures of for all of you, there was no Bay Day per se, no Taste of the Valley, etc. But things did happen, and we took note. And each time something happened, it felt like a little victory for all of us. And that is what it feels like now as we pass through these ‘modified’ visits from Santa.

Yes, we all hope for a return to normal in 2021. And even as we do, I firmly believe that 2020 has made us better people, and we at The Valley Gazette are grateful for having gone through it with you.

A special thanks goes out to the advertisers who have stuck with us this year, even as they had worries of their own; thanks especially to the advertisers that appear in this Christmas feature.

Let me quote our past editor, Christine, here and invite you to “brew a cup of your favourite warm beverage, cozy up, and enjoy the magic that these pages hold. We hope you enjoy this special Christmas edition of the Valley Gazette.”

From our family to yours, we wish you a truly spectacular Christmas season, and happiness and abundance in 2021.

- Colin Kerr

Christmas Wishes 2020

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Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Twas the Night Before Christmas ‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap, When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash, Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below, When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my hand, and was turning around, Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot; A bundle of toys he had flung on his back, And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow; The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath; He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself; A wink of his eye and a twist of his head, Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread; He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk, And laying his finger aside of his nose, And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose; He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!

With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name; “Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN! On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONNER and BLITZEN! To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky, So up to the house-top the coursers they flew, With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Best wishes to our community members and supporters for a wonderful Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year!

From the Board, Staff, Volunteers and Auxiliary of the St Francis Memorial Hospital

Trimmed With Our Thanks

We are so grateful for the support and generosity of our kind donors, not only at Christmas, but throughout the entire year.

Thank you for opening your hearts to the needs of your local healthcare organizations and for making a significant impact on the excellent care we all receive, close to home.

We simply could not do what we do without you, our most valued partner!

Special thanks to everyone who has helped GIVE THE GIFT OF HEALING by making a donation to the Tree of Lights Campaign.

Together we will help our Hospital with critical equipment and replacements for the medical unit this year! www.sfvhfoundation.com

St. Francis Valley Healthcare Foundation

MAY THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS FILL YOUR HEART AND HOME WITH PEACE, JOY AND CONTENTMENT. Our thanks and best wishes for a happy holiday reside with you, our community and friends, Merry Christmas.

pirited S y l l Natura Township of Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards 1 John Street, Killaloe, ON

613-757-2300

Christmas Wishes 2020

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Page 3

Wine, war and wonder, Sr. Rosenda’s Christmases to remember KATRINA BOGUSKI Staff Reporter

BARRY’S BAY – When you ask a 92-year-old nun to recount some of her Christmas memories, you are bound to get some good stories; Sr. Rosenda Brady did not disappoint.

In reply to our email asking about her Christmas memories, the Sister of St. Joseph and daughter of Irish immigrants said, “I had a long trip in my head about memories... that kept me awake until 2:00 a.m.”

We are grateful she took that journey and brought back some souvenir stories to share with our readers. Sister’s stories are a reminder that our memories are some of our most priceless possessions and they also teach us the value that perspective brings to our lives over the years. A sad story one Christmas might lead to a happily ever after story eventually. If this year is a rough Christmas for you, hang tight; as Sister’s stories show, you never know how the plot might develop.

We asked Sister what her earliest Christmas memory was and she could remember back all the way to the time when she was five. The story she recounts makes it understandable why that Christmas was so memorable.

Sr. Rosenda said, “My brother, Charlie, was the youngest of my four brothers, and he was allowed to have a bottle of wine to treat

his friends at Christmas. This wine was kept in the refrigerator, but it was called “Charlie’s coke.”

She went on to say, “My sister, Gina, and I were around 7 and 5 years of age.

We were the two youngest in a family of 9 who were born in Kenogami, Quebec.

“One day while Charlie was looking after us as my parents were visiting neighbours on Christmas day, Gina and I got into “Charlie’s coke” and we did not find that it tasted very good, so the challenge to drink it was on when we both said, “The last one to drink the whole glass is a monkey.” I remember they were drinking glasses, blue in colour with white sail boats on them.”

She said, “Charlie came into the kitchen and found both of us under the kitchen table and laughing our heads off! He saw the bottle on the table with two empty glasses, and he knew exactly what was wrong with us.”

Sister Rosenda remembers Charlie carrying her and her sister up to bed, one girl under each arm. She said, “The steps seemed to be flying past us.”

Telling what happened next, Sr. Rosenda said, “When my parents came home and asked, “Where are the children?” Charlie told them that he put them to bed because they were so tired. He was praised for that, and we know that Charlie did not want to lose his privilege of having a bottle of wine to treat his friends at Christmas!”

Another story from Sister also centred around her brother Charlie. She said, “When we were sitting at the dining room table listening to a radio program of music

Peace & Joy to you and yours!

As we celebrate the birth of our Savior, we rejoice in the many blessings He has bestowed upon us. His precious gifts and the goodwill of our friends and customers here in the community fill us with gratitude during this holy season.

Thank you for your kind support all year, and please accept our heartfelt wishes for a wonderful Christmas.

Cathy,Terry, Tetyana and Margaret

which was abruptly interrupted to make this alarming announcement.”

The announcer said, “This is CKRS, the voice of the Saguenay to inform you of the Fall of Hong Kong. The Japanese attacked and after 17 days of battle, the British surrendered it to Japan. That was Christmas Day, 1941.”

“My brother, Charlie, who had joined the Royal Rifles of Canada on his 18th birthday, on March 17th, 1941, was captured and became a prisoner of war in Japan for four and a half years. Charlie was a wonderful athlete, hockey, skiing, swimming, and baseball which meant he was in very good health, weighing 185 pounds and when he came home to his family in Kenogami, Quebec, he only weighed 103 pounds. We cared for him for a whole year before he could even think of going to work for Price Brothers Paper Mill in the office at Riverbend, Quebec.”

Sr. Rosenda said, “The story takes on a very happy turn when he met and married a dietitian, and they lived in Montreal and had six children. We teased him saying that he would never be hungry again having a registered dietician as his wife.”

She added, “It was a very happy marriage.

They were so proud of all their children who contributed so much to society. His wife, Elizabeth, called ‘Libby’ was a very loving, well educated woman who truly gave Charlie the best life he could possibly have. It was a great love story!”

“Together they both worked so hard raising a large family and for all the veterans of Hong Kong, namely the remaining members of the

Sr. Rosenda Brady shares some Christmas memories.

Royal Rifles of Canada. This also included seeking better pensions for these soldiers from the Government of Canada. I must say they were very successful together. I have personally attended many Hong Kong reunions, and the last one was held in Ottawa at an airport hanger with a great dinner dance with live Big Band Music. In September, 1957, Sister joined the Sisters of St. Joseph, and she describes her first Christmas at the Motherhouse in Pembroke as one of great JOY!

Merry Christmas From All of Us Thank you for your patronage this year.

We look forward to serving you again soon, and we wish you the merriest of holidays. We feel truly blessed to be a part of this fine community.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Christmas Wishes 2020

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Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Christmas in Nova Scotia in the 80s COLIN KERR Staff Reporter Everything is bigger in Texas, they say.

Really, everything is bigger in the memory of childhood.

It’s hard for me to mesh together my memories of endless snow drifts rendering the roads and the lawns indistinguishable from each other as my brothers and I traipsed along with our sleds in tow with the wet, sloppy, slushy reality of Nova Scotia as I know it as an adult. But such it was according to my memory.

Has global warming really changed things that much since the 80s?

I have innumerable fond Christmas memories. One I keep going back to is the Christmas of 1983.

This was the greatest year in human history: Return of the Jedi ruled the box office and Michael Jackson’s Thriller ruled the airwaves.

And for nine-year-old me, that was the year I got a pair of cross country skis for Christmas. It was not a surprise. After all, I had gone with my parents to Canadian Tire to get measured for them. What made the whole thing special was not that it was a surprise, but the snow we happened to get that Christmas Eve. There are those days after a snowfall that are so crisp and bright that, to the mind looking back on them so many years later, it hardly seems possible that it could have actually been that

way. But such was December 25, 1983.

So, after the presents were unwrapped, I put on my skis in my front yard, and headed up our unplowed street to the high school with its steep hill where we spent so many of the winter days of our youth. Mind you, the hill emptied right out onto a fairly busy road.

It was a miracle none of us were run over.

I didn’t really know that there was a difference between cross country skis and downhill skis. I was nine. To me, there was no difference, and so down the hill I zipped with stunning velocity. At one point we set up a jump, and ya, I landed pretty heavily on my back when my skis shot out from under me. But kids are pretty resilient: what would today put me out for at least a week, at nine years of age with my flexible green bones, didn’t faze me for more than a minute or two.

There was no time like Christmas Vacation to us kids, and there was no day like Christmas Day. I don’t know what makes Christmas special. Parents think back on their happy childhoods with a kind of discursive curiosity that wishes to distill it, bottle it, and pass it on to their own children. They do for their families the kinds of things that were done for them at Christmas – the same kinds of decorations, treats, and activities that were so special to them when they were young. The fact is, there is no secret recipe for a merry Christmas, other than the will to make the day special.

My parents were like most parents: tired, stressed, and worried about money.

But we didn’t see that. Somehow these all-

too-human parents of mine managed to fill our Christmases with an infinite number of happy memories. I never saw my father stopping off at a busy Woolco (remember, Woolco?) after a long day’s work, to pick me up the ray gun I wanted, never saw him waiting in line, and huff and puff as he tried to get out of the busy parking lot afterward.

I can well imagine it now! I never thought about how much time it took for my mom to do the turkey and the potatoes, and the pies and the this-and-that. I did not know what it was like to have one of her children cry about his brother getting 10 presents while he only got 8. I know now.

But even with all that extra work and sacrifice, they made sure the day was special for us. They weren’t geniuses, unendingly dynamic or energetic, nor did they break the bank over us for sake of Christmas.

Regardless, we felt like the luckiest people on earth each December 25th.

And what was done for us filled our hearts with a desire to do it for others. I think the first Christmas gift I ever bought, I bought for my dad. I bought him a package of barley toys – you know, those impossibly hard candy shapes, that splinter when you bite them? It was about $3, I think, and I was so proud to buy them for him. My dad didn’t like candy, but that didn’t compute with six or seven-year-old me.

Christmas changed for us three boys over the years. In our earliest years, it was Star Wars toys we asked for. After that, G.I. Joes.

When we became teenagers, we wanted clothes and music tapes (yes, tapes). I got George Michael’s Faith in 1988. I am still

The next generation of Kerrs carry on their Christmas traditions. convinced it is one of the greatest albums ever recorded.

Those were the things that changed from year to year. We also had the things that lasted. With kids, if you do something once, you have to do it every year. Certain things got codified into Kerr Christmas law, including: our stockings had to have a big orange in them, a Ziploc bag of Cheetos, those Lifesavers Storybooks, and dried fruit.

Wishing my Clients, Community, and Friends a wonderful Holiday Season.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve you over the past year.

On behalf of my family and myself, have a very Merry Christmas!

Ann Maika-Chartrand | Sales Representative 613-633-3226

Christmas Wishes 2020

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Whichever of us boys woke up first, we had to wake the others up too, whether it was 3, 5, or 7 am. We made this solemn pact each year. And you hang on to them much longer than perhaps you ought: even as 20 years of age, Cheetos were my Christmas breakfast, coffee and Cheetos at 6 in the morning.

It wasn’t that these things were, objectively speaking, the best. It was that, for us, they were Christmas. Dried apricots and all.

In reading about others’ favourite memories of Christmases past, we are only listening to variations on a theme.

The details we find in a person’s account interest us, but whether it was skates, or G.I Joes, does not, in the end, matter in the least. What does matter is so very much more difficult to put into words. For this is the essence of human experience, and that is our subject, that thing that makes life worth living.

Let us cluster together in our imaginations the solemnity of that dark night, punctuated by a sense of expectation, an awareness of the now deeper reality of transcendence penetrating our mundane sphere, as we tried to contemplate the deeds that supernatural beings like Santa and the Baby were intending to play in our lives that night. Multi-coloured lights casting their variegated glow from the tree, across the carpet and along the sofas, shadows yet drawing away the edges of the room and the hallways into impenetrable mysterious darkness; candles shaking in the flux of warm and cold pockets of air, as the furnace turned on and off unnoticed, or as bodies swept by them. The glow of the fireplace, and the

Page 5

The family cat enjoys Christmas too. glow of warm feelings fuelled by eggnog or by memories and talk of Christmases past.

The unspoken memory of grandma, the sure conviction of everyone there that she was still there now, just as she always had been, nodding off with her magazine spread out in her lap, stirring now and then at a laugh, a word, a cup clinking against the coffee table, only to drop off again irresistibly into her rest, her husband’s stories no longer holding that great sway over her after so many years as they now hold sway over the grandchildren.

The grandchildren listening quietly, aware that it was grandpa and his stories that keep them from being called off to brush their teeth, and to go to bed. And the cold sheets, refreshing, the bedroom’s darkness so lonely and yet so full of those beings, those memories, those expectations, the voices and sounds of the evening still pulsating and sweet in your ear, and the smell of the

Holiday fun on Lake Kamaniskeg. tree and of dad’s pipe intoxicating.

Under the crack of the door you spot a body passing by like the moon transiting across the face of the bright sun, a clue of some beneficent deed undertaken by the adult world on your behalf, for you to discover the next morning, a deed that might, of course, only be accomplished after you and your watchful eyes have been securely packed away. Is it from dad’s closet, or is it from Santa’s sleigh that these steps are coming? Truly, both are equally mysterious. You will have to remember this clue, you say to yourself, so that you can tell your brothers about it tomorrow. The sounds, your flushed cheeks, and the cold radiating from the windows and the sheets you have only just

slipped into, your mind runs with dreams and with wonder. Will sleep ever come?

And yet it comes at last, for you don’t stir at all as grandpa and mother lead grandma off to her bed at last.

The unruffled poetry of your imagination takes no cognizance of whether you are awake or asleep. It is all the same. You dream as you live, and you live as you dream. For you, tonight is the night when life is just as it is always supposed to be, the night when heaven and earth intersect, and the good and the wonderful are the only possibilities there are. It is the night when you are most aware of the mysteries in which your life has always been enwrapped and for which you are grateful.

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Christmas Wishes 2020

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Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Warm Memories for Councillor David Shulist COLIN KERR Staff Reporter

WILNO – Former mayor and current Madawaska Valley Town Councillor, David Shulist, works hard for his community. It comes from his love of its traditions and, especially, its Kashub roots.

When he describes the Christmases of his youth it’s easy to form a concrete picture of the sounds, scents and sights of the world of his childhood, growing up on the farm in Wilno in the `50s.

Back then TV was just coming on the scene, he said, and its impact was not very strong at first. So, the uniqueness of the area’s celebration of Christmas was more evident in those days. Originally, for his family anyway, Christmas dinner meant goose, not turkey. He thinks that it was only with television that turkeys became the universal meal, and eventually the Shulists too switched over in time. But in his childhood, what they ate was primarily a consequence of what they grew. And they raised geese on their farm.

They put up and decorated the tree about a week before. Christmas Eve they fasted from meat – they would have fish for dinner, such as pickled herring, Sledze, as they called it.

When they were young they waited for their parents to come home from Midnight Mass to have a late night snack. Then it would

be something like chicken soup with rice or Kashubian Sausage and sauerkraut: Kaszëbsczi Czôłbasa i Kwasnô Kapùsta.

When he got old enough, he too could go to the late night mass. Christmas was a spiritual event. We knew it was all about the birth of Jesus, he said. The importance of that was taught to him in childhood. And it was reinforced at the small school he attended.

The nuns taught them the importance of giving. Friends would give each other little

gifts, homemade things, usually.

Santa would come and knock on the door, but it was a little nerve-wracking: “Were we going to get anything?” With eleven siblings, that was no foregone conclusion.

It was very different from today. Often, you got a gift that was meant to be shared.

If he got a bicycle, it was meant for the three oldest brothers to share. The three girls under them might get a bike too that was for all three of them to share. One gift

he remembers well was a cap gun with a holster. He wanted that more than anything – he wanted to be a cowboy, like he saw on TV. Another thing about Christmas: “We kids had to say a prayer before getting our gift. You would be shaking in your shoes when this was happening. You didn’t want to make a mistake,” he recalls.

The big meal was in the afternoon: goose with all the trimmings, including lots of traditional Polish/Kashub things. Kashubian twister doughnuts, Kaszëbsczi krãcónka, was the treat after Christmas dinner, and his mom would make a Christmas fruitcake too. Another feature of the holiday fare was blood sausages, called krwionô wòrzta.

But the best thing of all was that the whole family got together: the noise and excitement. In fact, thanks to COVID, this is the first Christmas the Shulists are not having a get-together. When he was a boy, it was normal to have 50 people under their roof at the Christmas meal. Seeing each other was main part; everyone came back together at Christmas.

Many of us will no doubt feel a little lump in our throats, as we sit at Christmas dinner, and think about the special people we could not get together with this year. But we can draw on our warm memories, as does Shulist, and think back upon the good times we have had.

WIESOŁËCH GÒDÓW – MERRY CHRISTMAS

With Kind Thoughts at Christmas Thank you for choosing us.

Your trust in us is what makes our work most meaningful at the holidays and all year.

May this season bring you many happy moments, safe and joyful reunions, and enough cheer to last all year!

JOE VERMAIRE

JOHN BORYSIAK

Christmas is a time for gratitude, and we’d like to express our deep appreciation to this community for helping us through challenging times. We thank you for your trust in us, and we look forward to making great memories with all of you in 2021 as we reunite and rebuild together.

Cell: 613-318-8320

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Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Christmas Wishes 2020

Page 7

First Christmas without Mom Written by Toni Lavigne-Conway There’s nothing like the love of a mother; her smile, laughter, the deep and unconditional love for her children. And yes, even her discipline, and steadfast direction when we needed it.

This year I know I will be sharing an anniversary with many of you that no one really wants to celebrate: the first Christmas without our Moms.

Something I’ve been doing is reflecting on all the Christmases past and memories that Mom left us. But first I wanted to share a bit about my Mom and who she was because something I’ve learned as a Mom myself is that as much as we know them as “our Moms” we often forget that they were young women just like us; women who faced hardships in life, women who had dreams of their own, women who we inevitably hurt at some point in our lives that forgave us and never stopped loving us no matter what.

Born in 1933 to French Canadian parents, Yolande (Lindy) Bedard was one of 6 children who grew up “poor and without much”, as she recalls.

She had many hardships growing up in her early life. She was very fond of her older brother Leo, who she said was one of the first people to work on the new bypass as a bull dozer operator in North Bay, our birthplace and where she and my siblings grew up. He suffered greatly from depression and died by suicide at the young age of 24. She never forgot the events and details of his death and how much it affected her own mom and the rest of the family. Suicide and mental health issues were simply not talked about or understood at the time. He was even buried in a separate place in the cemetery because of the circumstance of his death. How very sad and heartbreaking this must have been.

My mom had health and lung issues at a young age and suffered from TB. In her late teens was sent to live in Quebec with an Aunt to recover and because the doctor felt the air there was better for her. She remembers this time fondly as she loved her Aunt very much and made some heartfelt friends there. She said she would have liked to stay there, but at some point, her parents insisted on her returning back home.

My Mom was a strong woman and very hard worker from an early age. She liked school and said she was a very good student, but ended up quitting after grade 9 as many of her friends did at that time to work as a waitress and make money.

She was pleased as punch to be able to make enough for a bike she desperately wanted and her parents couldn’t afford.

In her adult years, and after her kids were born, she returned to waitressing for many years to help support her family.

She raised 6 kids, mostly on her own and she was always cleaning!! I remember that when she came here to help me when Allie was born, she was deep cleaning my kitchen and my fridge to what must have looked like a dust factory to her and she shared this news with my then neighbour. Fay laughed but I was so embarrassed! She did end up cleaning it though, so that’s a bonus.

We always had Christmas baking and meat pie after midnight mass on Christmas Eve. In our family, as with most French Catholics, presents were opened at night, and in the morning, we visited our grandparents’ houses, enjoyed more baking and always got something knitted from our own Memere’s, which we

didn’t think much of then, but now that I knit myself, I wish I’d have appreciated more at the time, effort and love that must have gone into those gifts.

Each of us declared that her famous Chocolate Roll was our favourite treat and made just for us (but hey siblings... we all know it was made just for me!!!)

In fact, I have her recipe with a hand written note on it saying “Dearest Toni.

Please give a thought and prayer when baking this after I’m gone. Don’t cry. Just sing me a carol! And PS don’t forget the paraffin wax!”

One year when she and my step dad, Roger, came to spend Christmas with us here in the Bay, she and I made the entire dinner collection of recipes from what was then the new Canadian Living Christmas Cookbook! I still have that book today.

This Christmas, I’ll be remembering all the holidays she tried to make special for us, especially when times were tough when we were little. We always got PJ’s and one gift that we really wanted. Unlike now, our stockings were filled with a Christmas orange as we called it, and those hardstriped candies that were usually all stuck together (if you’re over 60 you’re sure to know exactly the ones I mean!!) and if we were lucky, we got to share a box of maraschino chocolates, a real treat.

I remember my older brothers always “encouraging” us to open the presents ahead of time and wrap them back up so mom wouldn’t know, and my sister Liane having the longest list ever attached to the freezer.

In our adult years, we still always gathered for Christmas, with all siblings and grandchildren, playing poker, enjoying the big meal, exchanging family laughs (and sometimes some old fashion sibling drama!)

We even had a special engagement celebration one Christmas when Roger proposed to my Mom after 17 years of being together!!

In the last several years, the honour of making the Christmas meal went to us girls.

Mom was always so grateful for everything we did for her and truly enjoyed hearing the laughter and chatting from the kitchen while she rested in her bedroom. She always had a huge smile on her face when she came out to see the special table decorations and loved it and when we wore her aprons.

My Mom suffered greatly in the last few years of her life and last year, and last year we had Christmas dinner in her room but it was every bit as special as the ones we had at the table.

In so many sympathy cards I have written the words, “may you find peace in the many beautiful memories you have of...” and this year I’ll be taking my own advice.

I’ll remember a Mom who loved us all very much.

I’ll remember a Mom who found such delight in seeing her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

I’ll remember a Mom who showed compassion, acceptance and understanding when it came to other people’s situations, especially her own children and grandchildren.

I’ll remember a Mom who was prim & proper but sure surprised us that last few years with some of the colourful things she said!

I’ll remember a Mom who always allowed me take a selfie and Snap Chat video of us before leaving to come back to the Bay even though she hated getting her picture taken. These are some of the

pictures that I now treasure.

I’ll remember a Mom who was extremely generous, always slipping money in your hand when we left so we could have a “coffee on me” on the trip back, and helping out her children in their time of need, even at times when she had very little herself.

And I’ll remember to sing those carols while making the Chocolate Roll, Mom, even though I can’t guarantee that I won’t shed a tear.

Merry 1st Christmas in heaven, Mom. You are finally free from pain and suffering. In life, you prayed the rosary for so many people in need. It was only fitting that Mother Mary came to get you on the most holy day of the year, Easter Sunday. No one deserved this more than you.

Love you, Mom

Mom’s Chocolate Roll

2 (more if needed) unsweetened chocolate squares 1 can condensed milk 2 cups graham wafer crumbs ½ finely chopped walnuts (optional but we always used) Large coloured marshmallows (or white if you can’t find) Paraffin wax

Melt chocolate squares over low heat. Remove and cool a bit.

Stir in condensed milk, graham crumbs and walnuts, if using.

Divide into two portions; butter fingers to keep from sticking.

On a piece of waxed paper, press out one portion of the mixture in a rectangle ¼ inch thick and big enough that you can roll it around a row of about 10 large marshmallows.

Place marshmallows in a row at the edge of the batter and gently roll up and around them.

Wrap in wax paper and then again in tin foil and store in refrigerator. This also freezes very well. Just take out and let thaw a bit before cutting into about 1 inch slices.

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Christmas Wishes 2020

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

It was a magical Christmas Another time, another place but still very heartfelt GAYLE DAVIS Freelance

BANCROFT – What makes Christmas magical? You could ask five different people and get as many answers. Whether it’s a gift, a location or an experience, something happens to us, touching our hearts deeply, the memory of which remains forever with us.

Jill Beatty lives in the Bancroft area with her husband Chris. They are ‘Toronto transplants’, having moved to the area about 10 years ago after Chris retired.

As magical as a ‘country’ Christmas is, sometimes it’s the special circumstances that makes a Christmas stand out, not the location.

Jill came from a large family. As with each family, there were several traditions that they followed which brought a unique meaning to their own Christmas celebration.

Every Christmas Eve, before heading off to bed, the family would gather together and toast the coming Christmas day and each other with a drink of grape juice and ginger ale.

“We always woke up Christmas morning [to find] new pajamas on our beds,” explained Jill.

Once they donned the new jammies, everyone opened their bedroom doors to find a candy cane there to enjoy, then on to their Christmas stockings which contained an apple and an orange every year, along with assorted other goodies.

“There were no candy canes on the Christmas

tree before Christmas because Santa would have to bring them!”

Once the gifts were opened and placed under the tree, the next big event was the Christmas ‘feast’, consisting of turkey, mashed potatoes and vegetables, with all the trimmings, along with a wide assortment of desserts.

Pickles and other ‘delectables’ adorned the dining room table. Candy was put out in dishes and left out. “You could have as much as you wanted on Christmas Day!” Jill recollected.

The dining room table, usually relegated to books and other items, was cleared off and set for the family dinner, with the fine china and all the best glassware and utensils, a tradition that carried forward to Jill’s own family celebrations.

“We used the big dining room table which we never used during the year. We had all the pickles you could buy; tons of home baking and home cooking. Both my sister and I would bake. You had to have an overflow of food at Christmas!” she remembered. “We would all sit around together at that table which was so beautifully set.”

Jill’s mother used to colour the mashed potatoes. “They were red and green but the red ones usually turned out pink,” Jill laughed. “There were seven of us. My mum was a good cook. She worked very hard for us on Christmas Day.” Jill also remembers her mother baking ‘cheese cookies’, a savoury concoction made with Crisco lard and old, sharp, white cheese.

The old Scottish/Irish recipe was rather time-

Jill Beatty, with husband Chris, shares a very special Christmas memory.

Photo submitted consuming to make, so they were only made once a year for the Christmas celebration.

Very popular, they disappeared as quickly as they were made. Everyone loved them and vied for their share of this Christmas delight.

New pajamas, candy canes, and opening one gift before bed are all very special traditions. But the one memory that is Jill’s favourite has nothing to do with any of that.

“I was 16. It was Christmas Eve. I went to midnight mass with my girlfriend and her family. My girlfriend, just a couple of years older than me, was pregnant, and the baby was due any day,” Jill began. Being out at midnight was a ‘big deal’ for this young teenager.

“My friend went into labour during the service. She felt it was coming but, as she came from a very devout Catholic family, she wanted to attend this very special service.”

“We took her home and, from there, she was sent to the hospital, and I headed back to my home, alone,” Jill continued. “So, I’m

Happy Winter & Merry Christmas

already loving all that’s happening, and then it snowed – it was a light snow. As I walked home by myself, I noticed that just about everyone still had their Christmas lights on.

As it was a fairly long walk; I usually cut through the hydro field to save time but this time I walked on the street so I could see all the lights. I remember walking, and smiling, and thinking to myself, ‘Oh gosh, this is beautiful!’

The snow was literally glistening – just the way you imagine it would be. That night was so very, very quiet and peaceful. There were no other tracks in the snow but mine.”

When Jill got home around 2:30, her family was already in bed. “I wasn’t in trouble because they knew where I was, and why I wasn’t there.”

Filled with the joy of what she had just experienced, Jill, in the family tradition, poured herself a drink of grape juice and ginger ale, toasted her family and Christmas Day, and went to bed.

“My friend’s baby was born on Christmas Day. We were all so excited.”

“Being in church, the baby being born on Christmas Day made it all so special.

I remember being pregnant myself one Christmas, and feeling just so blessed!”

Jill still keeps in touch with her friend, and every Christmas they remember that special time.

“We relive that special memory often,” said Jill.

Over the years, Jill has told her special Christmas story to many people, sharing the peace and the special feeling again.

“I was overjoyed, happy, and full of love. I can’t really put it into words!” concluded Jill. “It was my magical Christmas, and the one I remember so well.”

43 Stafford St, Box 513, Barry’s Bay, ON K0J 1B0 Phone/Fax 613-756-2003 Heubnerfuneralhome.ca

Warren, Megan, William & Edward Heubner, and Joe Bratley

May this season of frosty fun fill your days with laughter and happy memories!

As we pause to reflect on this year, we’re both humbled and filled with gratitude for the generosity and support we’ve received from all of you. Thank you for believing in us.

In this the most joyous of seasons let us reflect on those family and friends who are spending their first Christmas in Heaven.

Alice Zilney Ken O’Brien Dorothy Olsheskie Tom Sawyer Doris Jobber Evelyn Lepinskie Daniel Shushack Eric Strack Joan Chapeskie Doreen Quade Theresa Yantha Henryk Kostka Conrad Etmanskie Wayne Thompson Mildred Phanenhour Charles Packer Gwynneth Foster Pam Aleck Dean Florent Albert Langilles Brian Hollands John Landon Clemence Stamplecoski Anne Paplinskie Caroline Kulas Joseph Schwieg Esther Shalla Gordon Robinson Albert Deschamps Elaine Redmond Lawrence Power Catherine Recoskie Anthony Dombroskie Margaret Borutski Patti-Ann Milan Karen McPhail Albert Forrest

Theresa Sullivan Anastasia Yakabuski Mary Lyn Beatty Robert Gutoskie Donald Madigan Mary Sullivan Joanna Szymanski William Ackroyd Benedict Kutchkoskie Violet James Jan Balut Mary Murat Christopher Chmielewski Tadeusz Baskiewicz William Beaudrie Winifred Walter James Oskirko Norma Gutoskie Patricia Kulas Ken Hicks Rose Ann Yantha Harm Lubben Anna Mary Biernaskie James Bell Therese Pastway Margaret Cowan Rita Hudder Rev. Fr. Robert Pelton Helen Hildebrand Michael Lopez Catherine Villeneuve Ursula Dombroskie Gerald Smith Ashley Hunter Edmund Kubesheskie Shirley Chrysler

Christmas Wishes 2020

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

The Christmas outfit Memories warm the heart

GAYLE DAVIS Freelance Writer

BARRY’S BAY - It was 1944. War raged in Europe. Scarcities were a normal part of life. But Christmas was still a very special time for many, especially a spirited little girl with long, dark brown hair.

Merita Recoskie Etmanskie was born, raised, and schooled in Barry’s Bay, the eldest of seven children, most of which still reside in the community. Now a senior, she has returned to her home town, becoming quite active in her community.

Merita lives in a cozy little apartment. Her husband passed away a few years ago which prompted Merita’s return to the area. They have one daughter who lives in British Columbia.

Alone but never lonely, Merita’s bubbly personality forges many friendships and attracts countless opportunities to be involved with others.

Christmas revolved around church, home and family in those days. Merita’s Christmas memories attest to that.

“One of my favourite memories that I vividly remember happened when I was a little girl, around seven or eight,” recalls Etmanskie.

In those days, a highlight of the Christmas season was attending midnight mass at St. Hedwig’s church in Barry’s Bay. “You had to fast on Christmas Eve from 9 p.m. to midnight.

Our family, I had two younger brothers, couldn’t have anything to eat from 9 o’clock on,” explained Merita.

“We went to midnight mass with our parents. The farmers from Paugh Lake would come into town with their horses jingling. It was usually snowing.

There were stables at the rock cut, just opposite the church, and they would tie up their horses there during church.”

During the half-hour before mass

Merita Recoskie Etmanskie of Barry’s Bay shares childhood memories of a very special Christmas that is near and dear to her heart.

Photo by Gayle Davis began, the congregation sang mostly Polish Christmas carols together.

“Church was packed in those days, so you had to come early to get a seat. It was standing room only. There were two low masses that followed [the first mass], and our family usually stayed for all three, ending at about 2 a.m. When we got back home, we always had a full meal – chicken and vegetables, homemade buns.” Once the meal was over, exhaustion enveloped them, especially an excited little girl, so everyone

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headed off to bed.

“Christmas morning arrived and we all got up to open our presents. That particular Christmas I don’t remember all I got, but I certainly remember the outfit I got. I got a brown skirt and a yellow turtleneck sweater. I really cherished it.”

“I got all dressed up in my new outfit and then we had Christmas dinner. I had long brown hair in ringlets. I had a bow to match the outfit. My mother always did my hair. I thought as a seven or eight-year-old that I was pretty classy!”

“Over the holidays we always visited with my Dad’s family.

That particular Christmas, we visited his older sister, Martha Lorbetskie, and her husband, Paul, on their farm in Killaloe.”

“I was all jazzed up in my brown skirt and yellow turtleneck sweater and I thought, ‘Boy, I’m the belle of the ball, here!’

I don’t remember what everyone else wore but I certainly remember my outfit.”

“Every Christmas at our house was always a big deal.

It revolved around the church basically, and home. And visiting family.”

“I don’t know if it was the outfit that made it so special, but the outfit stood out as special.”

“I’m sure I got clothes and things other years, but I don’t remember it as much as I remember that brown skirt and yellow sweater. And I guess I related to that because my hair was dark brown, the outfit was a yellow top and a brown skirt, [I wore] my hair in ringlets with a yellow bow.”

“It’s funny how you look back and relate to different things.

I couldn’t tell you what I wore any other Christmas, but I remember that one!”

“That Christmas … I wasn’t very old. I can still picture the skirt and the sweater.”

“As we got older, families got larger and the kids got bigger and then you kind of stayed in your own home. We didn’t have the same visiting interactions as when we were younger,” explained Merita.

Times change and people get older, but the memories inhabit and warm our hearts, as vividly as if yesterday was here once again.

“I am sure there were other Christmases that were near and dear to me, but I never forgot that particular Christmas,” concluded Merita, with a smile.

In these challenging times, we have been especially blessed with the continued support of wonderful customers, and by our community, by our wonderful employees, and our resourceful suppliers.

THANK YOU ALL

MERRY CHRISTMAS! HEALTH AND HAPPINESS IN 2021!

-Marie Yantha -John and Lynne and Staff of Yantha Backhoe and Trucking

Christmas Wishes 2020

Page 10

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Best Christmas movies of all time COLIN KERR Staff Reporter

If there is one thing that distinguishes the Christmases of the modern era from those of the past, it is the role that Christmas movies and television shows play in the Christmas rituals and hearts of many.

Each generation has its own favourite stories. These more or less originated in the middle of the 19th century, with people like Dickens and Han Christian Andersen. They really weren’t very many before that time because traditionally, Easter was the major celebration for Christians. It was only with the real emphasis on Jesus’ humanity that interest in the details of the Nativity arose.

For Ancient and Medieval Christians, they barely accepted that Jesus was really human, rather than God first and foremost. Catholics love pageant and display, but their theological focus on the divine kept their Christmas focus restrained. It took many years for Protestants, on the other hand, to give up their aversion for pageantry, and when they finally did, they would create that unique blend of sacred and secular traditions we know today.

These primarily emerged from the Northern Protestant countries of Europe – England, Germany and Scandinavia.

But it’s interesting how a theological interest in the humanity of Jesus has translated into the secular/sacred hybrid we know today as Christmas. It is fascinating to think of how St. Francis of Assisi’s interest in the Manger in the 13th century would translate into Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. I would read an essay on that.

The Iliad of Christmas Stories A Christmas Carol As for movies themselves, variations of A Christmas Carol were among the very first ‘Christmas’ movies to make it to the silver screen. I grew up watching the unparalleled 1951 black and white version that stars Alastair Sim. Although there have been at least twenty versions with a theatrical release – either going by the title A Christmas Carol or, simply, Scrooge, I don’t really care to watch any others. Such is the force of tradition, and of powerful movie-making.

After all, who would watch another version of Braveheart?

The first cinematic treatment of Dickens’ story was a silent film from 1901, but it is not the only Christmas movie with an ancient vintage. Many people very much enjoy It’s

a Wonderful Life (1946). In the same breath people include the Miracle on 34th Street (1947). These are the staples of Americana Christmas cinema, and the basic plots lines of these two films have been ripped-off repeatedly in later movies and television.

Moving forward, let me mention another treasure, the campy Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer stop motion animated television special (1964), you know, the one with Burl Ives. I throw it into the category with another classic, the cartoon, Frosty the Snowman (1969), and the very popular, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966). There are a few other amazing stop motion productions from that era too, like The Little Drummer Boy (1968) and Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (1970).

related to the central theme or narrative of the movie.

I say that in both cases Die Hard qualifies, because the values that drive the main character, John McClane, are ‘Christmas values’ – initially, the love that propels him to fly from New York to Los Angeles to heal the rift with his estranged wife, and, afterwards, to save her from the German terrorists. Although accomplished with many more explosions and f-bombs, the plot is as Christmassy as anything with Bing Crosby in it.

In Christmas movies, tradition abounds.

Bing Crosby’s Christmas movies fastened on to the all-American goodness of soldiers in and returning from World War II. In Die Hard, airplanes, kind-hearted policemen, and office parties serve that function.

Music Many of the old movies and specials incorporate music in one way or another.

Some practically qualify as musicals.

First among these is, of course, White Christmas, starring Bing Crosby (1954). The famous song after which the movie is named actually comes from an earlier Christmas movie starring the same Bing Crosby, called Holiday Inn (1942). The songs from both films were written by Irving Berlin.

Many of the classic cartoons mentioned above involved memorable pieces of music, including, You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.

The title songs of Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-nose Reindeer were both written for the cartoons themselves.

It is from the Judy Garland film, Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), that we get the cherished Christmas song, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

But let me not forget a wonderful, new Christmas musical, Anna and the Apocalypse.

It is High School Musical set in Scotland, but at Christmas, at Christmas with zombies.

Family as Meaning of Christmas All Christmas movies have at their heart the philosophical question: what is actually important in life?

Some movies answer that it is family. This was important in A Christmas Carol. The Cratchits, after all, do become Scrooge’s adopted family.

Another film that comes up with this answer is Home Alone (1990). This modern Christmas colossus is Christmassy in a manner that is almost perfectly congruent with Die Hard’s Christmas-ness. This movie is set at Christmas time and it is about family bonds, not only as they relate to his own family, but those of ‘Old Man Marley’s’ too (recognize the name ‘Marley’ from A Christmas Carol?).

For its part, Home Alone is only slightly more violent than Die Hard.

The sequel, Home Alone II: Lost in New York (1992), did just as good a job as A Christmas Carol reinforcing the family theme, and with a good emphasis on regard for the poor, with the character of ‘the Pigeon Lady.’

Meet Me in St. Louis is as Christmassy as most of the films discussed here. The famous book/film, Little Women, begins with a Christmas scene. Meet Me in St. Louis more or less ends with a Christmas scene.

A film of a rather different texture, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation (1989), has become as much a staple of contemporary Christmas television viewing as Home Alone.

Although family lies at the heart of all the Griswold vacation movies, none do it as well as this one does. It is the quintessential satire

Getting Die Hard out of the Way We definitely have to talk about what qualifies a movie as a Christmas movie. And I know you are all thinking about the age-old debate of whether or not Die Hard (1988) is a Christmas movie. Now, I would say that it is, but my reasoning might not be of the standard variety. I say that to qualify as a Christmas movie two things must be true: (1) it is set at Christmas time, (2) this setting is intrinsically

of contemporary Christmas practices, much more effective than some other just-okay ones, like Jingle All the Way (1996), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Christmas with the Kranks (2004), starring Tim Allen.

True Love as the Meaning of Christmas One of the lesser themes of A Christmas Carol is that of lost love. In one of the first scenes the ‘Ghost of Christmas Past’ shows him, among other things, his one-time fiancé, Belle, whom he lost out of his preference for money. The theme of lost love is given greater weight in An American Christmas Carol (1979) that stars Henry Winkler, which is, overall a more depressing movie than the Alastair Sim one. It is interesting to think about what Dickens’ was saying about the mistakes you can fix in your life and those you cannot.

Love Actually (2003), which stars every single living British actor, puts the theme of romantic love at its centre. Its use of all sorts of Christmas imagery from the school Christmas concert, to chart-topping Christmas songs, to clichéd romantic gestures, has given it a longevity that perhaps no Hallmark Holiday movie will ever manage to attain.

One might assume that The Bishop’s Wife (1948) / The Preacher’s Wife (1996) were inspired by A Christmas Carol too in the way they involve the supernatural. In the case of these two movies, it is to serve the ends of romantic love. The Bishop’s Wife stars Cary Grant as an angel trying to heal a marriage.

That role is performed by Denzel Washington in The Preacher’s Wife.

The Mystery and Magic of Christmas Along those lines, Christmas has also occasioned the cinematic exploration of the mystical and the magical for its own sake.

This has a long tradition. Babes in Toyland (1934) with Laurel and Hardy is one such example. Babes in Toyland began as an operetta, written by Victor Herbert in 1903, and was made into a movie twice, in 1934 and in 1961.

Babes in Toyland is a very old Christmas story, but not as old as The Nutcracker. The latter originated in 1816, as a story written

by E. T. A. Hoffmann, called The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. The Nutcracker as we know it today is the 1892 ballet composed by Tchaikovsky.

How these movies relate to Christmas and to the archetypal Christmas movie, A Christmas Carol, is a little more difficult to account for. Certainly the magical / supernatural were a part of Dickens’ story, but the emphasis on toys is new. What was the biggest gift in A Christmas Carol? A turkey: “Not the little prize turkey: the big one? What! The

At this wondrous time, we wish you the hope and happiness that are so much a part of this miraculous season.

Asking the Christ Child to Bless you for all your support over the last 30+ years!

from the Board, Administration, Staff and Residents of Valley Manor

May the wonder and beauty of the season surround you and fill your heart with joy.

Patricia, Barb, Al, Pamela, Sam, Mike and Jamie

At the holidays and always, we thank you for your trust in us, and we wish you all the best.

Christmas Wishes 2020

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

one as big as me?” Toys barely show up at all in Dickens.

No, it is a new thing to decry the evils of the consumerism associated with Christmas – that was far from Dickens’ concern.

More along the theme of the magic and mystery of Christmas begun with Tchaikovsky’s dancing and sword-fighting mice and wooden soldiers, was Tim Burton’s stop motion The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). As we have seen, stop motion assumed a cherished part of Christmas entertainment in the 60s and 70s with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and The Little Drummer Boy, among others, and it is this fact that makes The Nightmare Before Christmas part of a tradition.

Christmas and the magical must be a bit of an obsession for Tim Burton, after all, he is the creator of the quasi-Christmas movie, Edward Scissorhands (1990) too. Scissorhands is about love, magic and Christmas too.

Another popular Christmas movie that emphasizes magic is The Christmas Chronicles (2018 & 2020), starring Kurt Russell. Although around since at least Miracle on 34th Street, ‘Magic Santa’ is, nevertheless, more of a contemporary obsession. But he made his appearance here and there in the early days, as for instance, in The Chronicles of Narnia (“Father Christmas”), which were written in the 1950s.

The Community A Christmas Carol is primarily about man’s inhumanity to man. It is about justice primarily, not, as we say today, social justice. But there is a brief moment when Scrooge passes from out of his house and office, from outside of his interactions with Cratchit and Marley, and into the wider

world, when he opens the window, and asks the boy “What’s to-day, my fine fellow?” Scrooge buys a turkey for the Cratchits, gives a shilling or even half-a-Crown to the boy who gets it to them, and then “he went to church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people hurrying to and fro, and patted the children on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of houses, and up to the windows; and found that everything could yield him pleasure. He had never dreamed that any walk – that anything – could give him so much happiness.” – that is, more or less, the extent of the story’s foray into social justice.

Yet a man’s relation to his community would be a theme explored in many Christmas movies, but it is not one that has upset the balance struck by Dickens, that Christmas is about repairing and cherishing the intimate bonds between people. “Scrooge was better than his word… and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old City knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh…” First, he was a father to Tiny Tim, then all the other things.

A few examples of Christmas movies that think about a person’s relationship to his community include, once again, Christmas with the Kranks. What a community owes to an individual is the theme of A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), where the superficiality of Charlie Brown’s friends stands in contrast to his more rarified idea of what “Christmas is all about.”

Other Christmas films that explore the relationship of the individual to the community and the community to the individual are It’s a Wonderful Life and Home Alone II: Lost in

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New York.

I am certainly glad that – so far, anyway – few attempts have been made to turn Christmas cinema into socialist propaganda.

Why? The most difficult thing for the human heart lies not with having a positive disposition toward the world as a whole, but with the people with whom we come into intimate contact.

It is so easy to say that we “accept all people” but that is abstractive nonsense parading as morality. You will notice that for Scrooge all is not solved by simply adopting a positive disposition, as some say today, getting rid of ‘hate.’ No, Scrooge still has the difficult task of making up for what he has done. Some of it cannot be made up for – he will never know the love of a wife.

Some of it he can make up for: “‘Yes,’ said Scrooge. ‘That is my name, and I fear it may not be pleasant to you. Allow me to ask your pardon…’” And it will be a long road for him to gain forgiveness from those whom he had for so long disappointed. We are told he did not fail to stick to it: “and it was always said of him that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.”

Conclusion The road from the manger in Bethlehem to A Christmas Carol, to Die Hard is a long one, and one that yields many insights for the thoughtful soul. Christmas cinema is great because it brings heart to heart. Sometimes this is in song and celebration – and why not? – as in the cases of things like the Nutcracker, White Christmas, and Babes in Toyland, and ultimately, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, which is, admittedly, all about the laughs.

On the other hand, sometimes it is about becoming alive to one’s own serious moral

shortcomings, whether in business, in love, in family life. But none of the great Christmas movies say that the true meaning of Christmas is just about adopting a more socially sensitive conscience in the abstract. It is about creating love within the difficult circumstances of life, whether we are talking about the family of a poor tradesman in Nazareth, in Industrial Revolution London, or in modern day Manhattan or Connecticut.

The great thing about Christmas movies is how they evoke our desire to be better people.

The first hundred years of Christmas movies was about how to bring Dickens’ message to an ostensibly Christian world where poverty exists merely on the periphery, not front-andcentre as it was in Dickens’ London.

The future of Christmas movies will no doubt need to confront the soullessness of consumerism. It will also have to confront the dismantling of the family. This is a theme that has been taken on several times recently, although perhaps with mixed results: movies like Daddy’s Home II (2017), Four Christmases (2008), and, yes, Jurassic World (2015). For as much as Christmas movies have always been about family bonds, and nostalgia, the reality is for many today, that Santa will have to come down two chimneys: the one is at mom’s house and the one that is at dad’s.

Whatever the circumstance, a Christmas movie is an occasion to reflect on and to appreciate the intimate relationships of one’s life. When they appear in those movies, Santa and the angels are meant to bend one’s attention back to those relationships. In fact, in the increasingly frequent emphasis on regaining “childhood wonder” that we see in movies nowadays is another way of doing this: we have to love with the heart of a child.

Happy Holidays from our pack to yours, Wishing all of you a very magical holiday season and a joyful New Year!

With Our Thanks,

As we end another year, we’d like to wish our members and the community a very Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year.

Royal Canadian Legion Branch 406

Barry’s Bay • 613-756-3018 email: rclegion406@hotmail.com

Facebook: Barry's Bay Legion Branch 406

Thank you for all of your kindness and support throughout 2020 From your Friends at

Algonquin East Animal Clinic

Ann M. Burkart, DVM 613-756-1984 19162 Highway 60, Barry’s Bay www.algonquineastanimalclinic.ca

Christmas Wishes 2020

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Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Christmas after foster care, supporting young people as they transition to adulthood KATRINA BOGUSKI Staff Reporter RENFREW COUNTY – This year, as many people face up to the challenge of not visiting family at Christmas time, we all might experience a little more empathy for foster kids who age out the system. While some people will experience time away from their families as an exception to the norm, many young people who age out of foster care experience isolation as regular part of their holiday experience.

Recently, The Valley Gazette reached out to the folks at Family and Children’s Services of Renfrew County to find out more about the challenges faced by kids aging out of the system and to learn ways people in the community might help these vulnerable young people. The team at FCS Renfrew County includes Billy Russell, Supervisor of the Kin, Adoption and Resource Team and Beckie Kenrick, Supervisor of their Adolescent Team.

Their combined responses to our questions were sent back to us courtesy of Alison Jones Communications and Community Relations Coordinator.

At this time in Renfrew County, there are currently 95 children placed in foster care, out-of-home care, or living independently.

According FCSRC, “ Tw e n t y - s i x o f these are youth over

the age of 18. Some of these children only require support from caregivers outside of their home for a short period of time while others may be in longerterm arrangements with a foster family, adoptive family, or a kinship family.”

Recognizing the importance of keeping kids attached to their family means that more kids are able to stay with, or return to their families. “There has been a decrease in the overall number of children in care through return to family with increased

support, finding Kin family scenarios who can care for the children, increases in permanence through Adoption for children of all ages and successful transition to independence. The primary goal of Children’s Aid Societies, including Family and Children’s Services of Renfrew County, is to support children to live safely with their family of origin. When that is not possible, we look for an alternate family, preferably known to the family, who can provide a safe, nurturing, and loving home.”

When asked, “What challenges do kids face when they age out of the system?” The FCS team replied, “One of the biggest challenges that youth who age out of the system can face is a lack of a formalized network of support. For these youth, there might not be a clear answer to the questions of where they will spend their holidays or who might be able to help when their car breaks down. Part of the work that Family and Children’s Services of Renfrew County does with children aging out of the system, is helping them connect to the services they will need to support their independence.

This includes life skills training, employment training and education support too. Of youth in care in [2019-2020], six were

graduating high school and 14 were going onto post-secondary education.” There are also education scholarships available.

The team also commented that there is research to show that youth who have been in care “…face many more challenges which may include mental health concerns, addiction issues, or homelessness.”

Despite the best efforts to help youth establish supportive networks, this time of year brings with it some additional challenges. FCS said, “The holiday period can be stressful, and a time when many people are reflective about their family experience. Youth who live in out-of-home care, may question or ponder their different connections to their families of origin and to the homes that are providing them care. It is important that we check-in with all of our children-in-care during the holidays.”

One of the silver linings of the pandemic has been that some additional resources are available to youth at this time. “…since the pandemic began, the government has implemented a policy directive to maintain services and supports for youth who turn 18 over the course of the COVID-19 outbreak, and continued care and support for youth beyond their 21st birthday. What this means is that youth who may be turning 18 this year and have been living with a foster family, can continue in this arrangement, and that the Agency will also continue to support youth after they turn 21.”

FCS also recommends reaching out to youth in the community who many not have strong family connections to see what needs they may have.

“Depending on their response, people may be able to meet that need [for food, for contact, for listening] or you can assist the youth in approaching an adult service organization such as Adult Mental Health services, The Grind, St. Joseph’s Food Bank to name a few.”

The team at Family and Children’s Services said, “We are always looking for foster parents. Many families who apply complete the home study process and the required training, and open their homes, but some may realize that it is not the right path for their family. We are always recruiting new foster families to ensure that we are able to match children and youth with families that meet their unique needs.”

Anyone with questions or an interest in fostering is urged to call the Referral Centre at (613)7356866.

Christmas Wishes 2020

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Page 13

A very Hildebrandt Christmas COLIN KERR Staff Reporter BARRY’S BAY – Married sixty years this summer, Beth and John Hildebrandt have had many more Christmases together than apart, many more as parents than as single people, and a great number now as grandparents to five young adults.

Searching back into the recesses of the past, Beth, born a Hay, who grew up in Toronto, and John, who grew up in Barry’s Bay, married in 1960, and thereupon set out on their own path, but one which richly drew from their different backgrounds.

For the Hay family, Christmas was sitting on her mother’s, Evelyn’s, bed. Mother liked to sleep in on Christmas Day, so that was where the family gathered – a happenstance became a tradition. There it was the children opened their stockings and shared Christmas morning.

This was a tradition that would carry on as the Hildebrandts married and raised their own children, with Grandmother Hay’s bed remaining the focal point of the morning’s fun when she came to visit.

As she lived, so would she die. Grandmother Evelyn’s last night was to be Christmas night of 1979 in the Hildebrandt home. The family’s last memory of her was of the two grandmothers whiling away the evening with a drink, sitting atop the staircase as all the rest of the family lay in bed.

Beth remembers that everyone had to make

Beth and John Hildebrandt with pictures of their past on the wall behind them. their beds before presents could be opened.

As well, the Queen’s Christmas message was paramount. They could open their presents and play while it was being broadcasted, but they had to be quiet. They were through-andthrough royalists, said Beth.

And, for her mother, Evelyn, Christmas crackers were a must, another tradition that she brought to her grandchildren’s Christmas.

And Silent Night. That was Beth’s father’s favourite. After he died, it remained central every year.

After John and Beth married they spent their first few years in Toronto, and then moved to a rustic dwelling on Carson Lake. They had no car back then, and the steep, slippery hill that separated them from the highway meant for a great deal of seclusion. The young people

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spent their time ice fishing, sledding, and engaged in other like wholesome amusements.

When it was too cold, they played with their Legos indoors.

That was how John himself grew up in the 40s and 50s. John jokes that his best friend growing up was his pig, who, yes, may have, in fact, played a central role in one of John’s childhood Christmas dinners.

Religion had a very important place in John’s childhood. He remembers the crunching sound of the snow as the family made its way to St. Hedwig’s from his childhood home that was located in the spot on Dunn Street today occupied by the Natural Health Centre. It was often very cold, 10 below zero or much colder.

John was an altar boy and he remembers tearing up as his twin sisters, Angela and

Adele, sang all the beautiful Christmas hymns, Ave Maria, Silent Night…

When they returned home after mass, a big snack was always waiting: it might be ham or turkey.

When John and Beth brought their own children to church, there was the 5 pm children’s mass on Christmas Eve. That was a little easier on young families.

For him, Christmas was a spiritual thing.

It came with a reverence; it felt special, even magical. Like many children, it was hard to sleep Christmas Eve. Sometimes, he’d get up and sneak around, looking for Santa Claus and the things he might have left behind.

One of his favourite memories was looking for a tree with his father. Out of a tree lot? No, they’d walk around and try and spot the best one they might in the woods.

But it wasn’t all spiritual. Santa would come by, sometimes in the shape of drunken Howie Etmanskie, sometimes in the form of the appropriately-shaped Uncle Frank Cybulskie.

John recalls the Christmas concerts organized by the nuns who ran the elementary school where the Beer Store is today, or by the nuns from the high school, where Seat of Wisdom College’s St. Mary’s Hall now stands.

It was a different world. John describes it as having been less commercial then than now.

There was no Walmart in those days. You always got something you either really needed or really wanted. It was something like CCM skates, or a hockey stick. Tangerines were like gold back then when you got one in your stocking. It wasn’t about the gifts. There was something much more special about it.

There was a real feeling of peace, he said.

As another holiday season comes swirling in, we’d like to extend our very best wishes for a blessed and happy Christmas.

May all of your dreams and wishes come true!

We’re grateful for all you’ve done to make our dreams come true in 2016.

We owe our success to kind customers and friends like you.

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Christmas Wishes 2020

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Grieving at Christmas – keep, or change traditions according to your needs and communicate KATRINA BOGUSKI Staff Reporter

holidays, communication is a key component of healing from the death of a loved one. Sometimes during the holiday season people BARRY’S BAY - The death of feel pressured to put on a mask and a loved one is difficult to bear at appear as though everything is ok. anytime of year, but the holidays When things are not ok, it helps to tend to make it all that much talk to someone supportive. worse. Furthermore, the pressures Cruchet said that it is very of dealing with the day to day important for people to do what uncertainties in a world upended works best for them. Everyone

by Covid can make grief a heavy has their own way of responding load to bear. Fortunately, you do not to death. It does not mean that have to bear it alone and, even in traditions have to change forever, this time of isolation and upheaval, but it is also ok to take a break from there are resources available to you. some traditions if doing so helps Recently The Valley Gazette you in your grieving process. Next held a phone interview with Grief year you can see where you are Educator and Counsellor, Dawn Grief Educator and Counsellor Dawn Cruchet and Clinical at and decide then if you want to Cruchet of Madawaska Valley Director of Madawaska Valley Hospice Palliative Care reincorporate some of the traditions Hospice Palliative Care. Although Karen Wagner.

Photo submitted back into your holiday celebrations. the “Hope for the Holidays” event Cruchet’s experience as a grief is not being held this year due to counsellor has taught her that because holidays may magnify feelings of Covid-19, Cruchet is keen to connect the loss. Anticipation of the unknown may be ignoring the painful experience of death with people in need of grief counselling worse than the actual holiday. To pretend does not help anyone. She says it takes a through other means. Hope for the Holidays that nothing has happened is unnatural lot of energy to grieve and with this extra normally supports people experiencing and will likely increase tension. We are draw on our energy, we may not have many grief especially the first Christmas after changed forever when someone special resources left to cope with the extra demands their loved one has died. dies. There is no right or wrong way to that the holidays bring with them.

In a handout geared toward people celebrate the holidays. You need to do A positive way to address grief is to give suffering after a death, Cruchet what is best for you.” people space when they need it. Creating writes, “The first holidays Sometimes changing up a tradition, rituals around the memories of a recently without a loved one who has forgoing it for a year, or adding a new deceased loved one can help in the meaning died are times of transition. one is a good way to cope with grief making process.

Feelings of sadness and honour the person you are missing.

One idea Cruchet suggested was placing a and loss are natural How ever you intend to celebrate the stocking up in honour of the person who has

died. Everyone can write down a memory of that person and place it in the stocking.

Later, the memories can be read out as a way of honouring the deceased. Lighting candles, making scrapbooks or serving a food that your loved one really enjoyed can also be ways to remember them. Buying an ornament to remind you of the person or writing a letter to that person are also small acts people find helpful.

Even though your loved one has died, you can still do something to honour their memory. If your friend or family member received help from medical teams or care staff, sending them a Christmas card or making them some cookies might be a nice way of thanking them for the help they provided in those final days.

Cruchet noted that the length of the holiday season, which many retail stores kick off the day after Halloween and which lasts into January, is one of the factors that contributes to the problems of grieving people. At other times of the year, a person might be able to endure the occasional rough day, but when they are bombarded by holiday messages for two or three months on a daily basis, the unrelenting pressure can build up. Often there is a disconnect between the message of spending a happy holiday with family and the knowledge that you have lost someone who has died and this year they will not be here for the holidays.

Donations to Madawaska Valley Hospice Palliative Care can be made care of St. Francis Valley Healthcare Foundation. To find out more about the work of the hospice, check out madawaskavalleyhospicepalliativecare.com or call them at (613)7563045 ext. 350.

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Christmas Wishes 2020

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Looking back on The Nutcracker ballet and forward to new traditions KATRINA BOGUSKI Staff Reporter

If you have only ever been to one ballet, chances are it may have been The Nutcracker. This holiday favourite premiered the week prior to Christmas in 1892 and is performed annually by ballet companies around the world. Many of those classic performances can be found online, and there are also videos showing some of the

festive and entertaining soiree.

The work originally was commissioned for Moscow’s Imperial Theatre in 1891 by its then director, Ivan Vsevolozhsky. The ballet appeared on stage in western countries many decades later, and the fairytale story has since become a holiday favourite. The story was originally written by E.T.A. Hoffman and adapted by Alexandre Dumas Père. The original choreographer was Marius Petipa, and the iconic music was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

stagecraft and costume work that goes into making each production a magical experience for generations of audiences.

If you are missing the chance to see a live performance this season, or if you have never seen this wonderful ballet, streaming an online performance in the comfort of your own living room might be worth your while. Make the evening extra memorable by dressing up in your finest duds or by serving special holiday treats suitable for such a

According to the Moscow Ballet, “The story centers on a young girl’s Christmas Eve and her awakening to the wider world and romantic love. The composer made a selection of eight of the more popular pieces before the ballet’s December 1892 premiere, forming what is currently known as the Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a, as is heard in Moscow Ballet productions. The suite became instantly popular; however the complete ballet did not achieve its great popularity as a Christmas performance event until almost 100 years later.”

Despite its worldwide popularity, the first performance

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was not met with much approval. In 2019 Marylou Tousignant of the Washington Post wrote an article which reminded readers about the poor reviews which met the ballet’s first appearance on the Russian stage.

She wrote, “The critics were not kind after the first performance of “The Nutcracker” ballet in 1892 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The battle scene was called clumsy, the costumes were described as dull, and the Sugar Plum Fairy was dissed as chubby (our word, not theirs). Even the composer found the premiere “rather boring.”

What saved the performance was the music which did receive praise from critics, and which would go on to become some of the most iconic music of the Christmas Season.

The history of The Nutcracker as presented by The Moscow ballet notes that the work was first performed outside of Russia in England in 1934. “Its first United States performance was in 1944 by the San Francisco Ballet, staged by its artistic director and Balanchine student William Christensen. The New York City Ballet first performed George Balanchine’s Nutcracker in 1954 but the holiday ballet did not begin to achieve its great popularity until after the George Balanchine staging became a hit in New York City.”

In addition to the ballet, there are also film, animation and spinoff storybook adaptions in many languages.

Of course, there is also the original E.T.A. Hoffman book The Nutcracker and the Mouse King or in German Nussknacker und Mausekönig.

If you are looking for inspiration on how to make the most of an evening at home watching The Nutcracker with your family, consider getting the whole crew involved by doing a little bit of research on the music, themes, and characters that make the story special. It may also be helpful to remember this quote from Tchaikovsky himself: “Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy.” You may need to do a little work, but the effort will be worth it in the end.

Cardboard nutcrackers can be made from toilet paper rolls, felt pens and a bit of imagination. Your favourite gingerbread cookie recipe and a bit of icing can be turned into various characters from the story and any Christmas decorations you have on hand can brought out in style to add to the evening.

If you feel you haven’t quite earned an evening in front of the screen eating Christmas sweets, check out some of the videos of the dancers in training for past nutcracker performances around the world. The Nutcracker is often the first ballet young dancers will perform live as professionals. Auditions for young dancers are thrilling to watch for the dedication these young children bring to their art. Watching a few auditions even might inspire you to do a few pliés yourself!

Christmas Wishes 2020

Page 16

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

How Santa coming down the chimney came to be KATRINA BOGUSKI Staff Reporter There are some things one just takes for granted in life, including many traditions around holidays like Christmas. You go to bed on Christmas Eve and lo and behold,

by Christmas morning jolly old St. Nick has made his way down the chimney and into the living room to deliver presents for all of the good little boys and girls, or the occasional lump of coal for those deserving such a gift.

Saint Nicolas was a real bishop, and perhaps ought to be a reminder for modern bishops of how they are to behave. His feast is on December 6 and in many countries, it is St. Nic who is believed to leave the gifts for children. In some countries like the Netherlands, the feast of St. Nicolas is the day when children receive their presents.

Special treats are placed in wooden shoes instead of stockings.

Our traditions around Santa Claus are strongly rooted in the stories about St. Nic, but modern images of him owe more to marketing departments like those of the Coca Cola Company and Macy’s than to stories of the bishop Nicholas found in any versions of The Lives of the Saints.

While there are many peculiar habits associated with the jolly man in the red suit, the one that many people have left unquestioned for generations is his peculiar tendency to enter and exit buildings via the

chimney. The occupants of a house, their friends and family, even their pets all come and go through the house using the front door. Why is it, then, that Santa Clause makes his entrance through the chimney?

Kali Coleman, an assistant editor at Best Life, explored the tradition of Santa’s unusual habit of entering a home in a 2019 article. Coleman argues that a precedence for various creatures coming through the chimney has its roots in folklore of the 1400’s. Over time, elements of one story crossed over into other tales and eventually became codified, or at least widely accepted, as a normal part of the story about Santa Claus. She attributes many of our beliefs about Santa to a book by American author and historian Washington Irving. A work of his, written in 1809, seems to have been a major source of information about Santa coming down the chimney.

Coleman says, “As stories were passed down over the centuries, it became common for mythical creatures to enter homes through the chimney—so Irving’s decision to include Santa in the long list of chimney-climbing characters wasn’t so unusual.

“And it didn’t take long for Irving’s legend to stick—especially with the help of Clement C. Moore’s 1822 poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” (more commonly known as “’Twas the Night Before Christmas”), which was inspired by Irving’s book. “The stockings were hung by the chimney with care / In hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there,” Moore famously wrote of the jolly old figure we know and love today.”

Some modern children, especially those who grow up in high-rises and other structures without chimneys are perplexed about how the chubby red suited man gets in, and so the legend of Santa once more adapts to the needs of the world.

Andrew Blackman of Hallmark wrote, “Not everyone grows up in a house with a chimney. At Christmastime, this can present a very real problem: Santa will arrive, presents in tow, land softly on the rooftop with his reindeer…and then what? With no chimney to go down, how would he get inside the house?

“Parents of inquisitive children, rejoice: the Santa Key allows Santa to deliver presents to your house, even if you don’t have a chimney.”

Blackman assures parents that the key will not be used by any unsavoury people wanting to break into the house. He writes, “Just hang it on the front door Christmas Eve, and the big man in the red suit will quietly sneak inside, deposit his gifts and leave the key somewhere easy for you to find, so you can hang it up again next year. (Also: The key is magic and only works for Santa, so no need to worry about security risks.)”

While Santa is a joyful part of Christmas in most, even secular households, it is good to remember throughout this season that Christ, not Santa is the reason we celebrate Christmas. If a man entering a house through its chimney is too great a mystery to wrap your head around, imagine how much greater is the mystery of God becoming man through a Virgin Mother. Perhaps pondering Santa’s

ability to keep his suit clean despite the soot he passed through is a good metaphor for the concept of the Logos. Christ took on the flesh of man without becoming sinful himself.

In our world there are too many who would dismiss the Christian traditions of Christmas as vestiges of colonial times, and still others who would root out other traditions due to their pagan origins. Whether you believe in Santa or Christ, or both or neither, may this Christmas find you and your families safe and happy at the end of a very difficult year.

As another year hits the road, we’d like to acknowledge all the people who have been key to our success and wish you all a very, very merry season and a truly memorable year.

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Christmas Wishes 2020

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Page 17

Grumpy Mike’s Christmas Meat Pie This recipe should make 3, 8 inch pies. To start off you will need 1.5 lbs of ground pork, 1.5 lbs of lean ground beef, one small sweet onion diced, two good sized potatoes diced and a few cloves. In a big pot you put the pork, beef, diced onion, diced potatoes and crush the cloves.

Then cover the ingredients with cold water. Bring the contents to a boil and then simmer for a couple hours. While you’re simmering the meat mixture you can prepare your Tender Flake pie dough. I find it easier to have my wife make that. Once the dough is mixed place it in the fridge for an hour or so. When your meat mixture is ready you can roll out the dough and place the bottom crust in your pie pans. Drain your meat mixture thoroughly and place in the pie shells.

Once that is done you can roll out your top pie crust and complete the pie. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. When your oven is ready place the pies on the middle rack and bake at 400 for fifteen minutes then reduce the heat of your oven to 350 and continue to bake for twenty minutes. Your pies are done. Enjoy. If you have leftover pie crust, feel free to throw together a cherry pie for dessert.

Derek’s Sweet Potato Au Gratin You can make this recipe for a big crowd, for this particular version I made one just for my wife and I, so adjust the ingredients accordingly for larger groups.

Ingredients 1 large sweet potato 1 tbsp of chopped fresh thyme 1 tbsp of chopped fresh rosemary 1 tsp of dried parsley 1/2 Cup of graded Parmesan cheese 1 Cup of Mozzarella cheese 1/2 cup of shredded Asiago cheese 1 cup of heavy cream (35%) 1/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs 1 tsp of nutmeg 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper (optional to combat the sweetness) 1 tsp of salt 1 tsp of ground black pepper

Preparation Peel and slice sweet potato into thin round slices. Layer potato slices in a small lightly oiled baking dish, slightly overlapping the slices as you go. Once you finish one layer on the bottom of the baking dish, mix the cream, rosemary, thyme, Parmesan, nutmeg, cinnamon, cayenne, salt and pepper. Pour half the mixture on the potatoes. Sprinkle an even layer of half your Mozzarella and Asiago cheeses. Add one more layer of sweet potato slices and add the rest of the cream mixture. Top with the last of your Mozzarella and Asiago cheese. Bake covered for 30 mins at 350F. Uncover and bake for another 20 mins. Top with graham cracker crumbs and dried parsley. Let rest for 10 mins to allow the cream to thicken before digging in.

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Christmas Wishes 2020

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Make ahead cabbage rolls Katrina Boguski

Making cabbage rolls is more of an art than a science. The ingredients and amounts listed here are merely suggestions. You can adapt the recipe according to your tastes and the supplies you have on hand. Cabbage rolls are easy to make once you get the hang of it.

The number of leaves on a cabbage suitable for cabbage rolls will vary from plant to plant, so you may want to get two heads of cabbage to ensure you have enough. They will keep for some time so you can always keep one back or turn it into coleslaw if you do not end up using it.

Ingredients: Green cabbage 1 or 2 heads Rice (1 -2 cups) Ground meat (beef, pork, Italian sausage, bacon) Use any one or a combination of these meats Onion (1 large or 2 small) Garlic (1-2 cloves) Butter or oil (optional) Savory herbs and spices according to taste (parsley, sage rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, salt and pepper are some suggestions) Tomato sauce (Spaghetti sauce or ketchup can also be used) Worcestershire sauce (Optional) Preparation: If you want to make vegetarian cabbage rolls, leave out the meat, and increase the amount of rice to ensure you have enough filling. You may also want to add extra spices for additional flavour and a bit of oil to ensure they are not too dry.

Brown the ground meat of your choosing in a large frying pan. Be sure that it is thoroughly cooked and break it up with a fork so that it is the constancy of sausage meat. If you are using

more than one type of meat, be sure that the different types are thoroughly mixed together.

In a large frying pan, brown the onion and garlic in a bit of butter or oil. Or use the drippings from the meat. Combine the meat, onion and garlic into a single pan and mix it all together.

Add the herbs and spices to the meat mixture.

Any type of savoury spices will do. Over time you may settle on the ones that your family likes best. If you are using Italian sausage, you may find you need to add fewer additional herbs and spices as the sausage will already be seasoned.

While the meat is cooking, prepare the rice in a separate pot. Any type of rice will do. Basmati rice makes for lighter fluffier cabbage rolls while short grain brown rice or wild rice add additional flavour and texture.

Mix the rice and meat mixture together in a large pot or mixing bowl. For additional flavour, or if the mix seems a bit dry, you can add a dash of Worcestershire sauce.

Boil the cabbage in a large pot, turning several times until the leaves are very soft.

It is a good idea to let the cabbage and filling mixture cool slightly so that it is easier to handle. You may even want to make everything the night before and place it in the fridge.

Now you are ready to roll. Beginning with the outside leaves, take a single leaf and place it in your hand like a bowl. If you are right-handed place the leaf in your left hand or place it in your right hand if you are left-handed. Keep the thickest part of the leaf toward you. If the leave is very thick, score the thick part with a sharp knife several times to make it easier to roll. Take a spoonful of filling and place it on the edge of the leaf closest to you. Using your free hand, roll the leaf slightly and then fold in each side.

Continue rolling until all of the stuffing is tightly enclosed. Make them as tight as possible, but be careful not to tear the leaves.

If the stuffing comes out, unroll the leaf and take out some of the stuffing. If there seems like the cabbage roll is too hollow, unroll it and add a bit more stuffing. You will use less stuffing as the leaves become smaller toward the centre of the head. Eventually you will get better at estimating how much stuffing to use for each leaf.

As you get closer to the core, the leaves will become smaller, thicker and too difficult to roll.

Two small or ripped leaves that are still thin enough can be overlapped to make a cabbage roll, but eventually you will get to a stage where the leaves are too thick. At this point finely chop the remaining core of the cabbage and fry it up with some kielbasa or bacon and serve it as a side dish. You can also add onions and sauerkraut for additional flavour.

Carefully place the completed cabbage rolls in a Pyrex dish or roasting pan. It is best to use something that can go from freezer to oven. Depending on the depth of the dish, you may have room for two layers of cabbage rolls. Leave a bit of room at the top so that the

spaghetti sauce does not drip over.

Pour spaghetti sauce over the top. You can also use plain tomato sauce, tomato soup or even ketchup. Top with a lid if you used a dish that has one. If not, cover with foil. Before the invention of tin foil, many people covered the cabbage rolls with extra cabbage leaves.

Here is the secret step that will make the difference between good cabbage rolls and great ones. Freeze them ahead of time.

Freezing will soften the cabbage making the cabbage rolls melt in your mouth.

When you are ready to serve the cabbage rolls. Place the whole dish in a 350 degree oven. Heat until the cabbage rolls are piping hot. The length of time will vary depending on the size of the rolls themselves and the size of the pot they are in. For shorter cooking time, make two small dishes instead of one big one.

You can thaw the cabbage rolls ahead of time in the fridge to decrease the time it takes to heat them.

Serve with sour cream or plain yogurt.

Remember cabbage rolls make incredible leftovers, so make a few extra to enjoy the next day. They are also great reheated with a bit of grated cheese on top.

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Without reservation, we’d like to wish everyone here in town a wonderful Christmas and very happy New Year! It’s been our pleasure serving you in 2020, and we look forward to making more great memories with all of you in the year to come.

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Christmas Wishes 2020

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

CHRISTMAS CAROLS

The Friendly Beasts Sufjan Stevens

Jesus our brother, strong and good Was humbly born in a stable rude And the friendly beasts around Him stood Jesus our brother, strong and good “I, “ said the donkey, shaggy and brown “I carried His mother up hill and down I carried His mother to Bethlehem town” “I, “ said the donkey, shaggy and brown “I, “ said the cow, all white and red “I gave Him my manger for His bed I gave Him my hay to pillow His head” “I, “ said the cow, all white and red

Page 19

May the miracle of His birth and the light of His love fill your days with joy, hope and wonder!

With gratitude in our hearts, we wish you a merry and blessed Christmas season.

“I, “ said the sheep with curly horn “I gave Him my wool for His blanket warm He wore my coat on Christmas morn” “I, “ said the sheep with curly horn “I, “ said the dove from the rafters high “I cooed Him to sleep so that He would not cry We cooed Him to sleep, my mate and I” “I, “ said the dove from the rafters high Thus every beast by some good spell In the stable dark was glad to tell Of the gift he gave Emmanuel The gift he gave Emmanuel

Jingle Bells

Dashing through the snow On a one horse open sleigh O’er the fields we go, Laughing all the way Bells on bob tail ring, making spirits bright What fun it is to laugh and sing A sleighing song tonight Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way Oh, what fun it is to ride In a one horse open sleigh Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way Oh, what fun it is to ride In a one horse open sleigh A day or two ago, I thought I’d take a ride, And soon Miss Fanny Bright Was seated by my side; The horse was lean and lank Misfortune seemed his lot We got into a drifted bank, And then we got upsot.

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way Oh, what fun it is to ride In a one horse open sleigh

Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way Oh, what fun it is to ride In a one horse open sleigh

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way!

Oh, What fun it is to ride In a one horse open sleigh.

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way!

Oh, What fun it is to ride In a one horse open sleigh.

Now the ground is white Go it while you’re young Take the girls tonight And sing this sleighing song Just get a bob tailed bay two-forty as his speed Hitch him to an open sleigh And crack! you’ll take the lead Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way!

Oh, What fun it is to ride In a one horse open sleigh.

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way!

Oh, What fun it is to ride In a one horse open sleigh.

Silent Night Silent night, holy night!

All is calm, all is bright.

Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child.

Holy infant so tender and mild, Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace Silent night, holy night!

Shepherds quake at the sight.

Glories stream from heaven afar

Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia, Christ the Savior is born!

Christ the Savior is born Silent night, holy night!

Son of God love’s pure light.

Radiant beams from Thy holy face With dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus Lord, at Thy birth Jesus Lord, at Thy birth

Merry Christmas from, Erin & Chris Briggs & Staff

Lorraine’s

19566 Opeongo Line, Barry’s Bay, ON • 613-756-2013

HOLIDAY STORE HOURS

Thurs. Dec. 24.........................................9am to 4pm Fri. Dec. 25.................................................CLOSED Sat. Dec. 26..................................................CLOSED Sun. Dec. 27...........................................11am to 4pm Mon. Dec. 28......................................9am to 6:30pm Tue. Dec. 29........................................9am to 6:30pm Wed. Dec. 30.......................................9am to 6:30pm Thurs. Dec. 31..........................................9am to 5pm Fri. Jan. 1.....................................................CLOSED Sat. Jan. 2............................................9am to 5:30pm Sun. Jan. 3...................................................CLOSED

Christmas Wishes 2020

Page 20

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Christmas concerts

COLIN KERR Staff Reporter

You can’t eat your cake and have it too.

You can’t have those precious moments of your children singing on stage, full of pride, having overcome their stage fright, belting out their music for all too hear, moments that melt your heart, bring a tear to your eye, and belly-rocking laughter… you can’t have any of that without the stress of getting the kids out the door in time, with the right clothes on, the stress of getting to the school gym or church hall early enough to get a good seat, the stifling heat and closeness of bodies, the long, long time you have to wait until your child gets on stage…

Like many of you, I have been going to Christmas concerts for many years, and I have to admit, I am shamefully relieved that there are no concerts this year. Thank you, COVID. If there is one fact about December, it is that it is too busy. One fewer thing is

welcome this year.

And yet, I will miss it too. Yes, even introverted me, even claustrophobic me.

My parents had to go to mine. I remember them. Not only did I sing with my class, but I was in the boys’ choir too, so that meant I was up twice. Later, I was in the school band, and, thus, inflicted my saxophone on my parents, while my brother inflicted them with clarinet. Our concerts were held in the nearby junior high gymnasium, since it was larger than the gym at our elementary school. I remember the pride, I remember believing that what we were offering up to our parents was a real treat; it was a treat to go and listen to us.

I see that in my own children too.

At home, we still sing the ‘Reindeer Rap’ that one of my children’s classes performed two years ago: “We want you to know that we just don’t get it, we do all the work while Santa gets the credit… Without us Santa can’t come.

Without us, Santa can’t come. With us, Santa is coming!”

I wonder what it was like for my parents.

Likely, very much as it is for me these years.

The teachers in our small schools put in a lot of work in order to pull off these concerts.

Our schools here don’t have the resources the city schools had that I went to. But there is no difference in the commitment, the accomplishment, the pride, the joy.

This year, I won’t be sweating in the basement of St. Lawrence O’Toole, as I listen, once again, to Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, but I will be reminiscing about previous years having done so.

Thank you for all your support and patronage throughout the years.

Wishing you all a safe and prosperous new year!

CO COUNTRY MARKET

St. Andrews - Kindergarten/Grade 1 Chase – Kinetic Sand Aleeah – Kinetic Sand Teaghan – Watch Emily – Falling apart sand Matthew – Lego Robyn – Lego Seth – Kinetic Sand Jeremy – Red sniper with a scope Annika – A bike Heather – Polly pocket backpack Teegan – Slime Grace – LOL doll Hailey – New slime Luke – Dominis Rex Danica – Something special Gabriel – Lego Brooklyn – Magic wand Chad – Nerf gun St. Andrews Kinder/Grade 1 Dear Santa, How are the reindeer? How are you doing? How are the elves doing?

We love you! We have been very kind to each other! We really like candy canes!

Love, St. Andrews Kinder/Grade 1 class

Serving Folks Like You Is A Real Treat For Us!

We couldn’t have asked for a better batch of friends and neighbours than you!

Happy Holidays!

NEW! LCBO Convenience Outlet 39258 Combermere Rd, COMBERMERE 613-756-1113

19407 Opeongo Line, Barry's Bay

Christmas Wishes 2020

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Page 21

St. Andrews - Grade 1/2 Dear Santa, I am 7 years old. I am good at school. I learned about you and I love my toys. I would like a riding horse that I can ride.

Thank you!

Love Isabella Grade 2, St. Andrew’s School Dear Santa, Thank you for my camera last year. I would like to visit you in the North Pole. For Christmas I would like a kitten and kitten accessories.

Can it be a girl? Please bring her in a case.

Thank you, From Kaydance Grade 2, St. Andrew’s School Dear Santa, This is Evan. I am 6 years old. I would like Venom Flex, a pet oldfish, a 22 gun and shells.

Santa, thank you for all the presents and toys you gave me last year.

Good Bye Santa, Evan Grade 1, St. Andrew’s School Dear Santa, I’m Nevan. Thank you for the presents and I love you! Please have McKenna come over and stay for 2 years. Can I come visit the North Pole for a week? For Christmas can I have pink powers and can I be a mermaid with a pink tail and pick hair and a white shell top and a pink and white headband. I would also like a kitten with a cage and accessories and can it be a girl please? Can she come with toys so that I can teach her tricks? Can the kitten be white on the body and pick on the tummy and pink on the feet and a Thank you!

Love Nevan Grade 2, St. Andrew’s School Dear Santa, I’m Adrienne and I’m 7 years old and. For Christmas I want a big Hatchimal and another thing is an Elf on the Shelf.

I will leave you cookies, milk and carrots for Rudolph and the other reindeer. See you at Christmas!

From Adrienne Grade 2, St. Andrew’s School Dear Santa, I would like a stroller and a play house for Christmas please. I would also like to see your elves.

Love Chloe Grade 2, St. Andrew’s School

Dear Santa, How are your reindeer doing? I want a Go Pro please. It’s too expensive and my parents won’t buy it. My friend has an underwater one.

I want that one. And 1 more thing I want a Nintendo Switch.

Thank you!

Love Keaton Grade 1, St. Andrew’s School Dear Santa, Thank you for the presents last year. How is Rudolph? How are the elves doing? How is the North Pole? Me and my dad like to play X-Box together alot. My mom and sisters like to play Among Us together. My mom loves me soooo much. For Christmas I won’t 1) Nerf Gun 2) Nerf Riffle 3) Big bin of plastic tanks 4) Fort Night Snipper 5) Big bn of plastic helicopters 6) Big bin of plastic army men 7) Nerf Mini Gun 8) A new I phone 11 Thanks Santa, Love Riven Grade 2, St. Andrew’s School Dear Santa, Thank you for all the presents you gave me last year. I am Michael and I am 6. I want an X-Box, a Mind Craft disc to play on my X-Box, a remote control for my X-Box. Thank you!

Love, Michael Grade 1, St. Andrew’s School

Dear Santa, Thank you for last year’s presents. I love to build pillow forts at home.

How is Rudolph doing? I want an Ice Cream Cart, a Rainbow High Doll and some squishies. Thank you!

Love Adeline Grade 1, St. Andrew’s Dear Santa, I like to do cart wheels. For Christmas I want a Nintendo Switch, a Hover Board and crop tops. Thanks for giving me JOY! Love, Kennedy Grade 1, St. Andrew’s Dear Santa, I LOVE the presents you brought me last year. I want an Elf on the Shelf, a big LOL and a Rainbow High Doll.

Love Carley Grade 2, St. Andrew’s Dear Santa, I am good. I love to play with dolls. This Christmas I only want 1 thing. Please bring me a big LOL Doll. Thank you!

Love, Kinley Grade 2, St.Andrew’s

a good boy sometimes to mom. I would like a drone, a big RC car and a dinosaur kit AND I would love a big helicopter. Have a good trip around the world.

Love, Isaac P.S. How old are you? What kind of cookies do you like?

Dear Santa, How are you? I am 7 years old. I am good at lots of things. For Christmas I would like a RC boat, a RC car and that’s it!

Love, Cameron Grade 2, St. Andrew’s Dear Santa, I would like to see your reindeer and I would like to see your elves. I am good at boxing. I am good at running.

I only want 1 thing for Christmas: a shark tooth necklace, oh and just a shark tooth.

Thank you!

Love, Allan Dear Santa, How is Mrs. Claus doin? For Christmas I would like a camera please.

From Harper Grade 2 St. Andrew’s Dear Santa, How is Rudolph? I’ve been good. I help my mom. I want a toy BB-8, a Lego ATAT, a star wars Lego with Dark Vader, and last of all a big Jurassic World with Dominus Rex. From, Csaba Grade 2, St. Andrew’s

Hi Santa, I am Isaac. I am 7 years old. I have been

Dear Santa, Please can you get me an LOL Surprise. I was naughty but nice. I am sometimes nice. But I like LOLs. Love Chelsea P.S say “hi” to Rulolph for me.

Grade 2, St. Andrew’s School Dear Santa, I had a very great Christmas last year. You are the best part of Christmas, Santa. I had a perfect Christmas.

I am Grace and I am 6 years old. I am in grade 1. For Christmas I want a huge dollhouse castle, a doll bed, matching PJs for my dol and me and matching headbands.

Can you show me a picture of Rudolph and the elves.

See you at Christmas!

Thanks Santa! I love you!

Love, Grace Grade 1 St. Andrew’s

We’re Filled With

GRATITUDE!

As we gear up for Christmas, we’d like to share our thanks and best wishes with you, our valued customers and friends here in the community. Your support and goodwill have really made our year special, and we sincerely appreciate your patronage. Merry Christmas!

Barry's Bay

MacEWEN 613-756-3614

Hwy 60 & 62, Barry’s Bay

A Wish for Our Friends As we welcome the holiday season, we’re especially grateful for the customers and friends who have made this year so Great for us in spite of the hardships. Merry Christmas and happy new year!

Barry’s Bay 613-756-3813

May the gifts of health, harmony and happiness be yours this Christmas and always.

We’re grateful for the gift of your friendship, and we look forward to your visits in the new year!

1-888-756-7672 WWW.ASHGROVEINN.COM

42524 COMBEREMERE ROAD BARRY’S BAY, ON, K0J 1B0 ASH.GROVE.INN@HOTMAIL.COM | FAX: 613-756-7752

Christmas Wishes 2020

Page 22

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

St. John Bosco - Kindergarten My name is Alice. I have been awesome! I want some Polly Pockets for Christmas this year. It would also be great if I were to receive a new doll. Please also bring a new book for my mom. Thank you!

I were to receive some hair stuff. Please also bring a new hair brush for my mom.

Thank you!

My name is Rilynn. I have been awesome!

I want an Elf on the Shelf for Christmas this year. It would also be great if I were to receive some candy. Please also bring a new hunting hat for my dad. Thank you!

My name is Sawyer. I have been pretty good! I want an Elf on Shelf for Christmas this year. It would also be great if I were to receive a new blanket. Please also bring a hammock for my mom. Thank you!

My name is Khloe. I have been a little bit naughty but I can explain! I want Baby Alive that eats for Christmas this year. It would also be great if I were to receive candy canes. Please also bring make up for my mom, a hat for my dad and Pikachu or Lego for Liam. Thank you!

My name is Tyson. I have been pretty nice!

I want a duck call for Christmas this year.

It would also be great if I were to receive some candy canes. Please also bring new hunting hats for mom and dad. Thank you!

My name is Robert. I have been awesome!

I want a Transformer for Christmas this year. It would also be great if I were to receive a candy cane. Please also bring a rainbow leash for my cat. Thank you!

My name is Abby. I have been pretty good!

I want a horse toy for Christmas this year.

It would also be great if I were to receive a night gown. Please also bring a make up set for my sister. Thank you!

My name is Adam. I have been pretty nice!

I want some Paw Patrol toys for Christmas this year. It would also be great if I were to receive some candy canes. Please also bring a new collar for my cat. Thank you!

My name is Austin. I have been pretty good! I want a remote control Amphibias Car for Christmas this year. It would also be great if I were to receive a candy cane.

Please also bring new tools for my dad.

Thank you!

My name is Angel. I have been awesome! I want a Present Pet for Christmas this year.

It would also be great if I were to receive BBQ chips. Please also bring make up for my mom. Thank you!

My name is Logan. I have been awesome!

I want a Power Ranger for Christmas this year. It would also be great if I were to receive new markers. I love to draw and write! Please also bring a new bike for uncle. Thank you!

My name is Luke. I have been a little bit naughty but I can explain! I want a Transformer for Christmas this year. It would also be great if I were to receive a candy cane. Please also bring some candies for grandpa. Thank you!

My name is Delaney. I have been awesome!

I want a L.O.L house for Christmas this year. It would also be great if I were to receive new markers. I love to make pictures. Please also bring a new sock for my mom. Thank you!

My name is Hayden. I have been a little bit naughty but I can explain! I want a doll house for Christmas this year. It would also be great if

My name is Avery. I have been pretty nice! I want a bunny for Christmas this year. My teacher says that you ask mom and dad first if you can bring a real bunny.

If they say ‘no’, you can bring a pretend bunny. I love animals. It would also be great if I were to receive some candy canes. Please also bring a make up set for my mom. Thank you!

My name is Catherine. I have been pretty nice! I want a unicorn stuffie for Christmas this year. It would also be great if I were to receive a candy cane.

Please also bring a new book for my mom.

Thank you!

My name is Emma. I have been a little bit naughty but I can explain! I want a L.O.L house for Christmas this year. It would also be great if I were to receive some candies. Please also bring some make up for my mom. Thank you!

My name is Harper. I have been awesome! I want a guitar for Christmas this year. It would also be great if I were to receive some new markers. Please also bring some grippy socks and toys for my baby brother. Thank you!

My name is Kai. I have been pretty nice!

I want a Pikachu stuffie for Christmas this year. It would also be great if I were to receive some candy canes. Please also bring a new hat for my mom.

Thank you!

My name is Ethan. I have been awesome!

I want a yellow skidder for Christmas this year. It would also be great if I were to receive candy. Please also bring a new hunting hat for my dad.

Thank you!

My name is Alison. I have been pretty nice! I want a doll house for Christmas this year. It would also be great if I were to receive new shirts. Please also bring a new book for my mom and earrings for my sister. Thank you!

There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays We’re so grateful to be celebrating here with all of you!

With our thanks and happiest wishes,

To all of the valued customers and friends who have dropped in on us this year, thank you for brightening each day with your kind words and smiling faces. We really appreciate your continued trust and support as we work diligently to ensure the safety of our clients and team. We hope the year ahead brings health, prosperity and all the best to everyone.

Happy Celebrating!

14 Martin Street Barry’s Bay

“Here To Work For You”

Christmas Wishes 2020

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Page 23

St. John Bosco - Grade 1 Dear Santa, I would like a tablet, a JoJo Siwa Bow, a surprise gift and a puppy for Christmas.

Love, Maria Dear Santa, I hope you have a good day. I play with my sister on rollerblades. For Christmas can I please have a Nerf gun? Merry Christmas.

Love, Tyson Dear Santa, Thank you for your hard work. I have been nice this year. I make my bed every day.

For Christmas can I please have a dog?

Merry Christmas.

Love, Addy Dear Santa, I like your red hat, Santa, and I like your reindeer. I have been nice this year. I play with my brother on the snow bank.

For Christmas can I please have a remote control boat? Merry Christmas.

Love, Grayson Dear Santa, Thank you for your hard work. I have been nice this year. I help my sister. I want for Christmas American Boy Doll. Merry Christmas.

Love, Maggie

Dear Santa, I like the Christmas presents that you gave me. Thank you. I clean my mom’s room and I also clean my brother’s room. For Christmas can I please have surprise pets and pink hair spray? Merry Christmas.

Love, Payton Dear Santa, I like when you give me presents. I have been nice this year. I play with my cousin.

For Christmas can I please have a kitten?

Merry Christmas.

Love, Austin Dear Santa, I like when you give me presents. I have been nice this year. For Christmas can I please have lego?

Love, Ryider Dear Santa, Thank you for your hard work and I like your reindeers. I have been nice this year.

I play nicely with my sisters. For Christmas can I please have a remote control airplane and a Nerf gun. Merry Christmas.

Love, Alexander Dear Santa, I like what you have me last year. I have been nice this year. I help clean with my mom. For Christmas can I please have a surprise pets. Merry Christmas.

Love, Avery

Dear Santa, I like when you give us presents. I have been nice this year, I play nicely with my friends. For Christmas I please have an OMG doll box. Merry Christmas.

Love, Abigail Dear Santa, Thank you for making toys. I have been nice. I help my dad get work done. For Christmas I want a Lego Haunted House.

Merry Christmas.

Love, Asher Dear Santa, I like your reindeers. I have been nice this year. I play with my cat every day. For Christmas can I please have a remote control airplane? Merry Christmas.

Love, Mason Dear Santa, I like your reindeers. I have been nice this year. I play nicely with my brother.

For Christmas can I please have a Nerf gun? Merry Christmas.

Love, Finnley Dear Santa, Thank you for your hard work. I have been nice this year. I help my dad shovel my driveway. For Christmas can I please have a Nerf Gun. Love, Theodore

From Our Home to Yours, Merry Christmas!

Festive lights, fragrant trees, freshly baked cookies, brightly wrapped packages, and beloved family and friends to share the season… May the best of Christmastime be yours!

MILL STREET DENTAL HYGIENE Mandy Kutchcoskie RDH

613-757-0847 Call or Text 45 Mill St., Killaloe Located inside the Medical Centre

Smile Like You Mean It!

Christmas Wishes 2020

Page 24

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

St. John Bosco - Grade 2/3 Dear Santa, I hope you have a good Christmas and an awesome journey to people’s houses. I have been trying to keep my room clean. I would like to get a new plant and a Dot, and I would like everyone to have a good Christmas. There is going to be cookies, milk, and a card for you.

From Ava Dear Santa, How are you and your reindeer doing? I hope you are staying safe! I have been a good girl this year. If it is not too much trouble, I would like a big slime bottle and a new Play Doh roller please. I wish my family and friends a great Christmas and good health. I hope you have a fabulous trip going around the world.

Lots of love, Emma Dear Santa, How are Mrs. Claus and you? For Christmas I want a red Nerf Rival Blaster, a Flash action figure, and a PS5. But I also want peace in the world. I think I deserve these things because I have been helping with the dishes and cleaning the house a little and I have also been quite nice to my brother. We will probably put cookies and milk out for you and carrots for the reindeer. Safe travels.

From Easton Dear Santa, How are you doing? How is Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer? How are your reindeer doing? How is Mrs. Claus? You are

the best because you bring Christmas presents to girls and boys. For Christmas I would like LOL dolls, an American Girl doll, a backpack, and peace. I have been awesome this year. I will leave cookies and milk for you.

Love, Olivia Dear Santa, How are the reindeer? How is Mrs. Claus? I want a toy vet, an Elf on the Shelf, the first Enchantimals, and Peace on Earth. I deserve these toys because I have been good to my brother by playing with him. Have a safe trip.

Lots of love, from Willow Dear Santa, How are Mrs. Claus, the elves, and the reindeer doing? I would really like a new penguin teddy for Christmas and a new sketching set. I would also like new winter clothes, if that isn’t too much trouble. I also wish for an end to Covid-19. I hope I can get these things because I think I have been helpful and I have tried to be kind and nice. But sometimes it’s hard. I wish you a good Christmas this year and safe travels. We will leave you cookies and milk. I hope you like them. Merry Christmas.

With lots of love, Cecilia!

Dear Santa, How are the reindeer? Can I have a Barbie house, an LOL doll, and an Enchantimal? I would also like peace wherever I go. I’ve been good by letting my brothers and sister play with me.

Hope everything is going well at the North Pole!

From Cheyenne Dear Santa, Do you make the toys at the North Pole? For Christmas, I would like to have Hatchimals, an Apple Watch, and a Nintendo Switch. I have been kind to my friends all year long at school.

Have a safe ride.

FROM MADISON P.

Dear Santa, How are the elves and reindeer doing? For Christmas, I would like a Smashers Epic Dino Egg and I would like for Covid-19 to end.

This is my Christmas wish and I think I deserve this gift because I have been good this year. Oh, and how is Mrs. Claus doing?

From Jack

Dear Santa, What is Mrs.Claus doing this Christmas?

I want a Transformer, a red sled, and a badminton net. Santa, I also want the Covid-19 to go away. I hope you’ll like the cookies and milk.

Love, Jacob

Dear Santa, How is Rudolph? For Christmas, I want a spirit horse or an Elf on the Shelf. I deserve these presents because I have been doing my chores and being good. Happy Christmas.

Love, Hannah

Dear Santa, How are the elves, you, and Mrs. Claus?

For Christmas, I would like the 4-pack of Enchantimals. I would also like the Flutterbye Fairy and pretty please can I have a new doll? I really, really want Covid to be over soon.

There are going to be cookies on the TV stand and carrots on the hill. Safe travels.

Love, Rosa

Dear Santa Claus, Are you busy getting presents ready for Christmas? I want a Hot Wheels Dino Jump, slime, and a new Nerf gun and I would like COVID-19 to be over super soon.

I think I should get these things because I have been good and I’m so sorry for not being good. We are going to leave cookies and milk for you.

From NASH

Dear Santa, How are you? Are you ready for Christmas? For Christmas I would like some art stuff, some singing stuff, and a new teddy bear. I wish there could be peace in the world. I think I deserve these gifts because I have been really nice to my new dog. Safe travels and have a good Christmas!

Love, Jordyn

Dear‌ ‌Santa,‌ ‌ ‌ How‌ a ‌ re‌ ‌you?‌ ‌Is‌ ‌your‌ ‌favourite‌ ‌colour‌ ‌red?‌ ‌Mine‌ i‌ s‌ ‌red.‌ ‌This‌ ‌year‌ I ‌ ‌ ‌have‌ ‌been‌ ‌good.‌ ‌For‌ ‌Christmas,‌ ‌I‌ ‌want‌ ‌the‌ O ‌ MG‌ ‌Bonbon,‌ t‌ he‌ ‌Baby‌ ‌Alive‌ ‌Grow‌ U ‌ p,‌ ‌a‌ ‌gift‌ ‌card‌ ‌to‌ ‌PetSmart,‌ ‌and‌ ‌for‌ ‌the‌ ‌coronavirus‌ ‌to‌ ‌go‌ ‌away.‌ ‌Look‌ ‌for‌ ‌the‌ ‌pixie‌ ‌dust‌ ‌to‌ ‌our‌ h ‌ ome.‌ ‌ ‌ From‌ ‌Eliana‌

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATRONAGE AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO SERVING YOU IN 2021

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Greg’s Handyman Service 905-715-6189

Cathy’s Cleaning Services 613-633-9929

Christmas Wishes 2020

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Page 25

St. John Bosco Grade 2/3 Continued

Hi Santa, How are the reindeer and Mrs. Claus doing?

Santa, can I have LOL stuff and a boy Baby Alive doll? I hope you have a great Christmas.

From Madison B. Dear Santa, I hope you have a good Christmas Santa, Mrs. Claus, and elves. I hope your reindeer are healthy. For Christmas, I would like Airpods, a new phone, and a glitter shake phone case. I want a good Christmas.

Save travels!

Sincerely, Kelsey Frigon Dear Santa, Hello! My name is Eric and I am 8 years old. I live in Barry’s Bay. I have been very good this year and have been thinking of what I would like for Christmas: toys, a Rubik’s Cube, and puzzles.

I am very excited for your visit and will leave out some snacks for you and your reindeer.

Love, Eric Dear Santa, How do you get to every kid’s house at night?

I am hoping for four LOL dolls, a Barbie doll that changes colour, and a Baby Alive that eats and has diapers.

From ALEX Dear Santa, I bet you’re busy with your elves making the presents. I want a Braun Strowman wrestling figure and an Ultimate Warrior toy that comes with a UFC Championship belt.

I have been good to my family and I did work at my school. We are going to give cookies to you and carrots to your reindeer.

From Jackson XOXO

Whitney Public School - Kindergarten Dear Santa, How are you and Mrs. Clause? I am very excited for Christmas.

Can you bring me presents? I have been good this year and I would like all of the toys.

I will leave you some gingerbread cookies on the table and I will leave your reindeer carrots!

Thank you for presents.

Merry Christmas!

Love M.M. Dear Santa, How are you and your reindeer at the North Pole?

I have been very good this year. I like it when it’s Christmas and I like you delivering presents.

This year I would like a police lego set because I broke mine by accident and I can’t find all of the pieces. I would also like a blue skateboard, a rocket launcher, and a timer for when I have to get up in the morning.

Thank you for giving me presents that I like. I like you. Merry Christmas!

From, D.S Dear Santa, How’s it going?

I have a new hat that I would like to give you for Christmas. I hope it fits.

I have been really good this year. I helped my friends when they got hurt and I am nice at school. Can you bring me a paint easel with brushes and green and blue and red and yellow paint?

Thank you for giving me presents. Merry Christmas!

Love W.A. Dear Santa, How are you and Mrs. Clause? Can I come visit

you at the North Pole? I would like to see your reindeer and all of the presents. I have been good this year and if I can come to the North Pole, I will watch your reindeer for you.

For Christmas, I would like a white toy cat that drinks water.

I will leave chocolate chip cookies and milk on the counter for you.

Thank you for giving me presents. Merry Christmas!

Love A.A Dear Santa, How is the North Pole? I was good this year at school. For Christmas can I have a doll for my sister and a PJ mask toys for me and my brother? Thank you for the presents. Merry Christmas!

Love, J.A. Dear Santa, How are you and your elves? I have been very good this year, because I have been nice to my family and my friends. I like that you bring me presents. This year, I would like a rainbow pony and an orange bone for my dog.

Thanks Santa. Merry Christmas!

Love, K.B Dear Santa, I want a Spiderman suit and I want Rudolph the real red nosed reindeer. I want Rudolph so I attach him to my canoe which I got for my birthday. I want to fly i n my canoe to the North Pole. I will give you five chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk.

M.T.R

Dear Santa, What I want for Christmas is a bean bag chair,hot wheels set, nerf guns, art and crafts, a dirt bike poster,hot wheels cars, an i pod, an ipod charger, a dirt bike curtains,and a fan. I want my family to be together, rollerblades, a snowball maker, a toy bin,clothes, a nature kit, a clock, an alexa, earbuds, and a yoyo.

Thank you, From, X.B. Dear Santa, This year I would like all of the dinosaurs for christmas. I would like the dinosaurs to be robots please. I would also l ike a white horse family.

Have a Merry Christmas. From, M.M Dear Santa, This year I would like all of the dinosaurs for christmas. I would like the dinosaurs to be robots please.I would also like a white horse family. Have a Merry Christmas. Thank You! From, B.P. Dear Santa, I would like AirPods, a Nintendo switch, a PS5 and an RC car dirt bike for Christmas. I am going to l eave you some chips and pop to drink. From, D.H Dear Santa, I want a nintendo switch and a remote control snowmobile for Christmas.

From, J.D. Dear Santa, I want hot wheeIs for Christmas. Thank you!

From, T.D. Dear Santa, First things first, our family would like another hound dog for Christmas. We already have three but there i s still room on the couch for another. Please make sure to leave something special for all children, even the ones on your naughty list. It has been a tough year for everyone, and I think everyone is doing the best they can! I hope you will leave something extra special for all the lovely Educators and Staff at Whitney Public School. I will always believe! Love, M.W.

Here Comes Santa Claus!

Another ChristmAs is rolling in, And we hope it delivers everything on your wish list!

Thanks for being an important part of our year.

Your friendship and support have made 2020 a great ride for us, and we wish you all the best this holiday season and in the coming year.

Merry Christmas to you and yours, from the Management and Staff at...

SUMMERS BROS Queen Street, Killaloe, Ontario

P: 613-757-2171 or TF: 866-733-2833

www.summersbros.com

Christmas Wishes 2020

Page 26

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Palmer Rapids Public School - JK/SK Dear Santa, My name is Grace, I am 4 years old.

I was very good this year. For Christmas I would like a nail art set and an LOL doll.

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Grace (JK) Dear Santa, My name is Lydia, I am 4 years old.

I was very nice this year. For Christmas I would like a Barbie car and Barbies.

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Lydia (JK) Dear Santa, My name is Oaklyn, I am 3 years old.

I was very good this year. For Christmas I would like a dolly and a ball.

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Oaklyn (JK) Dear Santa, My name is Laikin, I am 4 years old.

I was very good this year. For Christmas I would like a monster truck and a monster.

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Laikin (JK) Dear Santa, My name is Logan, I am 4 years old. I was very nice this year. For Christmas I would like a remote control car and a

computer.

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Logan (JK) Dear Santa, My name is Bellami, I am 4 years old.

I was very good this year. For Christmas I would like a reindeer that opens and closes its eyes.

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Bellami (JK) Dear Santa, My name is Taylor, I am 4 years old.

I was very good this year. For Christmas I would like Elsa and Polly pockets.

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Taylor (JK) Dear Santa, My name is Ryder, I am 4 years old.

I was very good this year. For Christmas I would like a fire truck and a reindeer.

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Ryder (JK) Dear Santa, My name is Everlee, I am 4 years old.

I was very good this year. For Christmas I would like LOL dolls – medium size :).

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Everlee (JK)

Merry Christmas Season's greetings & best wishes for a healthy & happy New Year from all of us at St. Francis Herb Farm.

Dear Santa, My name is Gunner, I am 4 years old.

I was very nice this year. For Christmas I would like a Nerf gun a monster.

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Gunner (JK)

Dear Santa, My name is Isabella, I am 4 years old.

I was very good this year. For Christmas I would like an Elsa doll.

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Isabella (SK)

Dear Santa, My name is Callie, I am 5 years old.

I was very nice this year. For Christmas I would like a Polly Pocket and a nail kit.

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Callie (SK)

Dear Santa, My name is Emmett, I am 5 years old.

I was very good this year. For Christmas I would like a singing reindeer and a remote dirt bike.

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Emmett (SK)

Dear Santa, My name is Annabell, I am 5 years old.

I was very nice this year. For Christmas I would like a paintset and fire truck.

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Annabell (SK) Dear Santa, My name is Hallie, I am 4 years old.

I was very nice this year. For Christmas I would like a giant unicorn stuffy and an LOL doll.

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Hallie (SK) Dear Santa, My name is Brinley, I am 5 years old.

I was very good this year. For Christmas I would like a giant dog stuffy and a nail kit.

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Brinley (SK)

Dear Santa, My name is Sadie, I am 5 years old.

I was very nice this year. For Christmas I would like a singing reindeer, a nail kit and a paint set.

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Sadie (SK) Dear Santa, My name is Evie, I am 5 years old.

I was very nice this year. For Christmas I would like a nail kit.

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Evie (SK) Dear Santa, My name is Ryder, I am 5 years old.

I was very nice this year. For Christmas I would like fire truck.

Thank you, Merry Christmas!

Ryder (SK)

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night …and many thanks to all of the valued customers who pulled for us this year!

We appreciate your incredible support.

- Management and staff.

Barry’s Bay Shell Highway 62, Barry’s Bay (1.5 km south of Highway 60) 613-756-6446

Christmas Wishes 2020

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Page 27

Palmer Rapids Public School - Grade 1/2 Dear Santa, I like Rudolph. I want a Nintendo Switch. I like Christmas because you bring presents.

Love, Ethan Grade 1, Palmer Rapids P.S. Dear Santa, I like your elves. I like your reindeer, and I like Rudolph. I want a toy spider, and I wanta toy elephant. I like Christmas because I like Santa.

Love, Henry Grade 1, Palmer Rapids P.S. Dear Santa, I want two ponies. I like your sled. I want a unicorn. I like Christmas because I get presents.

Love, Kenzie Grade 1, Palmer Rapids P.S. Dear Santa, I like your reindeer and mostly Rudolph. I would like an Itunes card. I like Christmas because Santa brings presents.

From, Landen Grade 1, Palmer Rapids P.S. Dear Santa, I like Santa’s reindeer. I want a bow and arrow please. I like Christmas because Santa brings presents.

From, William Grade 1, Palmer Rapids P.S. Dear Santa, I like Rudolph the most. Santa, I want a toy car. I want a Minecraft Xbox. I like Christmas because I get

presents.

Love, Austin Grade 1, Palmer Rapids P.S. Dear Santa, I like your reindeer. I want a remote control car. I like Christmas because everybody gets presents.

Love, Troy Grade 1, Palmer Rapids P.S. Dear Santa, I like reindeer. I want a lion. I like Christmas because you are nice.

Love, Logan Grade 1, Palmer Rapids P.S. Dear Santa, I love your reindeer, but I love Rudolph the best.

I want a mermaid for Christmas. I also want a Paw Patrol Control Tower and the toy horse trailer with the pink truck, please.

Thank you, Santa! Merry Christmas!

Love, Blake Grade 1, Palmer Rapids P.S. Dear Santa, I love Santa. I like your reindeer. I want a Rainbow High Doll. I like Rudolph. I like your sleigh.

I like your suit. I like Christmas because it is the happiest day in my life.

From, Isabelle Grade 1, Palmer Rapids P.S. Dear Santa, I love Santa and your reindeer and I like the presents you gave me. I would like a Nintendo and I would like a toy. And I like your suit. I like Christmas because I like presents.

The Brightest Joy, the Happiest Cheer, for Christmas and the Coming Year!

With our thanks for your loyal patronage,

Greg Kelly and Staff

27 Bay Street, Barry’s Bay 613-756-0066 221 John Street, Eganville 613-628-2617 Toll Free 1-888-580-0137

Love, Jase Grade 1, Palmer Rapids P.S. Dear Santa, I like your sleigh, Do you like your slight too? I like your reindeer and I like Rudolph the reindeer.

I would like a reindeer toy Reindeers Runs. I like Christmas because I like Santa.

From, Emmit Grade 1, Palmer Rapids P.S. Dear Santa, I like your reindeer and I like Rudolph the most.

Please can I have a piggy bank and a gun and a camo shirt?

Love, Tanner Grade 1, Palmer Rapids P.S. Dear Santa, I like your deer. I like your presents. I help my mom clean up her room. I love Santa because he is nice. I like Christmas because he brings presents.

Love, Emma Grade 1, Palmer Rapids P.S. Dear Santa, I like Christmas and Santa. I would like a LOL OMG and a real life Blue the Raptor and an Indominus Rex and all the Lego Jurassic World and one kitten and a lizard. I should get it because I help my mom. I will give people Hot Wheels. I like Christmas because I like Santa.

From, Mckinley Grade 2, Palmer Rapids P.S. Dear Santa, Are you and Mrs. Claus and the elves good? Can I please have a LOL Big Sister Remix Doll?

I should get it because I help my sister and brother. My teacher would like big chocolate with mint in it. I like Christmas because people are kind.

From, Leola Grade 2, Palmer Rapids P.S. Dear Santa, I like you Santa. Can I have a LOL please Santa because I pick carrots for you Santa and milk. Can I have a baby stroller? I love you Santa. Can you bring my sister Lilly a LOL. She wants it. Can you bring Leola a LOL Big Sister? Can I have a LOL Big Sister too?

Love, Katrina Grade 2, Palmer Rapids P.S. Dear Santa, How are your reindeer? I would like an albino reindeer. Can you put the reindeer in a pen?

Can you name it and leave it on the tag? I help mom and dad pick carrots. My dad likes chocolate. Would you bring some for him? I like Christmas because I like Santa.

From, Oliver Grade 2, Palmer Rapids P.S. Dear Santa, Santa, no matter what I will always feed your reindeer. I would like a hand gun machine nerf gun because I do chores. My sister wants a Big Sister LOL Doll. I like Christmas the most because of you, Santa, and the elves and Mrs. Claus.

From, Klae Grade 2, Palmer Rapids P.S.

28 Page __

Christmas Wishes 2020 The Valley Gazette

Wednesday, December 16,, 2020 Wednesday, ____ __ 2020

“Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.”

Luke 2:19

From the fairest flower Mary came a love so perfect, Jesus Christ. Peace and joy this Christmas.

PASTWAY PLANING LIMITED Combermere, Ontario