The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

p4weekender december j 198 weekender comment r jca0 v- christmas reflection if he was really my son i would name him after one of my ancestors my father jacob now he was a fine man he was named after the patriarch jacob you remember the one who stole his brothers birthright the one whose name god changed to israel if he was really my son i might name him eleazer after my greatgrandfather or david thats an impressive name on a family tree royal ty you know if he was really my son i could call him solomon or boaz after the one who mar ried ruth then there is al ways isaac or even abraham there arent many names fin er than those but he isnt my son how strange this all is much as i love mary i wouldnt believe it if the angel hadnt told me call him jesus the angel said call him jesus jesus you shall call his name jesus for he will save his peo ple from their sins judith gooding put spirit into this christmas okay ive had it with all those bah humbug types out there who have succumbed to the pre valent yet fallacious notion that christmas has become nothing more than a time of frenzied aggravation its so much commercial hype moan others my visa card is already over the limit claim some just when we had the inlaws outlaws routine down pat all the marriages started falling apart in our family and now no one knows who is going where for christmas anymore laments another well excuuuuse me but im not buying that garbage no one ever said christmas had to involve going broke in an attempt to keep up with the yuppiejoneses or even that it had to be totally orga nized all that really matters is that our hearts be in the right place and when the big day ar rives that we feel the magic ting- lies that go with putting every thing on hold for one day while we show genuine love and good cheer sure its important to the kids that there be a hightech remote control racer or a vcr under the tree christmas morning and so youd better just find a way of get ting it there but all this worry about what to buy uncle ernie and your second cousin has become so much over rated ennui have you ever seen anyone actually refuse a gift be cause it wasnt exactly what they wanted granted you should take the in itiative to find out what it is that would make your spouse jump up and down with joy upon receiving but after that its time for your imagination to take over i cite as an example the office dinnerparty thrown last friday night by a good friend rather than add to everyones christmas shopping woes by requiring them to go out and buy yet another of those meaningless generic gifts fellow office workers are always giving each other we were simply asked to wrap and bring a used item from some remote corner of the household when i asked him just how sil ly this present should be my friend replied that if it was of any help to me he was going to have trouble getting his gift through the door the resulting assortment of items that found there way to the party that night were truly the highlight of the evening there was a used toaster a halffinished box of chocolates a horrible old mirror framed in barnboar- dand a bust developer each person picked a gift and after they were opened others would claim whatever out rageous article tickled their fan cy needless to say the bust de veloper was hotly pursued by the middleaged ladies in the crowd my contribution a monstrosity of a lamp that would be far more useful as an anchor ended up in another room of the restaurant altogether it was our way of re warding a slightly inebriated member of another group who vi sited us at our table literally spilling his champagne all oven the whole give and take gift session provided us with an hour or so of uproarious frivolity and will be a great memory of this years christmas season its up to each of us to find ways of making christmas a unique enjoyable time for ourselves and others all the presents i give this year will come from my wood working shop no they wont be rolltop desks but theyll have a little of me in them and im planning on trying a new recipe for oyster stuffing us ing imported oysters of course as part of the turkey dinner im going to attempt being forgetful im sure to leave some people off my christ mas card list who should surely be there but real friends under stand so to those folks and to everyone else out there have a wonderful caring christmas and to all you scrooges may you choke on a turkey bone economists sun the tribune sk weekender bruce annan publisher 9 heritage rd markham l3p1m3 2942200 4959440 6402100 6492292 published every saturday by metroland printing publishing and distributing at 9 heritage rd mar kham ontario l3p 1m3 tel 2942200 second class mail registration number 1247 tho markham economist and sun published every wednesday and saturday at 9 heritage rd markham is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing group of suburban newspapers which includes tho acton free press ajapickering news advertiser aurora banner brampton guardian burlington post etobicokeadvortiserguardian georgetown independent milton champion mississauga news newmarket era oakville beaver oshawawhitby this week richmond hillthor- nhillvaugnan liberal scarborough mirror stouffville tribune topic newsmagazine willowdale mir ror metroland printing publishing and distributing is a division of harlequin enterprises ltd national sales representative metroland corporate sales 4931300 nfc don bernard editor in chief jim thomas edtor editorial department managing editorjo ann stevenson reporters paula croweil steve houston deniso mcdonald paul pivato photographysjoerd witteveen bill lanning patricia pappas advertising manager advertising department retail advertising managercharles canning retail- susan berry laura goodwin chris johanscn andrea keller real estate managerdorothy young real estatekaren hoiso classified managcrdcbra waller classified- phyllis ritchie joan marshman r stephen mathieu cathy carter brcnda marshall shirley lee sharon graham chris bertram manager business office bobbie boylan linda brooks ircno cinqmars doris easthopo sherri handy bonnie hart paulanne wright jennifer hutt promotions distribution manager distribution department assistant distribu tion manager- barry goodyear je3n middlcton dorccn deacon sandra kiteley lea kitler john rigsby donna saxon phil walton scon magnish distribution dept 2948244 6402100 ss5s n i illfi