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lri ii p4rnombee3blyfi99l st stouffville ill m mm isi1 iiitiii f p i lpl k l h hr5 pgsl w s 111 11 i 1 simlis 1 p 111 it ii spirit ofthe season is alive well tt he spirit is alive and well in stoufrville this week this newspaper received a letter to the editor say ing that the christ had gone out of christmas this is not a new mes sage but the letter writer explained eloquently that he was being denied the right to celebrate the festive season at work for fear it may offend someone who chooses not to celebrate on dec 25 andhe is hot going to stand for it his seems to be the attitude that is pervading the town in the santa claus parade so marveldusly executed by the kins men this past saturday there were repeated calls in the messages on the floats for a return to the tradi tions of the season in the festive shop windows on main st the true spirit of the season is shining through the letter writer was indeed justi fied in his concerns if we allow any traditions to be homogenized or denied we will be a bland societyindeed one devoid of the spirit of human kindness whether spurred by christian beliefs or some other means and that is something none of us can do without is it is nearpanic time christmas is but two weeks away and i am still in summer mode i havent been near a gift shop t havent selected christmas cards i dont have as much as a stocking stuffer every year i do this and every year lresolve on new years eve that i wont do it again but here it is a fortnight from the bigday andl am wrapless gift- less and cardless r with muted anxiety i will dash about christmas eve as the retailers are closing their doors trying to snap up whatever is left on depleted shelves thankfully we are not the sort of family that opens gifts christmas eve otherwise i would be in a good deal of trouble i invariably wrap my gifts until about 2 am christmas morning i stuff stockings after the alarm goes off at 6 am and i dash about frantically placing the gifts under the tree before anyone else is up v it is not that i procrastinate when it comes to the holidays it just seems the month of december should be another 30 days long and i know i am not alone in my slowness i know this because when i do get around to shopping the halls of the malls and aisles of the shops are clogged with bugeyed sweating shoppers by the time ive checked my list against grandpar ents parents brothers sisters in laws and various and sundry other a near once again minute with mair relatives to ensure there would be no duplication and by the time ive checked on my chequing account lined up my charge cards and had the car tuned up for the parking lot wars i am not exactly filled with the spirit of giving i amnot a browser and when i shop i shop in arid back but again loaded with parcels packages and bags i can do the whole shopping experience in a few hours the system of getting in shopping and getting out again has worked well but last year i rah into a snag on my christmas eve hunt for gifts i ran into a friend of mine we stopped and chatted he was on a similar mission but we elected to toast the holiday in traditional fash ion at a puhjjefore we carried on with the task of giftgathering several egg nogs later we were- joined by another friend and chatted and laughed the time away when i looked up i had less than anhourto find and buy seven more gifts my friends determined that christmas was indeed worthy of a final hoist of the wassail and lingered behind while i blearily dashed through the stores when i saw the friend who had lured my into the land of nog after the holidays rjeanied he had left the jpub with 15 minutes left on the shopping clock each member of his family received a set of socket wrenches under the tree he felt so bad about the rush job he did his all his shop ping this year at the afterchristmas sales he called me this past week- endto make a holiday tradition of bur christmas eve toasts i declined stouffville tribune publisher editorinchief editor advertising director business manager promotionsdistribution mgr operations manager patricia pappas jo ann stevenson andrew mair debra weller vivian oneil jennifer hutt pam nichols i have joined rankspf nitpickers staff reporters tracy kibble julie caspersen roger belgrave sal bommarito photographers sjo- erd wrtteveen steve somervioe real estate joan marshman classified ooraen deacon debbie amundsen uxbridge retail sales joan marshman doreen deacon heather hill gibson uxbridge distribution artene maddock published every wednesday by metroland printing publishing and distributing at 9 heritage rd mawiam ontario l3p1m3tel 2942200 second dass registration number 1247 the stouffville tribune published every wednesday at 6244 main st stouffville is one of the metroland printing pubfshtng and distributing group of suburban newspapers which includes the acton free press ajaxpickertng news advertiser aurora banner brampton guardian bursngton post eiobscoko advertiserguardian georgetown independent kingston this week lindsay this week markham economist and sun mson champion mississauga news newmarket era oakvibe beaver oshawa- whftby tns week peterborough this week richmond hihanomlnbvaughan liberal scarborough mir ror topic newsmagazine widowdale mirror and uxbridge tribune metroland printing publishing and distributing is a dmsion of harlequin enterprises ltd natiofwlsaisrepnesentatrrvtetrolandcorporajo sales 4931300 6402100 6405477 fax t used to hate nitpickers now i am one j i on a recent sunday afternoon i dispatched my dearly beloved daughter to her friends house to play sometime later she called me hi mum she said airily guess what youre ready to come home i ventured no try again she replied with relish after one or two attempts to humor her i gave up ive got lice she explained proudly sounding as though she had just been awarded the nobel prize for literature my response to her cheerfully delivered bomb was not encourag ing wed been up until 2 am two nights in a row something which is not recommended for those of us past the first flush of youth and this was the day id set aside for a quiet recovery a prolonged period of washing clothes sheets blankets hats kates corner mmmmimmtmmiiwmmm kate ci e r c a brushes and combs was certainly not on my agenda neither was an exhaustive exploration of my daughters hair delightful though her company is articles ive read on the indeli cate subject of lice assure you that when your child gets them its not your fault and its nothing to get upset about i can only surmise that these words of wisdom were writ ten by men who are rarely to be encountered on the nitpicking front lines in my case what i like to think of as niy customary sense of humor totally deserted me for about two days following the diagnosis returning only when my daughter didnt from school j the second time she attempted to reenter the halls of academe you can call friends for sympathy when your child has flu or the cat is sick or your husband has sud- dehly decided to redecorate the hall and has found out too late that there are 14 layers of wallpaper to remove sympathy for the lousy alas is harder to come by after alii anyone whos been through the exercise of examining her childs hair strand by strand has little compassion left over for fellow sufferers in england its a known fact in certain circles that only the lower echelons get lice so if you consider yourself a member ofthe nice genteel middle classes dont worrynext time the school sends your darling home during a lice alert just tell them politely that theyve got- the wrong socioeconomic group i b i