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Capture the glow of Chrislmos It is Christmas again and like many other Yuletide seasons it is difficult to anything to say that has not already been said before and better than this editorial writer could do To capture the glow of Christmas and its potential we resort to carols and symbols We watch the faces of children singing a carol marvel at the meaning of life which was brought into the world by a and recapture some of the conviction that God is alive and well There also are many things we can do on the personil level to bring back the real meaning of the festival We particuhrly like the expression of Christmas that Mary Pit sent out this if you like it and wish to share it among your friends please feci free to do so they said in greeting and we d like to share it with our readers I his Christmas mend a quarrel neck out a forgotten friend dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust write a letter share some treasure give soft answer encourage youth rmnifesl your loyally in word and deed keep promise find the time forego a grudge forgive an enemy listen apologize If you are wrong try to understand fight examine your demands on others think first of someone else spprccmte others bt kind be gentle laugh little laugh a little mort deserve confidence take up irms malice decry complacency express your gi go to church stringer gladden the heart of a anger take pleasure in the beauty of earth- love children your love speak It again is celebration thai there is no celebration that comparts with the of its true with the sudden stirring of the heart that has extended itself toward the core of life Then only then is it possible to the slgnlflcanee of the first to savor in the inward i the sweet music of the angel to envision the star struck sky and glimpse behind the eyelids ray of light that fell athwart in a darke path and changed the world Author unknown We wish nil our readers a very Merry and the best wishes of ibc season Your cards reveal character A FARM LANE AND THE FIRST SNOWFALL THE encrusted maples line the lane creating sparkling bower for season combine to give a picture of why a Canadian winter can farm vehicles of photo often by very cold and snowy but also very photogenic Ice Guess what the psychoanalysts are Christmas Tony in the Post If someone sends you a black card he is an An orange card is chosen by someone desperate to mike an impression Purple especially purple with gold any purple on the means the sender is pompous A predominantly white card is sent by those who have something to hide If a woman chooses a red she looKmg to Christmas has become something less than unadulterated rhc thriceblasted cards the seven times blasted tree with Us inevitable crooked Mump the everincreasing cost of gifts these nnd other aspects of the festive season have turned the festive part of It all at least into an exercise of hectic futility think many will agree when I say that there a huge sigh of relief on Christmas night when the lest of the wrappings have been put away the lastofthedlsnes washed and we can sit back look at the lights and listen to music It to look back on Christmaaes of the past were probably Just as frantic but In retrospect they have a sort of rosy glow about them one that still causes me a pang of remorse and shame My mother was making the usual huge turkey dinner with all it entails We were to eat about four Around two p m my kid brother and I yes sneaked off to the matinee About the some time my older brother and sister went for a long walk with a friend None of us got home until about and there was Mom stuck with the ruins of a magnificent dinner on which she had toiled for hours She say anything but for one felt like a rat I was about 10 and it was the first time I ever realized how thoughtless selfish kids can be Which reminds me that my own two thoughtless selfish brats will be home tins Christmas Hugh a vegetarian and will have his little bag of whole brown rice Kim a crazy diet By some strange coincidence the vegetarian becomes a carnivore and the diet goes out the window when they re home It tempting to think of making them a nice nut salad and a small duck for their parents only Another Christmas 1 11 never forget was that deep in the heart of behind barbed wire to worrj about buying gifts sending cards or making longdistance calls to relntlves Maybe that s why it was so much fun Not even a tree to wrestle with We exchanged gifts I gave a pair of to one of the artists and he gave me a caricature of myself Someone else gave a pack of smokes and received a razor blade that had been used only one week And there was the Christmas dinner We had saved every scrap we could from the last of the Red Cross parcels We had two tins of salmon with delicious creamed sauce made from powdered milk There were potatoes flu we d hung onto a hunk of cheese And there was that fantastic cake crumbled Graham crackers and mashed turnips held together by a bit of with two melted chocolate bars stirred in It was cooked on top of the stove and weighed about IB pounds one pound per With dinner went brew We d saved enough prunes and sugar to make a potent potion just add water and let it ferment for a couple of weeks After scoffing the lot we lay around on our bunks with the firelight flickering from the battered stove Did we talk about home and loved ones We did not We Just lay there and groaned like IB pythons who had simultaneously swallowed goats Most of us were sick half the night but it worth it It was the only time for months that we t been hungry and the only time for months that we wouldn t be Other ChrtstmascH swarm into memory I li not forget the one when my wife was having the family for the first time She fussed all day and had everything Just so She was going to show her mother and aunts that she was no slouch of a housewife Her eyes were darting everywhere making sure that everything was in order The atmosphere was about the same as that at Cape Kennedy when they re going to fire at the moon the supreme moment She ushered everyone to the table and rather grandly ordered me to take the turkey out of theoven I did pan red hot and I dropped the whole works gravy dressing turkey on the shining kitchen floor 1 11 spare you the details but I never come closer to sudden death even during the war In parting I have three wishes for my loyal readers that your Christmas tree fall over after you ve finished decorating that you don t drop the turkey and that you have the best and happiest vou with people you love COLES SLAW week we left off on the Fountain of which we visited on a trip to Florida couple of months back I noted there was no increase in vitality after our of four ench drank a glassful of the fountain water which issued from a spring which enterprising promoter hod in a building near the spot where Ponce de Leon is supposed to have landed in St Augustine I tried to do it lap around one of the footpaths thai wt the park after I drank dec pi but was as winded after the first Do vou suppose I casual mentioned lo fellow traveller Charlie Perry that this stuff is only water looks like water feels like water but it sure didn taste like waer he said distastefully And although we looked for some great change in our outlook and kept practicing to see if we had suddenly got back into shape there was no noticeable Could be old Ponce was deceived bv the Indians when he discovered this fountain Sine he came all that waj from Spain way of Haiti and Puerto Rico the Indians going to disappoint him announcing the spring contained only water bo they told him if he kept drinking he would remain perpetually youthful A few years later they finished him off in his prime with an arrow He really did if he would remain youthful But you know old Ponce was when they polished Hi eould haw had some doubts St is cits in North and is in thi last thai il has made of Us Span sh old Spanish quarts r is be inf renovated and retains a flavor unlike other Florida we visited It has a beautiful waterfront and the bin ringed with palms thai r in the But tin d iv wt then thermometer climbed to a warm that made me mill The other members of the fell the same way Florida we decided almost with one accord was for the birds In this case IM lo mean the Pelicans wire the si plentiful and f saw me I aw am those awkward lo kin rbortu with their bills I rw ting that piece of rbn ihe beak hi Ids more than Continued on Pope licksconfidcncc Mm who pick red are henpecked or it li willing to Ik Hues ire chosen by strong imigimtiotis But arc vi Pink by lust cure persons inds show in igotlstlc gold ones tin desire for dignity silver one show thi person from inferiority complex Green irds show you a sup rionly complex ind bilge ones Turtles not a lot of fun The action of the Halton County Board of dotation in supporting resolution that would limit the sale of pet turtles to anyone other than universities or other post secondary educational institutions or to other such persons as the board authorize could be a real blow to turtle lovers all over the country Apparently the predominant reason for the action was statistics from study carried out in Alberta In lint province the disc isc commonly with pet turtles has increnscd from two in 1968 to in Many people will be surprised to know tin pet turtles children love keep in sources if isc Turtles look like innocuous with no III designs on anyone llntish orpor ition recently had speaker on the Women s Hour who proclaimed Don t think there can be another in thi world that it is possible to own yet ignore so completely as you in i It not bit of lo It quietly itself to itself not shouting or getting into fights mike muddy piwmirks You mum you re i rscinuiity kid you what color IIh send And the i vi f mil design at arc si e ted those who ire pointed in people c suit by people who are So Your hi 1st mas give you ly suppose it all means you don put them on the mantel any more pine now is the touch don 1 housetrain a tortoise or It or provide a little dish with lortoiht on the side In short the Is the ultimate ideal jx I the animal lover who inn I all til it on mini lis llic one drown Is Unit a tortoise is not lot of fun Obviously the world s turtles have been masquerading under colors pretending lo be nothing more linn house movers while carrying insidious disc their shells Hut tlie shell has been broken has been exposed Ihe problem now is What will we do with the turtles we already have 20 year s ago Taken from the Issue of the Free Press of Thursday December27 1951 To a crowded parish hall the children of St Albans Sunday School presented their annual Christmas concert Fnda This was the first concert held in the new parish hall were given by Susan Wilson David Marian Buxton Mary Hunter Sarah A piano solo by a violin solo by Sheila Paul and guitar selection by provided music Amusing skits were presented by Miss C Oakes D Clarke and Miss D Capper classes Mr Sutton class did gymnastics Certificates of merit were given to children who have not missed more than six Sundays Sylvia Jones Marjonc Ware Donald Newton Marion Joan Courtney Jim Lindsay Donald Lindsay Sandra David Sally Wilson Jessie Ware Margaret Price John Price Ruth Ann and Henderson The annual meeting the Bible Society took the form of a fireside at Knox Church Officers elected were president Coles secretarytreasurer Charles Land Gordon Oder Lome Weick Stanley plus the ministers of the four Protestant churches Staff members of the Globe and Mad sent out attractive cards with a picture of a group of girls the doorway of St John church Rockwood taken Esther Taylor Over 300 of and employees spoke to Santa at the annual party in the theatre Professional entertainers were introduced master of ceremonies Parker 50 years ago Taken from the issue of Free Press of Thursday December The bright sunshiny weather on Christmas Day induced larger numbers than usual to attend church services Fifty years ago a good Christmas turkey could be bought in Acton for a dollar Those who could afford turkey for dinner last Monday paid or for their Christmas members of Ihe Sunday School of St Joseph church had a evening in the parish hall Wednesday A lengthy program was carried out with much credit including choruses We Boys recitation by Tommy Gibbons I Orphan Annie recited by Miss Madeleine Gibbons Mv hirst Recitation Kalhleen Kelly The Night Before Christmas by Irene Dunne other numbers by Mrs Byrne Carney Byrne Marguerite Dorothy Campbell Gibbons Francis Gibbons I ilj Byrne There were also songs and drills Home for Christmas Black Mildred Matthews Una Bertha rncst and Roy Brown Margaret Mc Donald Ruby Clark Bertie Smith Austin Held Jack Kennedy Neil Gibbons Williams Jean Myrtle and I Mrs Warren Miss Helen and Mr red Miss Mary Mr and Mrs Charles Matthews Toronto were at Postmaster Matthews Mr Matthews has never missed a since THE ACTON FREE PRESS PHONE Bus ness and Editor Office bubvh at the home of his grandparents Never was the town hall as complete jammed with humanity as for the concert by the pupils of the Acton schools Saying their pieces were Meryl rindell Marion Mildred Watson Tommy Gibbons Jack Savage Arthur Perry Norma Helen Dorothy Campbell Jack Itcid I ucy Stewart Malcolm Jean Max Starkman Parsons 75 years ago Taken from the issue the ree ISM he post office officials have had a busy time with extra heavy malls the past week mild weather of the past few days has a rapid melting of the snow However the weather for Christmas was of the oldfashioned order Today is tbe last day of Leap Year girls The tree Press had the pleasure of entertaining at dinner on Monday Mr David the special correspondent of the Aberdeen Wash Recorder who is en route on foot from to Boston Mass By this feat of walking miles he earns a purse of He is the first man ever granted a pass to walk over the T Mr J returned last week from B where he was prospecting for several months He has great faith in the future of this rapidly growing city Mr Ninnian Lindsay Jr is very ill at and since Saturday his case has been serious A social dance was held at the home of Mr Eden Mills on Christmas night The me new home of John Duff Esq on the Erin and town line at Rock wood was the scene of a very enjoyable surprise party on Christmas evening The visitors lost no time in merrily Tripping the fantastic The evening pleasures were kept up until a late hour Now is the tune to subscribe for a good moral newsy and interesting paper and you cannot do better than by subscribing to the Free Press Sunday Schools and school have held the usual Christmas festivities G Ryan and Co two buyers left Monday for Europe to buy spring goods sailing from New York by SS Teutonic