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

Section Two Monday, December 22,1986 )t Canadian Statesman 623-3303 Durham County's Great Family Journal Established 132 years ago In 1854. Also Incorporating The Bowmanvllle News The Newcastle Independent The Orono News Second class mall registration number 1561 Produced every Wednesday by THE JAMES PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED 62-66 King St. W., Bowmanvllle, Ontario L1C 3K9 cn JOHN M. JAMES Editor--Publisher GEO. P. MORRIS Business Mgr. RICHARD A. JAMES Assistant Publisher BRIAN PURDY Advertising Mgr. layouts and composition of advertisements produced by the employee iman, The Newcastle Independent and The James Publishing Company LI pyrlght and must not be reproduced without permission of the publishers. All Statesman, by copyright PETER PARROTT Associate Editor DONALD BISHOP Plant Mgr. the employees of The Canadian Limited are protected $17.00a year--6 months $9.00 strictly In advance foreign--$55.00 a year Although every precaution will be taken to avoid error, The Canadian Statesman accepts advertising in its columns on the understanding that it will not be liable lor any error in the advertisement published hereunder unless a proof of such advertisement i; requested in writing by the advertiser and returned to The Canadian Statesman business office duly signed by the advertiser and with such error or corrections plainly noted in writing thereon, and in that case il any error so noted is not corrected by The Canadian Statesman its liability shall not exceed such a portion of the entire cost of such advertisement as the space occupied by the noted error bears to the whole space occupied by such advertisement. V Glt/UUm&i QneetUiai biom the Relax, Rest, Enjoy! It's Christmas! Let's share in the beauty and joys of the season together, as we express our very best wishes to you and yours. Merry Christmas to Everyone Christmas is many things to many people. In fact, we can think of no other occasion which so poignantly reflects our diversity and our unity. For, although the means of our celebrations may vary, the sentiments sentiments behind them are unchanging. And these noble thoughts of the season prove that although people may live in different times or places, their deeply-held hopes and dreams are not much different from our own. In Argentina, children don't receive receive their presents until January 6. But the night before, they place their shoes outside the door or window, with a tray holding a glass of water and some grass for the camels of the Three Kings. In Mexico, Mary's and Joseph's search for a room at the inn is reenacted reenacted by the parade known as "Los Posadas". It culminates in a fiesta and the breaking of the candy-filled pinata by the youngsters. Down under, Australians celebrate Christmas with a summertime picnic and a community sing. The gathering is customarily held out-of-doors, at night, by the light of torches and candles. candles. In France, the creche is a centre of attraction at Christmas time. And these special nativity scenes decorate decorate every church no matter how small it may be. In Portugal, Christmas is a family affair . with everybody getting together together for midnight supper. The young children place their shoes around the fireplace so that Santa can fill them with toys, candies and other gifts in the morning. From the Dutch, we have been been given the figure of Santa Claus (or Sinterklaas, as he is known to the youngsters of that country). The German tradition has produced produced the Christmas tree. Yes, the list of Christmas traditions is, indeed, a long one. Some date back to pagan times when sun-worshipers used this particular point on the calendar to celebrate the return of the sun. Christmas occurs after the darkest night of the year and at a time when the lengthening of the daylight hours provides the promise of spring and summer. As Canadians, wé have managed to incorporate many Christmas traditions traditions into our own celebrations. In keeping with our multi-cultural background, background, you can see elements of different different Christmas celebrations combined combined in our own observances of December December 25th. And we also have developed some of our own traditions. Take, for example, decorative Christmas lights. They are a 20th Century Century product created by a plentiful supply of electricity. Today, there is hardly a more breathtaking sight than that of an Ontario Ontario country farmhouse alive with its rainbow of Christmas colors as it floats on the snow-glazed hills like a ship on the waves of the ocean. A few years ago, there were some bleak seasons when the Christmas lights lost their popularity as the result result of our worries over oil supplies and the need to conserve energy. But now, the lights are back in all their glory. And they take their place with other local traditions such as Santa Claus parades, letters to Santa, and Christmas concerts in the schools. Stall and Efje Canadian Statesman T-A mm HE 2! BE SZôâ S£.oS ISoS A Christmas Story . . . One Hundred Million Teddy Bears By Peter Parrott The robot looked lonely. He stood sadly in the snow outside Kezia's house crying big tears of oil. And every now and then he made a sound that was partly like a sob and partly like the noisé of a broken furnace. 1 "He seems to be lost," said ICezia as she and her friend, Carmen, found the little machine in front of Kezia's house when they went outdoors to build a snowman. ICezia and Carmen Carmen were in kindergarten, so they were not much more than three feet tall. But they were both bigger than the robot, so they were not afraid. afraid. "I think lie's shivering," declared ICezia. "Do you want to come inside the house and get warmed up, Robot?" she asked. He didn't answer but followed the girls indoors. Kezia and Carmen took off their coats and boots while the robot looked at the Christmas tree, Christmas wreaths, the colored lights, the coffee coffee table, the chesterfield, and everything in the house. Then, for the first time since they met him, lie spoke. "May I use your television?" television?" lie asked. ICezia and Carmen wondered wondered why the robot would want to watch TV, but they nodded. Working quickly, the small visitor took apart the back of the television set with his metal hands. Next, lie borrowed a goldfish bowl. Then lie took a typewriter, typewriter, a string of lights from the Christmas tree, a coal hanger, an ice cream scoop, five clothes pins, and a thimble. With all of these things, the visitor built a funny-looking machine in the corner of the living room. Tap! Tap! Tap! went the robot on the typewriter keys, Back came the sound of beeps and blips through the blank TV screen. They seemed very far away. The robot made a noise that sounded like a vacuum cleaner chuckling as he turned again to the typewriter typewriter keys. "IIow can 1 thank you enough?" lie asked when he had finished tap-lapping on the typewriter. and when the TV screen was quiet. Thanks to you, my friends, I have found my mother back in the big space ship along with all the others, I must leave you soon. But before I go, I'd like to give you a Christmas present. Kezia's and Carmen's eyes widened. "A Christmas present?" they asked. "Yes," the robot answered. "You may have anything you want for Christmas. Make a wish and it's yours." Now Kezia, who was the eldest, loved teddy bears. She already had a big collection collection of bears on the shelf in her room and every night she took a different one to bed with her. But Kezia wanted more of them. In fact, just the other day she had told her dad that if she could have anything she wanted for Christmas, she would want a hundred million million teddy bears. So it didn't take long for Kezia to blurt out: "Teddy bears. I'd like a hundred million of them". Carmen thought the robot looked rather puzzled. But he nodded his head and went to work. Tap! Tap! Tap! went the typewriter. The robot adjusted adjusted the bulb in the siring of Christmas lights, tilted the goldfish bowl and listened listened for the beeps and blips which answered his call. The robot and the spaceship talked quite a while. And then there were a few minutes when everybody everybody was quiet, except for the robot which hummed a little song that sounded something like Silent Night played on a carburetor. Suddenly, the teddy bears started appearing. There were bears galore and they seemed to be coming out of thin air. There were teddies in the kitchen. There were teddies on the floor. There wore teddies in the bookcase And teddies by the door. Teddy bears in the cupboard. cupboard. Teddy Bears in the sink. They arrived In tens and hundreds, Before a kid could hi ink. There were a thousand bears in the house but still they would not stop. There were teddies in the bedrooms, There were teddies in the chairs. They filled every closet. . And they blocked the cellar cellar stairs. Ten thousand teddy bears were in Kezia's house and more of them were arriving every minute. Bears in the living room. Bears in the hall. More bears in the bathroom. bathroom. There were teddies, wall to wall. Now there were one million million teddy bears in Kezia's house. And still, they did not stop. There were black bears and brown bears. There were bears of blue and gray. Panda bears and polar bears. All arrived that day. At last, there were exactly one hundred million teddy bears in Kezia's house. And on Kezia's lawn. And in Kezia's dad's flower beds. And in the bird feeder. And on the roof. And in the maple tree. They were everywhere. Kezia and Carmen tried hugging a few of the bears but they realized right away that there were just too many of them for two very small girls to love. They wondered what they would do with the rest. And Kezia wished that she knew how to count before she told the robot that she wanted a hundred million of anything. anything. The girls were still looking looking at all those bears when a huge truck rolled up to the driveway and the driver stepped out, "1 see you have teddy bear trouble," he observed with a wink. The driver was a jolly, chubby innn with a warm smile and a twinkle in his eye, He had a full white beard and Kezia was sure she had seen him somewhere. somewhere. The girls nodded In answer answer to his question. "What, will we ever do with all these teddy bears?" they asked. The truck driver only laughed softly. "Ho. Ho. Ho," Kezia thought she heard him say. "Don't worry about it. We'll take them off your hands in no time. You say there's a hundred million million teddy bears in that pile. Well, that's probably enough bears for almost every little girl and boy in the world. And we'll see they are shared by everyone." Again, Kezia thought she heard the driver say "Ho, Ho, Ho." "Yes, please take them away," Kezia said. "Take them away before Mom and Dad or the neighbours find them all." Then the truck driver opened the back doors of his big red truck and out raced a crew of spry little men with carts and wheelbarrows. wheelbarrows. Before you could say "Merry Christmas" they had picked up every bear and squeezed them all into the truck. Then the little helpers helpers crowded into the front scat with the driver and smiled and waved to Kezia and Carmen before they left. Kezia's dad, who had been upstairs taking a nap during all the excitement, came outside to ask the girls if they wanted some hot chocolate. When they went back indoors, they looked around the house nervously because they still expected to sec one of the closets full of bears. But life had returned returned to normal. The television television set was working. The lights had been returned to the Christmas tree along with the goldfish bowl, clothes pins, ice cream scoop, thimble, and coat hanger. The mysterious robot was nowhere in sight. "Why don'tyou drinkyour hot chocolate?" asked Kezia's dad. They did. And in just three days' time, it was Christmas morning. Kezia jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to open her presents. And do you know what she found under the tree? There was ONE teddy bear. \ \ Hi ' - | ; gilt iti 'W' - . , vf - f'r £ >. v Igpl R S-oà V !