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RR Br Lie ee oe MISERIES ie -s na hr, =X ae 4 » = Lt rte a CAREC RPE EE She Sr AH mI i] DITORIAL PINION By Rev. Robert Brawn, Port Perry United Church EDITOR'S NOTE: Each year at this time we invite a local clergyman to write our Christmas Editorial. This year we are pleased that our town's newest minister has responded to the invitation. My first thoughts of Christmas this year are once again the thoughts that are deer 'v impressed in my mind from childhood. There is a tree with gifts, a table with loved ones crowded around, a time of warmth and happiness. And certainly an inner awareness that this is all a wonderful birthday party for Jesus. But my second thoughts of Christmas are typical of someone in the middle years of life. There is a growing realization of the pressure of responsibilities and duties. There are more and more things to do, cards and letters to send, gifts to be bought, decorations to be put up and most important of all there are those with whom | want to share a Christmas visit. Now my conscience tells me that | should see this doing as opportunity. | have the privilege to live and to love, and to do these happy things once more. And | am grateful for the health and strength to do what many long to do, but are not able to do. But these days of Advent pass so quickly, and | haven't begun to relate to family, old friends and new friends to the extent, and in the depth which love entreats. There is a growing sense of failure again in spite of high resolve and positive thinking. More good deeds are left undone than done. My mission is not accomplished and in this humble frame of mind | remember what Jesus' birth was all- about. God's chosen people had the same problem two thousand years ago. They had failed to carry out the plan of bringing hope to all mankind. Their opportunities and efforts were many, but the mission was not accomplished. The lowly Jesus, born in Bethlehem, did what the children of Israel, and you and | can never do. The One who grew up to be the Carpenter from Nazareth has brought hope to weak and failing men. The hope of forgiveness and mercy, the hope of life raised above the reward we deserve. Thelove of Jesus for those around Him was a love without limit. His smile and greeting assured those who responded that there was a God who loved them, with a love that would never let them go. Today, when it seems that the good news of His coming is overshadowed with an endless supply of bad news, we can be sure that Jesus, the Messiah will accomplish His mission. Although evil is ya and rampant and raging, and we sinners fail to be what we ought to be, we can celebrate the coming of the Saviour of men with joy and gladness. For God's purposes have been fulfilled, are being fulfilled and will be fulfilled in this same Jesus. There is good news and bad news, but the good news will win out. As we celebrate His birthday again this year, we can look forward to a Christmas Day of loved ones and warmth and happiness, and to the Christmas Day that shall not end. °° Company Limited Sa, (CG CNA PORT PERRY STAR Serving Port Perry, Reach, Scugog and Cartwright Townships P. HVIDSTEN, Publisher BRUCE ARNOLD, Editor WM. T. HARRISON, Plant Manager J. PETER HVIDSTEN, Advertising Manager Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association Member of the Ontario J Newspaper Association pe Published every Wednesday by the Part Perry Star Co. Lid., Port Perry, Ontario Authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, and for payment of postage in cash Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Subscription Rate: In Canad3 $6.00 per year. Elsewhere $8.50 per year. Single Copy 15¢ -- No < 1 L Mh | ", $ HOT ke . ayany Ab! SK NS Wb < (RLY AG SE SNCF CP NAT IN SEN 0 Nay n V4] [} ye vals of 3 \ RAL INR Lis PURRAR RICHES SPA RAASPAR EIS EE Yeahs ie " SAW MOMMY KISSING SANTA CLAYS LAST NIGHT" BILL MILEY UGAR ano GHOSTS OF CHRISTMASES PAST When there are no kids around, Christmas loses a lot of its excitement. At least that's the way it seems around our house this year. We've always had a family Christmas, most often at the farm of the grandparents. Those were great old traditional festivi- ties. : We drove to the farm, left the car at the highway and staggered through the snow up the lane to the house, loaded with gifts. The kids, wrapped to the noses, were fairly hysterical by the time we entered the big, warm farm kitchen. There we were assailed by the enveloping scents of roasting turkey and pine needles, a wonderful combination. Then came the opening of presents, with everybody protesting, "Oh, you shouldn't have . .."" Except the kids. They would rip off the wrappings, scarcely glance at the contents and start looking under the tree for another package with their name on it. A lot of love and thought went into the gifts, and sometimes there were tears of pleasure. The women talked a blue streak and caromed off each other as they charged around the kitchen. The men sat around drooling. And the children were the centre of attention, funny and delightful; and they loved it. : Then came the great orgy at the table, with everyone from the littlest to Grandad tucking into the turkey and trimmings until their eyes were bulging. This was sort of the climax of the holiday, and like every climax, it had its anti-climax, great stacks of dishes to be washed; distended bellies; exhausted kids. In its way, il was a preity pagan celebration. But by evening, everything was cleared up, digestions would begin operating again, and there'd be carols and quiet talk and a general feeling of warmth and love and security. Serice This was the culmination of several weeks of Christmas parties at the Legion Hall for the kids, and writing cards to old friends, and scrambling around for gifts, and putting up the thrice-blasted tree and pretending there weren't going to be a lot of presents this year. They were good times, and I miss them, but I don't know whether I could stand the pace any more. I was working about twelve hours a day, and there seemed to be a festivity or something every night. There were a couple of Christmases that are funny in retrospect, though at the time there was a marked lack of Christian spirit. One was the time we bought the television set for the grandparents. It was in the early days of TV, and we all chipped in to buy the set. None of us could afford one for ourselves. There was tremendous secrecy. It was to be the surprise of the century. My brother-in-law and I dragged the great brute of a box up the lane on a toboggan and wrestled it into the farmhouse. It was to be opened under the tree. Kim was about three, and full of that wild excitement that invests kids at Christmas. We had barely deposited the big box in the house when she piped, "Hope you like the tee-bee, Granny." Some secret. Some surprise. And there was the Christmas we held at -our place. The grandparents and the aunts and other assorted bodies were invited. My wife had spent two hours the night before scrubbing and waxing the kitchen floor. 1 had spent three hours preparing the turkey. We were going to show them that we could" entertain in style. All was in readiness. The Old Battleaxe told me to take the turk out of the oven. I did, skidded on the wax, and roasting pan, turkey and all went flying through the air. Wall-towall grease. Turkey basted in floor- wax. It was one of the less-memorable moments in a happy marriage. (continued on page 5) - Ivan REMEMBER oR © 50 YEARS AGO Thursday, Dec. 20, 1923 Scugog Council moved that $12.15 be paid to Mr. C. Hardy for gravel and $3.00 for work op a road. Mr. Jas. Paton, Toronto spent a few days with his sister Mrs. N. "Wilkinson, before leaving on a trip west to visit his sister, Dorenlee, of Alberta. Miss Sprague, Prince Albert, is erecting a large poultry house and intends to go into the poultry business extensively. . The Port Perry Fuller Brushman, Leslie P. Dodd is leaving on Dec. 24th and wishes to have any new orders or repairs brought to his attention before he leaves. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, December 16, 1948 Prospect Women's Associ- ation honoured the Holliday family who have moved from the Prospect commun- ity to Brooklin. Miss Carrie Cowan and Miss Helen Crosier, of Toronto, returned to their homes in Manchester on Sunday. The Hospital Board hopes to open the Institution as soon after the New Year as possible. It also plans to proceed with necessary additions to obtain a certific- ate as a public Hospital. 15 YEARS AGO Thursday, December 18, 1958 Port Perry Chamber of Commerce is offering a $15. first prize for the best decor- ated house this Christmas. Mrs. Audrey Hall, Port Perry, won $2,249.00 on the T.V. Program "Love or Money" coming to Port Perry from WBEN, Buffalo. New Year's Eve Dances at Blackstock Rec. Centre and Utica Hall are $3.00 per couple. - Dr. M.B. Dymond, Mini- ster: of Transportation for Ontario and Mr. R. H. Corn- * ish, Principal of Port Perry's Public School, both members of the Lion's Club will be featured in-on the Sunday morning broadcast of CKLB, Oshawa. They will be talking about the Lion's Club and work with boys and girls. 10 YEARS AGO Thursday, December 19, 1973 ~ Only 25 percent of the Port Perry Ratepayers turned out to elect the council for 1964 and all three councillors were re-elected from 1963. Parkinson, Bruce Beare and Bob Kenny were returned. Anna Forder, 12, and Richard Stephens, 15, both of Port Perry will be compet- ing in the 1964 Novice Pair Championship for Central Ontario in Peterborough. Some 1,200 persons were present at the opening of the Vocational Wing at Uxbridge Secondary School. Jim Smeltzer, Port Perry, has been appointed Super- vison .of Chemical Analysis al the New Research & Development Centre of the British American Oil Co., Toronto. ----------------------