p4 trlfeoh december 24 199 st w comment email address stouffvilletribune pressnetnet rthrr 1 stouffville tribune merry christmas from your friends at the trib merry christmas heres hoping you and yours are enjoying this special time of year we often complain about the political social and economic situ ation about the lives we want to live but are unable and about lifes little nuisances but waking up this morning all those difficul ties are left behind even for just the tiniest moment this morning the cares of the world are set aside to celebrate life and the birth of a baby 2000 years ago in a simple stable but christmas means so much more it means family and tradi tion it means sharing and caring and the preferring of gifts christmas is the time when we help those less fortunate when we help our neighbors and friends it means visiting longneglected friends and distant family it means breaking bread and salut ing the waning year with grand thoughts of the future christmas means being with the ones you love its not about presents or gifts or wrapping or trappings its not about tickle me elmos or yak baks its not about the commer cials sales and cost of things with our complex soci ety we are slowly chang ing the focus of the holi days it should be a time to look back on the good times and look ahead to still more happy holidays 6244 main st stouffville ont l4a1e2 905 6402100 905 6492292 classified 905 6402874 fax 905 6405477 publisher patricia pappas general managereditor t andrew mair editorinchief jo ann stevenson director of advertising debra weller retail manager mike rogerson classified manager stacey allen distribution manager barry j goodyear n administration vivian oneil operations mgr pamela nichols questions news andrew mair editor jaan kaasberry kathleen griffin mike adler reporters sjoerd witteveen steve somerville photographers julie caspersen copy editor retail advertising joan marshman catherine dunkeld classified bonnie rondeau real estate joan marshman distribution arlene maddock reception ruth le blanc the stouffville tribune published eveiy wednesday and saturday is one or the metroland printing publish ing and distribution group of community newspapers which includes ajax pickering news advertiser alliston herald courier barrie advance brampton guardian burlington post cityparent collingwoodvwasaga con nection east york mirror etobicoke guardian george town independentacton free press kingston this week lindsay this week midlandpenetanguishene mirror markham economist and sun milton canadian champi on mississauga news newmarket aurora erabanner northumberland news north york mirror oakville beaver orillia today oshawawhitbyclarington this week peterborough this week richmond hillthom- hillvaughan liberal scarborough mirror todays seniors uxbridge tribune contents cannot be reprinted without written permission from the publisher js time to sit back cry and count my blessings it must be christmas i told a lie i cried i counted my blessings when i was young i tried to stop the christmas cry not any more i let the tears fall it doesnt matter whats going on or where i am i cry its tradi tion to explain my red swollen eyes i lie i tell others im allergic to the tree the lie works for me christmas is a day of missing a day of remembering i miss certain people i miss certain times even though im past 50 i still miss my grandmother i dont know the people who live in her little white house in downtown newcastle but i resent them theyre alive my grammas gone when i drive by grammas house i lump forms in my throat i want to park the car walk up to the house open the door and yell gramma im here its christmas shes been gone for 27 years i miss her still gramma alldread was an old fashioned grandmother she threatened to wash my mouth out with soap but never did she threatened to give me cas tor oil but never did she threatened to put me to bed without any dinner but never did she threatened to love me for always and she did each of her 33 grandchildren thought he or she was grammas favorite i know i was again i think back to 1952im on stage singing fullvoiced and off key its the christmas concert at ss19 enterprise a oneroom school house located in north orono my parents are there theyre proud they were good par ents they still are thinking of mom and dad then and now makes me cry when i drift back to the christmases in the mid to late 60s i weep i close my eyes i can see my babies all five of them danny sally and gordie have snowwhite hair and blue eyes robby and beth have dark curly hair and big black eyes each is as cute as button what a glorious sight my family is together life is good rembering makes me cry im spending christmas of 96 is in the same place i spent christmas of 45 and every one in between the ransberrys have held christmas on the farm since 1904 realizing that my family has managed to somehow be together for christmas for 92 years makes me cry at some point usually early in the day i dry my tears blow my nose and count my blessings i am indeed blessed five children eight grandchildren my parents a sister and her husband a brother and his wife two nephews and a neice i have loyal friends a good job and i live in the best country in the worldlife is good theres reason to cry another kates corner another kate entirely i thought i was unique until last week when i received a christmas card from friends in prince edward county enclos ing two columns from their local paper under the inspired title of kates corner every columnist dreams of syndication even though the picton gazette may lag some what behind the toronto star the new york times or the lon don daily telegraph in the liter ary aspirations of famous writ ers of the future however it didnt take long to figure out that my deathless prose had not alas crossed the borders of york and durham regions my first clue was the headshot of kate herself who looked like a sturdy downtoearth nonon sense individual whom one would be unlikely to encounter on queen street west or in any lineup for trainspotting the headline on the first column trom rhubarb to potatoes fur ther confirmed my suspicions for a start this woman is awe somely practical she tends her garden lovingly and harvests its bounty for future enjoyment she not only works full time but sews entire wardrobes of mater nity clothes for her daughter does the housework regularly and provides weekly recipes for her eager readers in short she is the polar oppo site of her namesake whose multiple shortcomings only use ful attribute is in providing fuel for the weekly diatribe this kate got an f in home econom- ics and my few efforts at can ning languished in cold storage for several years until i bowed to the inevitable and chucked them out no doubt picton kate is the kind of person who shops for christmas all year round and whose cards go out a month in advance of the canada post deadline she probably put up her tree at least two weeks before the big day instead of waiting until the kates corner i t ka te q i id er d a i e last minute when a couple of scrawny scotch pines were all that was left on the lot closest to chateau gilderdale and happy though i was to settle for anything with a couple of needles still attached my children were adamant its not the right kind of tree they insisted we always have a spruce well then i said brightly its probably time for a change the mutinous expressions on the offsprings faces convinced me that the case for the defence was on the point of collapse so we drove to the family home stead where mr wallethead had just spent an hour or so prepar ing a suitable spot for the elu sive tree his sunny expression clouded over somewhat when i revealed that our lengthy shopping expe dition had produced two stock ing stuffers a package of batter ies and no tree further more since i was suffering from the beginnings of what appeared to be a nasty dose of flu i sug gested he might like to take over as parental spruce spotter these were clearly not tidings of comfort and joy to the male head of the household but he agreed to take on the task and he and the children set off on their quest they were back within the hour bearing the best christmas tree ever a compact but beauti ful spruce which mr wallet- head anchored stoutly to the wall in tacit acknowledgment of the destructive tendencies of poc and spasm a very merry christmas and a happy new year to all our read ers and may your tree remain upright throughout the season