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Christmas Edition - December 20, 2007 Christmas EditionChristmas Art Contest
Have Yourself a Finnish Little Christmas
Christmas Celebrations: a Photo Gallery
Harrowsmith Festival Of Trees
Survive the Holidays: Fire Safety
Away in a Manger by Rev. Nancy MacLeod
If You had Been There by Rev. Will Keller
It's a Wrap by Inie Platenius
The Burglar by Ina Hunt Turner
Holiday Wreath How To
Recipes
Legalese: A Caution to Hosts
Editorial: Christmas: A Rose by Any Name
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Christmas Edition - December 20, 2007 Away in a manger By Rev. Nancy MacLeod, Anglican Parish of Parham - Sharbot LakeThinking of the celebration of Christmas brings to mind many images, whether we are people who worship in a Christian community or not. Stores are filled with decorations and displays that tempt us to shop ‘til we drop; concerts and plays offer entertainment; exciting foods are displayed in grocery flyers; workplaces, friends and families gather for fun and fellowship; children bounce with anticipation about what Santa will bring. Despite the fact that this is supposedly meant to bring us happiness, for many it becomes a source of stress instead.While this so-called Christmas celebration is going on, in the Anglican tradition we are joining with many Christians keeping the season of Advent, which began four Sundays before Christmas. For us, this is a time to prepare - not just for the big Christmas dinner and all that involves, but to properly celebrate the memorial of the birth of our Lord. Although it can be difficult to do with all that’s going on around us, we hope to make it a time of peace, rather than increased stress. It should be a time for renewing our commitment to being people who live in a different way because Jesus the Christ was born - who live to share His love with His world.
The actual Christmas season begins for us the evening of December 24th. For many people, even those who don’t regularly attend worship, the Christmas Eve Church service is a welcome and important time to step away from that holiday bustle and find a different joy in the familiar words, actions, symbols and hymns of worship. Hopefully, whether we have been preparing through Advent or not, this beginning of the real Christmas celebration inspires us in renewed Christian love and care for others.
‘Away in a Manger’ is one of the best known and loved Christmas hymns. I recently came across a prayer based on this hymn that beautifully reminds us of how really celebrating Christmas needs to be about love for others, not just fun, parties and material gifts: As we sing ‘away in a manger’ we are reminded of all who are away from home - in hospitals, prisons, working or studying, separated by circumstances beyond their control. Christmas calls us to offer them care and hospitality. As we sing ‘no crib for a bed’ we are reminded of all the homeless in the world - those who have suffered from violence, disasters and epidemics, refugees, children who are orphaned, all who live on our streets. Christmas calls us to work for justice for them. As we sing ‘the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head’ we are reminded of those who can’t rest because they fear the future, because of pain or suffering, because they stay awake to serve others. Christmas calls us to pray for them and offer comfort. As we sing ‘the stars in the bright sky’ we are reminded of those who have not seen the light of faith, those who have lost faith, and our own times of darkness. Christmas calls us to share our faith - for the sake of others and ourselves. As we sing ‘be near us Lord Jesus’ we are reminded that we need to constantly seek God’s presence to be aware of what Christmas is really about. Christmas calls us to ask for forgiveness for the ways we have turned away from God and pray that Christ’s spirit of love will be born afresh in us so that we may spread His love throughout the coming year.
May this Advent really prepare us to give and receive Christmas Blessings!
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Christmas Edition - December 20, 2007 Have yourself a Finnish Christmas by Jeff GreenWith the advent of winter weather in early December this year, and a good dumping of snow this week for good measure, the last thing anyone has had to worry about is whether there will be a white Christmas.It is easy this year to conjure up collective memories of pioneer Christmases, with families huddling together around the fire as the wind howls a winter storm.
We have had a tradition in the Christmas edition of the News to look at Christmas traditions from around the world, and this year it seemed fitting to concentrate on the north.
The Nordic countries, particularly Finland, are the source of many of the Christmas traditions that are popular throughout the world today, from Santa Claus, Christmas elves, the yule log (and its relative – the Christmas tree), even the Christmas ham.
In Finland, the Christmas season includes Saint Lucia Day on the 13th of December. St. Lucia was a Sicilian martyr from the 4th century. One story associated with her is that she fashioned a wreath with candles for her head so she could have her hands free to deliver provisions to other Christians hiding in the catacombs. Lucia was tortured to death by the Roman Emperor Diocletian after refusing to marry an unbeliever. (At left, St. Lucia, Carl Larsson,1908)
Lucia is represented by a young girl, dressed in white, with a red sash. In earlier times, the girl would wear a headdress with lit candles or carry a candle (the candles have been replaced with battery powered lights in the modern era, leading to less burning hair than in the past) as she delivered coffee and saffron-flavoured cakes through the household or village. Star boys, who wear cone shaped hats, accompany her.
Saint Lucia contests, which are similar to beauty contests, take place in some Swedish towns, and the winner represents St. Lucia throughout the town on St. Lucia Day, leading a procession to such public buildings as hospitals and seniors homes to deliver treats.
The Finnish equivalent of Father Christmas or Santa Claus is the “pukki”. In earlier times Joulupukki was a rather frightening figure, who wore a thick fur-lined coat inside-out, a mask and a pair of horns on his head. Joulupukki literally means “Christmas buck”
Nowadays, a relaxed and jolly “pukki” delivers presents to Finnish homes on Christmas Eve, and is often serenaded by children who sing Christmas carols for him. Finns scoff at the idea that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole, believing instead that he lives in the northern Finnish village of Korvatunturi (in Lapland on the Finnish-Russian border) with his wife Mother Christmas and the elves.
Christmas elves have a connection to another Finnish tradition. Finnish legend had it that barn elves protected the animals from attack throughout the year, but they were prone to become mischievous around Christmas time. The only way to prevent this was to serve rice porridge or pudding to the barn elves on Christmas. Rice porridge is one of the traditional Nordic Christmas dishes (click link Christmas Rice Porridge).
The yule log pre-dated Christianity. It was a large log that was burned in fireplaces as part of solstice celebrations. In some cases, the yule log was actually an entire tree that would jut out into the room from the hearth as it was burning. As it burned, more of the tree was pushed into the fire until it was entirely burned up.
Finns have their Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, but first everyone goes to the sauna. A Christmas ham is a tradition, and also Lutefisk, a special fish dish prepared with lye. Lutefisk is eaten especially on Christmas Day as a light, alkaline dish to counterbalance the heavy, fatty and acidic food served at the main dinner on Christmas Eve.
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Christmas Edition - December 20, 2007 If you had been there? By Rev. Will Keller, Harrowsmith Free Methodist Church With the season of Christmas now upon us, many are busy getting ready. There's cleaning, cooking, baking, shopping, wrapping, shipping, giving, receiving, many events to attend, and of course the eating.But before we get lost in all the events and stuff of Christmas, take a few moments and in your thoughts come back with me to that first Christmas.
The night when God's Promise arrived, His Son, Jesus, coming as a baby, was born as it had been previously foretold in Bethlehem, to a virgin and laid in a manger.
His birth heralded by Angels to Shepherds, who upon hearing this news responded with obedience and travelled to Bethlehem to find "The Promised One." And when they did, scripture tells us "they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child" (Luke 2:17b).
The Wise men, or Magi, travelled a great distance to Bethlehem based solely on the appearance of the star and a prophecy of scripture. When they found Him, we’re told "… they fell down before him and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” (Matthew 2:11, NLT)
About ten kilometres away from Bethlehem, in Jerusalem we find King Herod. Herod was so wrapped up in the fear of losing his position as king that he became so obsessed with protecting his throne at all cost. It was that fear which led to mass murder. The Bible states that: “Herod was furious when he learned that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, because the wise men had told him the star first appeared to them about two years earlier.” (Matthew 2:16, NLT)
Then there was the Innkeeper, whose name is not even mentioned in scripture, but we presume there must have been one, as someone had to make the manger available to Mary and Joseph. And so the Innkeeper is cast as an individual that was so busy that he misses both the miracle and his part in it, which took place a short distance away (perhaps only mere feet).
And let us not forget Mary and Joseph. From scripture we learn that they were God followers. Mary was greeted by an angel as one "who was highly favored," and Joseph we're told "was a righteous man." In spite the odds, and the likely negative public opinion they submitted their wills to God. The result - the arrival of Jesus - the greatest Christmas present ever!
Various players took part in this first Christmas, some named, some not. The rich, the poor and those in between. Each had the same opportunity, but had different responses.
Here's the thought I leave you with to ponder. If you had been there, if you were one of the "major" players we often see portrayed in Nativity scenes, "WHO WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN?" And perhaps the bigger question, "WHO DO YOU DESIRE TO BE?"
This Christmas may we seek after the answer to that second question, and in so doing, share the greatest gift of Christmas with others.
May the presence of Christ in your life, enrich this Christmas for you and for others.
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Editorial - December 20, 2007 Christmas: A rose by any name by Jule Koch BrisonFor the last few centuries, Christmas was the highlight of the year in Canada, and “Merry Christmas” so common a greeting that no one thought anything about it.
But then recently people started to clue into the fact that the root words of Christmas are “Christ” and “Mass”.
Well, what was a secular society to do? No one had any intention of getting rid of the holiday itself. Perhaps they could use an alternate greeting, one that would get the religion out of it and leave the fun and gain.
So they turned to “Happy Holidays”.
Sad to say, it’s close but no cigar. People haven’t been as fast to realize that the root words of “holiday” are “holy” and “day”. No one seems to have yet pointed out to the good government of Canada that when they instructed their employees to stop wishing people a “Merry Christmas” because of its religious meaning, they in fact told them to wish people “Happy Holy Days” instead.
Talk about out of the frying pan into the fire. Well then, perhaps people could use “Season’s Greetings”.
Of course, there are four of them: spring, summer, fall - and then there’s winter, with which we became more intimately re-acquainted last weekend than we’d like.
If any season were to elicit spontaneous, happy greetings, surely it would be spring. Those first balmy days of April bring smiles to everyone’s faces, even the grouchiest among us.
But it’s strange that no one says “Season’s Greetings” at the beginning of spring, summer, fall or winter. Come to think of it, no one says it at Easter, on Victoria Day, on Canada Day, at Halloween, or at Thanksgiving either.
So “Season’s Greetings” must refer to nothing else but the Christmas Season. The word “Christmas” is implicit in the greeting.
So there we have it.
Christmas by any other name is still as sweet.
To our advertisers, readers, and volunteers, without whom this paper would not exist, we give heartfelt thanks for all your support in 2007, and we wish everyone Merry Christmas, Happy Holy Days, and yes, (Christmas) Season’s Greetings.
And may 2008 be the best year ever for all of us.
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Early Literacy - December 2007 Christmas: A book is not just a bookby Susan Ramsay, Early Literacy Specialist, HFL&AJustin was almost 11 months old when he experienced his first Christmas. On Christmas morning he unwrapped his presents slowly, mesmerized by the sight, sound and feel of the bows and brightly coloured paper. But the gifts Justin loved the very most were the neither the plastic child safe toys nor the hand-made pull toy. They were the boxes his presents were packaged in. Years later, when I heard the Canadian Toy Testing Council declare the cardboard box as the best toy for children, it made perfect sense to me. Boxes may look dull and uneventful, but to a child they are toy car garages, bear caves, pirate treasure boxes or bricks for some new fangled Leaning Tower of Pisa. A box is not just a box.
Books are not just books either. They may look like rows of text and pictures sandwiched between two covers, but to a child they are fodder for new ideas, information, imagination, and a place to understand himself and others better.
Oh course certain types of books capture children’s interest best at different stages of their lives. The one-year-old who is fascinated by dump trucks will appreciate a sturdy book with brightly coloured trucks and textured wheels she can touch and feel. A two-year-old will prefer simple board books with seek and find pictures of vehicles. A four-year-old will gravitate to truck photos with accompanying explanations of how trucks are used in construction.
At Christmas time we think about our children’s interests and seek gifts we know will make them smile. Books offer amazing versatility to reflect children’s individual interests.
Books can also help children understand and explore ideas and emotions around the holiday season.
Infants and toddlers will enjoy “Jingle Babies” by Tom Arma, a board book filled with photos of babies dressed in holiday style. “How to Build a Snowman” published by Little Scholastic, is a touch and feel book about making a snowman.
For preschoolers, “Merry Christmas Big Hungry Bear” by Don and Audrey Wood is the story of a small mouse that discovers the meaning of empathy on Christmas Eve. Another favourite author, Laura Numeroff, has written “Merry Christmas Mouse”, a tree trimming counting book.
Iza Trapani, in her trademark style, takes the familiar song “Jingle Bells” and adds new verses. This is a book to be read or sung as the main characters fly through the night sky on a Santa-like sleigh visiting children in different countries around the world and discovering their various holiday traditions.
“An Aboriginal Carol” is a beautiful version of The Huron Carol. This book, illustrated by First Nations painter Moses Beaver with poetry by Mis author David Bouchard, is written in both English and Inuktitut. The book includes a CD with the story read in both languages and performed by Inuit singer Susan Aglukark.
A box is not just a box. A book is not just a book. Great gift ideas for your child can be that simple.
Susan Ramsay is the Early Literacy Specialist for Hastings, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington. You can contact her at 613-354-6318 (ext 32)Letters_07-46
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Letters - November 22, 2007Letters
November1Sydenham Water Problem Continues, Bob ForbesOperation Christmas Child, Mary HowesSydenham Water Problem ContinuesOur local newspapers have done an excellent job of reporting the current problem of high levels of THMs (trihalomethanes) in the treated water from the controversial water plant in Sydenham. Both CAO Burns and a spokesperson from the MOE were reported as saying that the THM problem is associated with low water usage by the hamlet. This raises a number of questions that should be of concern to the residents of Sydenham.
If the organic matter in the lake water were removed effectively during the treatment process, then THM’s would not be forming regardless of how much water is or is not being used. So why not solve the problem at the source – in the water plant?
Is it reasonable to expect residents to use more water that doesn’t meet provincial standards as a means to compensate for an ineffective water treatment process?
Considering that 92% of the people lobbied against this water plant, is it reasonable to expect them now to be enthusiastic about using more water?
We paid almost $8 million, and continue to pay monthly costs, for a water plant that still can’t produce water that meets provincial standards. Who is being held accountable for this? Didn’t the consulting engineers design the plant for the quality of the lake water and its seasonal variations? What has gone so wrong? Has South Frontenac Township investigated this, and if so why haven’t they told the people? Surely the people of Sydenham will not have to pay additional costs to correct a brand new system.
Finally, after 16 months, the press informed the people of the THM problem, not the township. Lack of communication from the township seems to be an ongoing issue with this water system. Will our community have to continue to rely on the papers quoting Utilities Kingston or the Health Unit or the MOE to be informed about the quality of our water?
It now appears that the current THM problem is not a major crisis, but considering the consistent way issues with the water plant have been handled, we may still have one in our administration.
Bob Forbes, Sydenham
Operation Christmas ChildI wish to commend the staff of St. James Catholic School for involving their students in Operation Christmas Child. It is encouraging to know that one board is concerned that their students are involved with children in other parts of the world who are less fortunate than they are.
I was pleased to see the photograph on the front page of the News. Please give us more coverage of items concerning our young people on your front page.
I only saw one small picture of the Joe Goodfellow Run, which involved several hundred students from 14 schools.
Mary Howes
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Feature Article - November 8, 2007Christmas On Halloween
Students at St. James Catholic School celebrated Halloween by packing boxes for Operation Christmas Child, which sends gifts, and a christian message, to third wolrd countries.Lolps_08-01
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Feature Article - January 10, 2008 Marty Cowdy knows how to raise money for a good cause
Above: Cindy Matson removes 9 inches from Marty's beard, while Principal Joan Dufresne looks on.
A resident of Mountain Grove, Cowdy had canvassed for donations to be raffled off to benefit Land O'Lakes Public School. At the end of the Land O'Lakes Public School Christmas Concert, three tickets were drawn forgift baskets and a fourth for the honour of cutting off Marty's beard, which he has grown for many years. Thanks to the generous residents, $1,152.45 was raised for the school.
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Feature Article - May 22, 2008 John Leslie Ball Comes home:Denbigh Library to Become Permanent Home of WW1 Hero’s MedalsBy Jeff Green
In
the fall of 1915, army recruiters fanned out into the northern
regions of Frontenac and Addington Counties looking for young men who
were willing to come to Kingston for training. The First World War
was grinding along, and troops were needed. The recruiters arrived in
Vennachar at the border between the two counties, and they were able
to convince two cousins, both the eldest males in their families and
thus saddled with responsibilities for running the family farm, to
come to Kingston for the winter. They were told they would be back in
time for ploughing in the spring.
But before leaving home, the two men, John Leslie Ball and Charley Gregg, signed what were called attestation papers. John Leslie Ball's attestation papers are included in the materials his descendants have gathered in the past few years. The papers are a simple one-page document, and on John Leslie Ball's, the “yes” is ticked off next to the attestation saying he was willing to go to Europe “for the term of one year or during the war now existing between Great Britain and Germany should that war last longer than one year.”
Before going over to Europe, John Ball had an eight day leave in September of 1916, and he visited with his sister Lillie and her new family in Oconto, and spent time back at Vennachar as well.
On September 27, John Ball and his cousin Charley Gregg were among troops that set sail from Halifax harbour. The ship arrived in England on October 6, and on December 1, John Ball was sent to France as part of the 95th batallion. He spent Christmas in a tent with his battalion, and his cousin Charley Gregg was with him.
A series of letters went back and forth between John Leslie Ball and his family, and although the letters were subject to censorship, something of the character of John Ball still comes through on the pencil-written pages. The letters were written to his mother and sisters, as well as to his girlfriend Eva. He reassured them that he was doing fine, but there are indications that he had been exposed to danger and death, particularly when he was in the trenches between February and March of 1917.
His final letter was written on April 4, 1917. The letter revealed that John Ball was feeling lonely, and in it he asked for more letters to keep up with family events.
It said nothing of the big battle that was about to start.
Almost a century later, it is still a moving experience to read the final line off the original page: ”Once in a while I feel as if I'd like to be home but I let it go, ha ha, well believe I have to close for tonight. With love and kisses to you all. Good bye JLB”.
On Easter Monday, April 9, 1917, the battle of Vimy Ridge began, and that same day John Leslie Ball was injured. On his way to the hospital on a stretcher he was hit by a stray bullet, and he died three days later, on April 12.
It was early on a Saturday morning when the dreaded telegram arrived at the Ball homestead in Vennachar.
``Deeply regret to inform you 835576 Pte. Leslie Ball Mounted Rifles officially reported died of wounds field ambulance April 12th 1917, gunshot wound (abdomen) or bowels and shoulder. Officer in Charge records.``
A few days later, over on the Gregg homestead, a similar telegram arrived. Charley Gregg had died on April 17.
A third son of Vennachar, George Draper Quackenbush, died on April 9 at Vimy Ridge; a steep price for a tiny corner of the country to pay in a battle that claimed a total of 3,500 Canadian lives.
According to an account of the life of John Leslie Ball written by his great nephew Bill McNaught, the deaths of John Ball and Charley Gregg, the two eldest sons of their families, left younger teenage brothers with the responsibility to run the hardscrabble family farms, and left a hole in the families that has never been filled.
“The family circle was broken. There was nothing left of John Ball for his family but his letters and their memories. The letters were gathered and kept within the family. The losses to the family of their two young men were so great that the tragedies were never spoken about. However, neither John nor Charley were ever forgotten. The photograph of John Ball in his army uniform was hung in the living room of his sister Martha during her lifetime, with a poppy stuck into its frame. His photograph still hangs with his family.”
It
couldn't have helped, when in 1924, John’s mother Nancy, known in
the family as Grandma Ball, received a form letter from the Imperial
War Graves Commission, requesting $1.65 in order to inscribe John
Ball's tombstone in France with the inscription “IN MEMORY OF MY
DEAR BRAVE SON”. Grandma Ball paid the money, and the inscription
remains at his grave to this day.
On June 14, thanks to the efforts of his descendants, four of John Leslie Ball's surviving nieces and nephews and many younger family members will participate in a ceremony at the Denbigh library that will mark a symbolic return home for John Leslie Ball, some 91 years after his untimely death at the age of 24.
Herbert and Bob McNaught were born at White Lake, in Renfrew County, to John Ball's younger sister Martha and Tom McNaught, who was a Presbyterian minister. Herbert, who is 89, has written an account of a trip his family made at Christmas time in 1924, by horse and cutter, to Vennachar. Among the people that Bob (who is now 90) and Herbert (89) met that Christmas was their older cousin Alice. Alice Chatson is now 93, and she still lives near Bon Echo Park. Another cousin, John Ball, was born a few years later. He still lives at Vennachar.
Herbert McNaught's son Bill has been gathering family memorabilia for several years, and a couple of years ago he commissioned a framer to mount all of the existing medals that John Leslie Ball received, along with a photo of him in uniform, pictures of his parents, his ID tags, and some letters, into a single frame.
The extended family has also gathered at the Napanee Cenotaph, where John Ball's name is engraved, each of the last two Remembrance Days to lay a wreath in his honour, but Herbert and Bob felt that something was missing. They wanted to bring John Leslie Ball back home.
That's where the Denbigh library came in. On June 14, at 12:30 pm, a piper will announce the beginning of a ceremony that will mark the installation of the John Leslie Ball display as a permanent feature of the Denbigh library.
Family, friends, and members of the community are invited to mark the occasion, which will be attended by four of John Leslie Ball's nieces and nephews: John Ball, Herbert McNaught, Bob McNaught, and Alice Chatson, the last surviving member of the family who was alive when that telegram arrived, so many years ago, informing the family that John Leslie Ball was a casualty of war.
On the following day, Sunday June 15, a memorial service will be held at the old Vennachar Church, which is still standing after all these years. Gravestones at the adjacent cemetery include the names of Charley Gregg, George Quackenbush, and John Leslie Ball; three who died at Vimy Ridge.
(This article was based on a history of John Leslie Ball that was written by Bill McNaught. That story will be read out at the ceremony on June 14)