There are a great many Christmas holiday time traditions that vary from family to family and around the world. Hopefully, you have some to enjoy as we wind down 2024.
In the little community of Baynes Lake in the East Kootenays, where I grew up, we made our own traditions. My mother did a major clean of the house in between delicious baking, which included a thick mincemeat pie and what was called Speckled Jim pudding, with a hot caramel sauce. My father would invite a few friends by for a cheery drink, some of which were too many or too strong for him. They did not make him too cheery.
We kids would hit the sliding slopes with whatever we could find, even an old piece of cardboard or tin. If we had a toboggan or sled, we just piled everyone on and giggled at major snow pile ups. I was often the younger one who sat on the front of the toboggan and was plastered with snow. It is also not a lot of fun having an older and heavier brother squash you on a sled!
I do not remember anyone downhill skiing as ski hills were just getting started. Pay for fun?
Frozen Baynes Lake pond took a lot of grunt work to clear. Then we played hockey with minimal padding. Ouch! I am sure there are many hockey pucks at the bottom of Baynes Lake.
Usually, the Waldo school concert had class plays and brought Santa to hand out goodie bags. I was about 11 years old and in Grade 5, when I realized that this Santa was not the real one but our local neighbour and that he was quite drunk.
Nevertheless, the real Santa did show up at our house and left some memorable gifts. In my case it was a nice Montreal Canadiens hockey sweater which I quickly outgrew. One year I even received some real hockey shinpads.
My father was always glad for the snowplow gift that pushed huge banks of snow to clear our driveway. We shoveled the banks even higher then leaped off our swing after pumping as high as we could.
Do you ever wonder if politicians receive Christmas gifts? Afterall, they are usually naughty for most of the year.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently spoke at the Liberal caucus Christmas party. There was a lot of tension in the air over his leadership. He said they were like a big family and that he expected squabbles but it was best to shake hands and move on. His present might be a more united cabinet.
Premier David Eby managed to squeak out a narrow majority in our provincial election and will get by with the help of the Green Party. His present might be a nice new e-car to help make sa国际传媒 even greener.
Mayor Tom Dyas has had a few councillor squabbles as he tries to rein in council debates. Some even come from a former major supporter. Perhaps his present might be a big container of Lego blocks with a building restriction on height and number of storeys. Maybe no higher than the box?
Our MP, Tracy Gray, might get a talking doll, male or female or that might say, 鈥淒o not always blatantly support everything your party puts forward.鈥
Itsa国际传媒 OK to support the other political parties鈥 ideas once in awhile.
Then there are our local, rookie MLAs who shall remain nameless because hardly anyone knows their names. To each of them letsa国际传媒 give some duct tape so they do not feel it is necessary to comment on every petty issue. We all know where it could be applied! Maybe they could seriously investigate real challenges and be available for real issues like the management of the Mission Creek watershed.
The only gift our local school board deserves is a brand new Rutland Middle School.
Whatever presents you receive or traditions you keep, try to do it in a hearty and enjoyable manner. This includes playing board games like crokinole that you may not like. The game of cribbage is often more challenging. Do try not to waste your precious holiday time doing jigsaw puzzles!
Maybe make a list of your good memories of 2024 or of past times, when you were younger, holidays and have some good chats with family and friends. Do include the grandchildren if you have some. They might not believe some of the things you did.
We all have the ability to make the world a better place right where we live.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Reg Volk is a retired teacher who makes his home in sa国际传媒.
