40 ~ Sunday, December 22, 1991 — North Shore News Making Christmas joyful MERRY CHRISTMAS. Without prejudice. Not only do | hope you enjoy, I don’t give a hoot whether you’ve been good or bad. And I'm look- ing for a return salute of any kind. This is sheer disinterested bonhomic on my part. You sce, after grumbling to myself for days, writhing spiritually, groping for divination, discarding lead after lead, seething over what we've done to a once fairly simple festival, I got the word. As with so much else we've wrestled with for years, all the other of life’s anxieties and foi- bles, we've outlived this one. We're in shallow waters now, resting on our paddies, we've achieved the peace of detachment. It’s rolling-with-the-punches time, my friends, and at last, at last, we can make of Christmas exactly what we wish. Joy. . No use our carping and deplor- ing, as we are wont, about what’s happened (o Christmas — we con- tributed to that. We overdid, very handsomely, once the war was over. In the °50s, as soon as all the largess we'd been deprived of was back on the shelves, we wallowed. And vulgar display and conspicuous consumption and overindulgence were the measure of our success. Now of course we want to turn it around. We-want it back the way it was, when going into the woods to choose our own sturdy tree was not.an ecological no-no. We want the kids to prefer a Par- cheesi board to Super Nintendo. “ We'd like to: plan a Christmas meal without a single twinge about what the shrimp-fondue and the crisp golden turkey skin will do to our cholesterol level. It’s all right, you know. Despite the high tech glitz. The same needs are there as always were —- to reassemble the clan, to share with the beleaguered; to bestow _ the heart’s delight on some apple of your eye; to rethink the mean- ings. And you and I are there for that. To hark back. We'd be a disappointment if we didn’t con- jure up Christmas Past. It’s part of the tableau. 1 find it interesting in our house, the distinctly different memories of Christmas in the city and Christmas in the bush. City Eleanor THE VINTAGE YEARS kids went downtown to see the decorations, to get infused with the bustle of commerce and the grandeur of church carillons, to stroll through aisles loaded with possibilities and hear famous peo- ple sing with orchestras. Us, we had a concert in the school-house, we sang carols at home with the big thick song- book and a_ banjo accompani- ment! And our only stores were the catalogues from Eaton’s and Birks, wonderfu! cornucopias for the eyes only. The Victrola gave us music, but we had no idea what a concert- hall looked like or an orchestra or a choir. And Christmas day, the chickens had to be fed and the wood had to be chopped. Turkey? The English stepfather considered it more of those noisome things emanating from America and therefore to be eschewed. One or two of the wretched chickens would be in- vited to make the supreme sacri- fice. One lovely thing we could always count on though, a new book. There were aunts whrse choices for Christmases and bir- thdays were the backbone of our entertainment for many months. I stilt think there’s no better gift, and if | could, Id give out Christmas copies of Chuck Davis’ book 'Reflections'’ to everybody on this shore. He and Tom Stratton, who scoured the archives and local survivors for Chuck, and Opus Productions, who are the Publishers, have done themselves proud. The title indicates it is a close examination of the birth and growth of the District of North Vancouver, but it offers far more than that would suggest to you. There are multiple photographs, every page carries illustration, but they’ve used another very effective device, which is boxed insertions. These are sometimes elaborations of text references, sometimes whole stories in themselves. They are insinuated into the pages in such a way that you end up gob- bling up all manner of informa- tion without any feeling of overload or confusion. Everything's there, from Chief Capilano Joe’s visit to King Ed- ward — ‘He big man, first class man"’ — to the sorry history of the Second isarrows Bridges, which kept falling down. (Maybe the Hwa-Hwoi-Hwoi at work?) You learn that the mountain- and-wilderness areas within our hundred square miles equals 25 Stanley Parks! That British pro- perties acreage went for $18.75 per! And you get a precise insight into the bankrupt years between 1932 and 1951. It’s all there, in good style on good paper, enough to make you proud. It was gold and logs and furs that wooed them in 1860 — some of those logs are still holding up roofs in China right now. The story of the transition to the present and the people who effected it makes very interesting and illuminating reading. Merry Christmas, as 1 said be- THIS IS ONE TEST YOU WON'T WANT TO BLOW A roadside screening device could be ia the hands of any police officer, any time, anywhere in the province. The North Shore News is pleased to offer 10 lucky readers each a double pass to see the Rolling Stones at the CN JMAX. Simply fill out the entry form below and have it in to the News office by Monday December 30, 1991. One entry per person please. Winners will be contacted by phone. Names will appear in the Jaunuary 1, 1992 issue. Name Phone: days THE VOICE OF HORTH ANO WEST VANCOUVER north shore. SUNDAY - WEDNESDAY + FRIDAY evenings 1139 Lonsdale Avenue North Vancouver SUPER VIDEO GAME DEPARTMENT One of BC's Largest Game People ¢ Genesis B® Turbo Grafx i * Neo Geo * Game Gear NHL Hockey - (Genesis) Rd., N.Van. next time you think of parking APPED Peres YOUR COMMUNITY ava VV,-% NEWSPAPER SINCE 1969 © BEING