OF KIDS and
a ryistmas an d
ery’
fake seven-year-old | still
«0 ves in Santa. | have no
pelieve nt With this. I go
| argu eth the fantasy.
alon, “Christmas Eve for
st couple of years |
the Jas een sticking my big
have tang, Survival boots in-
Muse asnes of the fireplace
to the romping across the
d the rug over to

the kid gets to see
footprints’’
to the pile of pres-

Christmas the sight
e boot tracks leading
n of the fireplace
i
ely blew the kid’s
; complet e had been show-
ine 3 gns of doubt. Not any
more-
j impressed hell be
se remains’ to be
this yee. tells me, in a
sales with the in-
e of a true believer

of ie

ft ted, , by heretics,
weome’” of the kids at
that say there isn’t such
schoo! * on a8 Santa Claus.
a per ow dumb!
Boy, ‘ald ‘them about ihe
He nts, he explains.
wil didn’t believe
Y they said his dad
+ pave done it.
es Wish, he admits,
ee Santa, just for
when he climbs

S. Geouges
“amagmiFic ce shwasnet

F gtotage Locrers
S palcory tor wvery suite

Bob Hunter

out of the chimney.

“You’d want to talk to
him, wouldn’t you?”’ 1 ask
quickly.

He nods.

“That's
see. All
want to
tight?”’

Another nod.

“Well, there’s millions
of kids. If he started talk-
ing to them all, we
wouldn’t get our presents
“til next summer! I mean,
he’s got a really heavy iob
to do. Can’t be yapping
with kids all night long.

“That’s why he has to
operate at night or the
whole thing would bog
down in a big public rela-
tions exercise, no matter
how fast Rudolph goes. I
mean, what’s more impor-
tant? Getting your presents
or shooting the the breeze
with a big fat old guy?”

He got the point.

His Mom took him and
his little sister to see Santa
at.a nearby shopping mall

the problem,
the kids would
talk to him,

F ef qa. : iid Fa f

;
t

Wh

é
of
al

FOR RENT
, Place NORTH H VA

NT PANORAMIC qe OF MOUNTAINS, WATER, & VANCOUVER SKYLINE
© Coveted parking secured

#1 bgim, 2 bam & bachelors
* Close to all mayor busines wn van

prolessiorally managed by MacKenge Managemen! Lia O84 21080

Call Classifieds

986-6222

KENNEDY-McDONALD MEN'S

- SUITS and SPORT JACKETS
20% - 30% - 40% ~ 50% OFF _

SALE STARTS FRIDAY DEC. 27th

PAR aan

Ki ROYAL ¢ NORTH MALL

ne A OS SG Sah GD SR SOE SO SO A SPY SAND SOON GE SSO NN DGD SOUS CGR SECA GOSS SEONG GENER COANE MLSS MENEE SAY MOUND REED ENT SED

® strictly personal ©

last week, Not really Santa,
of course. He figured that
one out himself last year
after noticing that ‘‘Santa’’
was wearing a phony
beard,

We explained that the
guys in the malls are hired
to help Santa because he
hasn't got time to listen to
every kid in the universe.
But if you tell the phony
guy what you want, he
passes the message along to
the real Santa at the North
Pole.

I embellished the story a
bit this year by telling him
that the elves had formed a
union and they were
threatening a job action in
the toy factory. Elf picket
lines had gone up around
the reindeers’ landing pad.

My wife made me say I
was just joking. The kid
looked pretty worried there
for a while.

He's going to be a
lawyer, I swear. He decid-
ed he wanted to get some

Introducing

NO CHARGE

Rental

Car
Budget Rent-a-Car
By appt. only

EGBG

* & private accident claims handied promptly
All makes & madels. Call Mike Ruggles

987-7111

- irom, $36.95 & are

Lao}
2 ca f

Tuve-up Special

We also paint
commercial vehicles
Free estimates

A special early clearance of suits and sport jackets ..
and jackets only on sale — no other merchandise on gale wes

* Free courtesy cars ¢ Complete
Painting © Free estimates » Free
towing on N.S. ® Fibreglass repairs

documentation together.
He insisted on writing the
list down and hand-deliver-
ing it to the mall Santa.

There were a dozen
items. [t was the usual
precisely-marketed array of
toys that every other kid in
his age group throughout
the industrialized world has
been brainwashed into
wanting by saturation
advertising beamed at them
between kiddie’s cartoons.

Just to cover all the
bases, the kid has been
oohing and ahhing over
glossy ad-sheets showing
all these toys which, just by
coincidence, happen to
have landed in our mail
box recently. He makes
darn sure Mom and Dad
Jearn to identify the pro-
ducts before heading out to
do the shopping.

Anyway, the transaction
took place. The kids were
plunked on the knees of
Santa’s agent, who ‘was
duely served with the note.

The little sister? Soon
she, too, will have
acquired a belief system
incorporating a kind of
messiah from Toyland who
makes a magical ap-
pearance once a year. She
already watches TV.

Oh well. Why carp? En-
joy! Christmas is like sex.
Disgusting, but fun. Let’s
all sing along. Here we go:
Jungle bells, jungle bells,
jungle all the way...

rzy ==

© Ali work guaranleed

card or American Express.

JRITCHIE SERVICE CENTRE}

1525 Welch St. North vane |

‘a n-Otf Switch.

+ © Clip- an Shirred Silk. a

over’ AcriL Lite .

“CENTRE
has: a reputation of exporienced, service and is the place to
see Western, Canada's largest display of lighting fixtures. Jj
Wf you are’ building ramsdelling—or just out to brighten
up a dark comer—you'tl tind the: right light et Norburn.

WHOLESALE. AND RETAIL f

FREE CATALOGUES AVAILABLE

HOURS: MONDAY THRU SATURDAY 8:30 - 5:00, FRIOAY. 8:30 -;/ 9:00

INC, J

A 4600 2 EAST HASTINGS, BURNABY. TEL. 299-0566

“A QUESTION

OF VALUE”

by Henry Gerber

You have no doubt noticed
that it is popular to use the
word ‘‘Save"’ in adver-
tisements while actually ask-
ing the customer to do the op-_
posite. The notion of saving
while spending is of. course
very attractive; we can all just
see our savings account
growing while we're happily
in the malls spending!

{t has been fascinating to
watch the ads from the “clos.
Ing out’’ stores over the past,
few years and to listen to their
tadio commercials. You'd
think they were going to pay
you to take the stuff off their
hands while in. actual fact
some that | know of worked
at higher gross profits during
their lengthy close-outs than
we do every day of the week.

Thankfully, intelligent shop-
pers are not fooled by the
hype and know that what real-
ly counts is ‘‘value"’.

"Are you getting the most for

your dollar? | guess it is this
ingredient Chuck and | ap--
preciate most abaut'the cus-
tomers who choose to shop
at our store. They are people

‘who know the market_and

can recognize value. They
aré practical people - with
good taste’ who care about.
their surroundings at home.

Since we are at the end of .
another year and ‘it is
customary to get sentimental
I'll tell you how much we have —
appreciated your support and
loyalty during the last seven
years. We've all, come
through some tough times
since the heydays of ‘81 and
this has made us all more
aware of ‘‘value"’ than ever
before.

We wish you a very fine
_ holiday season and the best
* of health and prosperity in the
new year:

P.S. In the traditional manner of years -end clearances we
* will be reducing prices on many odds & ends Starting
December 27. Come in and check it ou

to. serve you better, suits
Use Chargex, Master