The North Shore News is published by North Shore Free Press Ltd., Publisher Pater Speck, trom 1139 Lonsdale Avenue Worth Vancouver, 8.0., V7M 2H4 7? ay PETER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (101) > ae Bese = Dee Dhaliwal Hunan Resources Manager 995-2131 (177) eae . Doug Foot Comptroller $85-2131 (133) 5) . 4 i ions "+ Photography Manager 985-2131 (218) 985-2131 (160) ie Distribution than Bol {: live Servi - 988-1337 995-2131 (127) ey F & Main Office Fax Micheal Bocker-lews Editor 985-2131 (114). McSredie-Sports/Com 885-2131 (147) LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your namie, fut address & telephone nuniber. VIA Internet: venshaw @ direct.ca COMPUTER BBS - 980-8027 User tD:mai Password: subutan newspgyer and qualified umier Schedule i11, Pamgaph Itt of the Excoe Tax Act, is published exch ‘Wedhenainy, Fratay aref Surnday by Neeth Shase Free Preas Litt and) chetrbuse! wo every door on the North Share. Canacks Cost Caradon Publications Mai Sales Docket Agreement No. Entire contents @© 1996 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. A 486 P-C, WITH 6 MEGS OF RAM, | GIGABYTE HARD DRIVE. BUILT-IN 8x CD- ROM, ZIP DAIE, INTERNAL 23-8 BAUD MODEM, SOUND CARD, 17” MONITOR, DAT BACKUP, 30 BIT Terry Peters . | 4800 DPI SCANNER, 72 PIN SIMM, TURBO MOUSE .... Christmas tale on this Christmas Day HAPPENED To A PONY AND WORLD PEACE .... of a Troll made rich twice over: West truism. -Vancouver’s well-known Troll family has had.an up and, down year. .. The rollercoaster ride has had great lows - and great-highs. ‘-¢ Patriarch Joe Troll died at the age of 78 on “Sept. 16 after siring in 1946 what has become a focal Horseshoe Bay landmark: ‘Trolls restaurant in Horseshoe Bay. Soon ‘after Mr. Troll’s death, his grandscn Jason Troil spened the second of his Ciao Mein answer. restaurants. This one in West Vancouver. The original Trolf’s, meanwhile, celebrated its 50th anniversary. Last week Gary Troll, Joe’s son, Jason’s father, hit the lottery jackpot. He won $13.8 again. million in the 6/49. Life is a strange adventure. Getting is not as good as giving. Family is the one true gift of lasting value. How about a 16-week IT has long puzzled this scribbler that the year’s biggest celebration for both Christian and secular Canadians is such a lopsided affair. Christmas now starts the day after Halloween — although a few hardy merchandis- ers — desperate to squeeze 40% of their annual take : out of the remain- bad , ing, 15% of the year And yon -- launch it even before the witches and hobgoblins have been safely put to bed. . _ While mall-goers shop *til they drop, we endure week after week of craft and bake sales, school concerts and pre-Christmas parties public and private. Indeed, the wonder is that so many of us over the age of 14 still have the strength to crawl out of bed at all on the morn of Dec. 25. And what do we face when we do? A final 12 hours of mandatory merriment and gastronomic excesses — then suddenly, by 11 p.m. on Christmas night, pouff! In a flash it’s all over for another year, with the long dead-of-win- ter hardly yet here. This ts patently crazy. Anything with that kind of eight-week build-up should last far longer than 12 hours. So here's my specimen program for adding a further cight weeks to Christinas: December 25: Rest and recover, Rise late and do nathing you don’t want to. Write and mail your first Christmas cards. Take a long walk with your spouse or Significant Other. Be back in bed y 9 pm. , December 26: Give the kids one gift cach. Buy more Christmas cards (now 75% off). Collect drinks from friends within walking dis- tance who are energetic enough to hold Boxing Day “at homes.” December 31: Give spouse or Significant Other an expensive present. January 1: Fall a:‘.ep with him/her at 12:05 am listening to old Guy Lombardo tapes. On awaking, write and mail more Christmas cards. January &: Give the &ids one further present cach if they promise not to wreck the home looking for more. Invite Orthodox Russian friends (if you have none, any kind of friends) to a partridge and pear supper. January 15: Junk dead Christmas tree. Buy and decorate a new one. Put all remaining pre- sents under it. Replace dead outdoor light bulbs. January 20 (week of): Buy, write and mail final Christmas cards. February 2 (week of): Buy turkey, phim pud- ding, Christmas cake, candy, liquid nourishment and more presents. February 14: Final gift handouts and family Christmas dinner with all the trimmingp. Kiss a1 The Troll family is living testament to that Gary Troll told interviewers that, pre- dictably, he was happy that he had won the lottery. Peace of mind, he said. Stress-free now, he opined. But he also said something far more insightful: “It’s strange: You know you can buy anything, but you don’t need it.” And as we enjoy another Christmas Day, that piece of Troll insight is worth as much as the lottery win itself. Moncey is not the As Gary’s wife Caro! was quoted as saying: “Family is everything.” That is true of the Troll family and it is truc of all families. Christmas emphasizes that reality again and Snowboard theft dims | youngster’s | world view | Dear Editor: Recently an event ~ occurred in my 14-year-old son’s life that has changed his view of the world. a Jordan is moving from tne. trusting world of childhood into the less-trusting world: of adulthood and this experi ence is one that has shattered. a belief that good, hone people hang out at. ski- resorts. ; Jordan had his. prized Avalanche snow board stolen from outside the lodge at Cypress Mountain. - Snowboarding, for the past: two years, has been Jordan’s passion. It’s all he talks about even through the. -nine= months of non-snowboard ing weather. 5 Through tears of frustra-« tion he asked, “Why did ‘they’ have to ‘steal my snow: board? Why did 1 even: go. - into the lodge? How could ; travel back in time - and* change the events?” _ “ And so we talked into the: night about — possessions’: being replaceable (eventual: ly) contrasted with a human’ life, which cannot’ be: replaced. And isn’t it good to’. know that your conscience | would never allow you . to”: steal from another person? In closing I offer: this‘- avalanche warning: Shoul you happen to come across. an unbelievable deal on a sec- ond-hand Avalanche snow- board, think twice about pur chasing it ... you may be buy: ing a young lad’s shattered dream. : St Peggy Grant Coquitlam Christmas: your Valentine under the mistletoe once the kids have left. Fall asleep with him/her watching the tape of A Christmas Carol on the VCR. - February 15: Cross off your list ail insulting senders of cards that arrived less than a week ago. Start eating cold turkey breakfasts. February 21: Junk second tree and declare Christmas officially over. Now admit it — doesn’t that sound like a lovely relaxing Yuletide? No stressful December 25 deadline. Those once horrific January bills now spread gently over three months. Merchants |° with twice as long to earn their 40% of the year's take. And ongoing festivities during the ycar’s emptiest, bleakest period -— right up to within a month of spring. Why nobady has su far thought of the 16- week Christmas baffles me. But then, of course, a whole lot of other things baffle me. So for one more year have a wonderful one- day Christmas anyhow! O00 WRIGHT OR WRONG —A seasonal thought for the next 365 days: When you give more than you get, you get more than you give. : — The North Shore News believes strongly in Srcedom of speech and the right of all sides ina debate to be beard. The columnists published in the News present differing points of view, but those pa arc not necessarily those of the newspaper itself.