The best things in life aren’t things
It’s that “Most Wonderful Time of the Year” — the fifth season that many call Christmas. The music starts right after the first leaves fall and the pressure builds to shop, shop, SHOP! I’m not a total Grinch — I like a lot of the holiday music, and exchanging gifts can be great fun — but sometimes I’m just slow to feel the spirit. One thing that always helped get me in the right mindset was the Carlisle DIY Christmas Eve Party.
I’m now retired and moved back to Guelph one year ago, after living in Toronto for 30 years or so. Living next to the University has meant getting to know the local campus and the city of Guelph properly. So far U of G has turned out to be a pretty good neighbour. I can buy honey and do a radio show on CFRU (Zombie Jamboree at 6:30 p.m. on Sundays), all in the UC. I mostly lived in Guelph for university, working several part time jobs including DJing at the Bullring when it was a dance bar.Eventually I settled in “The Six,” had a family of my own and three decades flew by.
Before any of that, I lived with my family in the woods outside the village of Carlisle, about halfway to Hamilton, east of Highway 6. Looking back now, it’s like my parents were in the “back-to-the-land” vanguard of the 1970s, although I’m sure they never looked at it that way. They had 60 acres of forest down in a valley with no visible neighbours, a pond, a large garden, and a rotating menagerie of animals, including goats, rabbits, chickens, and animals that already lived there, such as raccoons, foxes, and deer.
Dad had a real job in town, so they weren’t exactly hippies. One of the best parts about living in the woods were the annual do-it-yourself Christmas Eve parties. Looking back on it now, the Christmas Eve parties in the woods seemed almost like some weird caricature of an “Ontario Country Christmas,” dreamed up by a scriptwriter. (Not corny enough to be “Kountry Kristmas,” but almost).
The wood stove would be burning and heating some mulled cider, decorations were low-key; a simple tree from the woods, wreaths, candles glowing in little paper bags of sand along the lane. If there was much snow, getting stuck was often part of the fun.
[media-credit id=121 align=”aligncenter” width=”1020″]
The evening was potluck, including the entertainment activities, which were fun for all ages. Considerable creativity was shown over the years. Besides skits and musical numbers, there were goldfish and earthworm races, dress-up trunks and Polaroid cameras for corny period pics, predictions to be opened next year, and contests of all sorts. There were also garish ‘gifts’ that nobody wanted and were subject to vicious re-gifting. Often silly, always fun.
After more than 40 years, people remember those DIY Christmas Eves with fondness. It reminds me that the whole holiday celebration is about people, and that people, in the right frame of mind, are all you need to have a great time.
Photo provided by Bruce Mathews
At his time of year we should all reflect on the importance of the people around us as well as the ones we have lost. Those Christmas eve memories that we share with Bruce are special indeed. We had a lot of home-made fun. It was his Mother’s great idea. A very special person indeed.