CHRISTMAS IN GRAVENHURST -

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING HAS BEEN NO FUSS AT ALL - AND NOW COMES THE ENJOYABLE JAUNTS FOR SHEER ENJOYMENT

I AM A TRADITIONALIST. I WON'T SUGGEST SUZANNE IS THE SAME, (CLOSE BUT NOT QUITE AS OBSESSIVE ABOUT IT), BUT ANDREW AND ROBERT ARE BUDDING HARD-CORE TRADITIONALISTS. THEY LIKE TO DRAW ON THE PRECEDENTS OF THE PAST, TO REKINDLE WHEN TIMELY, SUCH AS DURING THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY. THEY WILL INSIST ON SPECIAL FOODS, AND THE LITTLE "PICK-UP" BUFFETS WE HAVE HAD, SINCE THEY WERE KIDS, AT ABOUT 9 P.M. ON CHRISTMAS SEASON EVENINGS. ROBERT IS A CHEF-IN-TRAINING, AND LOVES TO PARTICIPATE IN FOOD PREPARATION. THEY MAY NOT BE MARTHA STEWART MOMENTS, IN ENTERTAINING PROPORTION, BUT THESE CHRISTMAS BUFFETS….AS BASIC AS THEY ARE….. MOST DEFINITELY ENTERTAIN US. THEY BRING US TOGETHER IN MODEST CELEBRATION, TO RECONCILE THE EVENTS OF THE DAY, THE MONTH, AND THE YEAR. IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT BUSINESS, ALTHOUGH THAT IS ALSO A FAMILY AFFAIR. WHAT'S SO IMPORTANT TO US, IS THAT WE HONOR OUR OWN HOMEMADE TRADITIONS, TO KEEP THEM STRONG ENOUGH, THAT THEY CAN BE PASSED ON TO THE BOYS' RESPECTIVE FAMILIES. I LIKE THE IDEA OF THAT PASSAGE OF FAMILY HEIRLOOMS…..AND FAMILY VALUES.

This year we have completed most of the Christmas gift shopping, and can actually enjoy the final days before the 25th, by visiting the places we like, the shops that remind us of the good old days, the restaurants we love to dine, and the places in Muskoka we have celebrated most of our lives. We will take a couple of motor trips, leading up to Christmas, and take along some picnic treats……(we are year round picnic folks, in car and out). We always take a trip up to Suzanne's old home village, of Windermere, and stop by the marina her family once owned (below Windermere House), then take a slow drive past the old homestead that was sold, following her father Norman's death, earlier this new century. We'll travel backs through Ufford where the Shea and Veitch sides of the family had homesteads (some still residing there), and possibly a stop-over at the Ufford cemetery to visit some of the dearly departed. If the snow permits. So far, so good. We don't do this to inspire sadness, about what has passed in our lives. We may be a band of historians and sentimentalists in the same breath, but we're just content to have been a part of so much family legacy that in Muskoka, goes back to the 1860's.

When we motor back, undoubtedly there will be a round-about of my old stomping ground, and I'll probably stop and admire the roadway, up on Bracebridge's Alice Street, where we used to live….and where I played a million games of road hockey. I'll slowdown when we pass those places where there are still some ghosts, wandering about, reminding me of youth, romance, milestones, and friends lost in time, and life. I'll be able to see the shadows of time lost, as silhouettes against the brightness of the season, and feel an inner rekindling, upon seeing where a kiss was stolen, my hand slipping in hers, the embrace that might have held for a lifetime….but didn't, and all the other romantic moments, to the present, and my affections to my partner, Suzanne, who knows the writer's passion for holding these memories as story-lines………fearing that if they were ever severed completely, he would float away in the atmosphere, as a walker becoming untethered from the international space station. She understands what the clock tower of the old federal building means to me, and the ribbon rails that run below, and the river that winds under the Hunt's Hill bridge that I walked four times a day through most of my youth.

Our motor-trip will end in our present hometown, where we have made so many more precious memories and important family traditions. We will pass by the places where we used to walk with the boys, hauling them to parks by sleigh or wagon, and we'll retrace the steps of a young, fearful family, unsure whether changing hometowns was the right thing to do. We won't be able to avoid recollection, of some very lean years, when Santa Claus was not going to be able to fulfill even part of the present list, and other times, when these snowy adventures, removed us temporarily from the troubles of the day. There will always be a positive outcome, and a rekindling of those times, when we disallowed ourselves from becoming obsessed with unfortunate realities, as it was too important for the wee lads, to put on a brave face; and fulfill, as much as possible, the festive culture of the Christmas season. These were not times we look back upon with chagrin. There wasn't a circumstance of economics, we hadn't built debt by debt, with full knowledge of the risk we assumed by doing so. When we think back, and try to reconcile our near disasters, well, it's part of our tradition of resilience to deal with prevailing circumstances, versus being entombed by circumstance. It was in this hometown that we struggled for most of a decade, to deal with the counter-balance of recession and a former real estate consequence and collapse. It was in this hometown that we succeeded in finding our strength in each other, and it was this little burg, in South Muskoka, that gave us so many reasons to be thankful and positive about the future. When folks wonder aloud, why we get involved in fundraising, for local charities, we can only answer, that Gravenhurst is our home, and everyone here is a neighbor……and those in precarious circumstance today, need a little help pulling themselves free again. It's the least we can do, as we were afforded many kindnesses here, as well.

This is a week of recognition, and restoration of traditions, old and new. It is a modest and inexpensive adventure, passing by all the places etched in our memories, and being truly thankful we had those important times…..when human spirit, family and community is pulled together like a draw string on a precious packet. When our family hears and reads the incessant critiques of our town, without even the slightest reverence for its past and present successes, and credit for the thousands upon thousands of families nurtured here, it makes us angry, and I suppose it shows. While I won't back away from making a critique myself, when warranted, I will never do so, at a distance that shows a flagrant disrespect, for the honest good graces of this South Muskoka community. As the presses continue to roll, and coffee shop pundits make predictions for an even sadder New Year, we take considerable comfort these days, by the fact benevolence shown, to organizations such as the Salvation Army Food Bank, clearly demonstrates to the contrary, that despite the perception of some, we are a sinking community, quite the opposite holds true……and there's much evidence that mottos like "full-speed-ahead," and "soldiering on," aren't tired old sayings at all. Take a good long look out there, and you'll see what I mean.

We should be thankful of what we have in Gravenhurst, of good neighborliness and unstoppable, ever-flowing benevolence to the less fortunate. That's a tradition we know about by immersion, from both sides, not based on periphery involvement.

As a final note, the boys will remember clearly, those days of lesser resources. I can remember how excited they were, when Suzanne would make up a little picnic, with some hot chocolate, and we would take the old jalopy for a trip around town to see the beautiful Christmas lights, adorning homes throughout the neighborhoods of this good old town. We afforded enough gas money to make three or four motor trips, up to and including Christmas Eve, and it was a simple, honest, uncomplicated celebration of our traditions, and the tried and true festivities of all the homeowners, who so generously, gave us a little Christmas treat, at their expense.

We Curries are thankful for our hometown traditions, and we hope you will find time, during the holidays, to look kindly upon the place, the neighborhood, the community in which you dwell, as it really is a recognition that is needed here……to remind the naysayers and critics, who find it difficult to identify attributes, that our town will survive regardless of dire prediction. To them, we offer a hardy "humbug." To everyone else we say, "Merry Christmas neighbors. And a Happy New Year.