WATERLOO CHRONICLE Circulation Manager 886â€"2830 Fax: B86â€"9383 Eâ€"mail: wchronicle@sentex.net 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario N2J 1P2 The Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by The Fairway Group, a division of Southern Ontario Community Newspapers Inc., a division of Southam Publications, a CanWest Company. The views of our columists are their own and do not necessarily represent those of the newspaper. International Standard Serial Number JAE | Carolyn Anstey The Waterloo Chronicle welcomes letters to the Editor They should be signed with name. address and phone num ber and will be verified for accu racy. No unsigned letters will be published Submissions may be edited for length. so please be brief Copyright in letters and other materiais submitted to the Publisher and accepted for publication remains with the author, but the publisher and its licer.sees may freely reproduce them in print. electronic or other forms Our mailing address is 75 King St S . Suite 201. Waterloo N2] IP2. our eâ€"mail address is wchronicle@sentex net. and our fax number is ARGâ€"9783 Letters Policy Andrea Bailey Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement Number Jum Alexander Gerry Mattice Director of Retail Sales Cal Bosveld _ Deborah Crandall Publisher Editor Publisher: Cal Bosveld Audited circulation: 26056 Norma Cyca Bill Karges Lynn Bartol _ Launie Ridgway ISSN 0832â€"3410 136379 Amy Hachborn Bob Vrbanac Sports Editor Cherish the moment ew â€" what a week! 1‘d say 1 don‘t even know where to begin complaining, but that‘s so not true. You know me. Things are doubly busy at work, what with early deadlines and all. I‘ve taken on too many home improvement projects that I can‘t seem to get finished in time Christmas. I‘m nowhere near done my Christmas shopping (I know, I know), the house is a pig sty, and I‘ve got 12 people coming for Christmas dinner in a few days. During one of my rants to my mother, she reminded me of a column I wrote more than a decade ago. She had kept a copy of it and recently read it to my niece and nephew who sat and listened, open mouthed. And she reminded me that messy houses won‘t be remembered years from now, but special moments with loved ones will. So here‘s that column again, 11 years to the day later. Oh, and It began as a Christmas not unlike others. The last of our relatives had said their Merry Christmases, kissed a few cheeks, and made their way out the front door. Mummy had begun to clear away the plates and glasses, which still showed evidence of having been recently _ laden _ with Wâ€"â€"-â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"ï¬â€˜ festive treats. She carefully . |MR® e + wrapped her leftover prized & ANOT â€R‘ sausage rolls and minceâ€" JL f ( meat pies â€" a few of which THING... | she arranged, ever so io. M carefully, on a Christmas 1 saucer to place on the table | O | . | in the hallway. | | it‘s a true story. Daddy had settled back in his mustardâ€"coloured reclining chair â€"half watching the crisp night sky from the living room window and half listening to "sighting" reports on the radio. "Don‘t forget to pour a _ _ _ _ glass of beer â€" he likes to have a glass of beer, you know," Daddy said to Mummy, and she winked and nodded and took a bottle of cold ale from the refrigerâ€" ator. They were so convincing. Beer and mincemeat pies â€" Santa would surely love this! How tiresome milk and cookies must get.. Everything was ready. Santa, the announcer on the radio continued with his reports, was last seen headâ€" ing across the Atlantic ocean towards our east coast. It wouldn‘t be much longer â€" you know how fast he "It‘s bedtime." Mummy‘s announcement sent a twinge of panic through an older brother and his younger sister. "Santa won‘t come unless you are asleep." 1 had known it was coming, and dreaded it. Oh, that long night... it will never be morning... 1 will never get to sleep... Santa won‘t come if I don‘t, but how will I ever be able to get to sleep? 1 had lain there for what seemed like hours, watthâ€" ing the moonlight pour through the sheer curtains in my bedroom window, when the door slowty creaked open and Daddy poked his head in â€"Mummy not far behind. "Aren‘t you asleep yet?" And without a word spoken in reply, a tassled mop of blond ringlets poked out from under the covers. They lifted me from my bed and we sat on my winâ€" dow sill, looking out at the fiery red sky and billowy smoke coming from the factory where Daddy worked. As we watched the illuminated sky, an image began to appear "Look!" Daddy gasped "It‘s him â€" I really think that‘s him!" And through the red haze of the blast furnaces and the rolling sooty vapor, 1 saw him. His image was vague at first, but gradually became clearer as Daddy pointed out the sleigh and reindeer. Mummy confirmed. It must be him. What else could it be? The image was crystal clear to me now, and the momnent was magic â€" I was witnessing Santa Claus in flight And there we sat, silently watching â€" me not believing my eyes, and Mummy and Daddy smiling They were so convincing VIEWPOINT Waterloo‘s bursting its seams terloo is getting a new fire hall, W:nd that‘s proof, if any were needâ€" ed, that Waterloo is busting its seams. Once upon a time you figured that a fire hall had a permanent location, but now we know that they‘re moved like checkers to cover the municipality. The new station, at Columbia Street and Gatestone Drive, will mean the closing of the Westmount Road station, the one that‘s near University Avenue. The new station will cost just over $2 milâ€" lion which sounds like a bargain as fire staâ€" tions go. Of course, you can go too far with costâ€"cutting. And, yes, I‘m thinking of the town which installed unbreakable glass in all its fire alarms. His Opinion: When it comes to gratuâ€" itous advice, it‘d be hard to top Stockwell Day, the physâ€"ed specialist who poses as a politician. He‘s advised Jean Chretien to get rid of Paul Martin because the PM and the finance minister aren‘t on the buddyâ€"buddiâ€" est of terms. Pity the government if (wonder of wonâ€" ders) dear old Stock ever heads the governâ€" ment. He and his cabinet would be cozier than three cats locked in a creamery. What a mistake that‘d be. Still, it‘s nice to know who your friends are. Alas, I misplaced my Christmas card list. Now 1 haven‘t the slightest idea who my fiendae. 0 _ Pn Onward and Upward: It‘s not very often that a city can take credit as the birthplace of a geeâ€"whiz piece of technology, but Waterloo has rated honor. The BlackBerry eâ€"mail pager, the brainchild of Research in Motion, has been cited by Time magazine as one of the world‘s 10 most notable technological achievements. Big stuff, indeed. Of course, that‘s just the latâ€" est in the plaudits that have come to Waterloo. Recently described as the "Silicon Valley of Canada." Business â€" magazines are â€" extolling Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo as "Canada‘s highâ€"tech capital." (Yes, they also mention Kitchener. Who knows why?) The pieces are uniformly flattering. For example, one veteran of California‘s Silicon Valley, used to paying exorbitant prices and driving endlessly to get to work, mentioned how great it was to live here. Among other things, he said that he now has about twice the house for half the price, not to mention more time to spend with his family and for general recreation The major difficulty facing Waterloo in ... And just how did you expect us to get this Aump of coal into your seigh / highâ€"tech growth is in access to capital, but perhaps some gains are under way in that area. Incidentally, one Waterioo company has a display which features a computer so old that it ran on candles. Another item is a giant abacus under glass. It‘s for an emergency in case the computers break down. Snow Job: That was quite the snowfalls last week. And every time winter casts her ermine blanket, I‘m usually indebted to my neighbors for help. Particularly, if the fall is a bit heavy you can bet the likes of Carl, Charlie or Paul will lend a hand. And an unknown neighbor with a big blower blew my drive and walks clean last week. That was after Paul and I manhandled the mountain of snow plugging the mouth of the driveway. If the snowplow drivers knew what they were called, they‘d develop complexes. 1 don‘t do much shovelling because I‘m not supposed to have anything to do with a shovel. Instead, 1 mostly mess around with my dinky snow blower. It‘s exercise enough. But a note of caution: If you‘re fat, midâ€" dleâ€"aged and out of shape, it‘s very smart to shovel at least two feet of snow off your driâ€" _____ veway. Or else how are they going to get the stretcher up ( MB â€" from the ambulance? ‘Yup, fhey were quite the storms. 1 haven‘t seen so much white since the Maple Leafs ran out of Grecian formula. Sure, there are those who grumble that the holiday is too commercialized, that it brings too many chores, that it‘s costly beyond comprehension, and OÂ¥ that the Yule spirit is fleeting and D hypocritical Some of that may be so, but the fact remains Christmas gives us a hint of what the world could be if only the spirit of Christmas could survive and thrive the year around. If Christmas is mostly for children, then it‘s fitting that we all become children for a day. And it‘s appropriate, too, that we appreâ€" ciate family and friends as among the true gifts of Christmas â€" May the day for you be blessed with peace, serenity, safety and the spirit of kinâ€" ship 8 And may this be your merriest Christmas The Magic Day: It‘s only a few days until Christmas. 1 know, it‘s the eternal complaint that Christmas has come too quickly, but this year it seems to have come at superâ€"sonic speed.