CHRISTMAS PAST

 Christmas past . The homestead in Bethune, circa 1930. Snow mostly. Depression era. Cold.
Bundlinig up for a ride in the cutter..........Furs, blankets, hats, mittens. The jingle of bells.

Christmas 1941. My dad and mum visited the homestead for a month. Horses in the snow.

 More rides on the cutter. Looking more like city slickers than country folk. Still the jingle of bells.Warmth of the fire in the house, after a ride.

 1941 out on the snow with Grandmother and their favourite dog, Jessie. Isobel on the left , mum, Nessie, on the right.

   And a poem.The War.  Kept for years in a book. Kept from the light. A Christmas poem about a boy. Born in Bethlehem.....

 1950. A new era. Victoria. More snow than it has seen in years. The house my parents lived in.

 And the grandparents. Older. Quieter. Not working as hard. Living with them. The small tree strung with one strand of lights and a few baubles. Baubles that jingle like horse harnesses in the snow. On a Christmas day.

 1960. Same sort of tree.Another quiet Christmas. And yes. that's me.

 1968. Snow on Government Street. Victoria really did not know what to do with all that snow.....

                             1979. Older not much wiser. But working on it. Youth group. Christmas plays.  Christmas changed. But still can hear that jingle of the horses harness......in the music of the Christmas play. We were a great bunch. All so serious. Perhaps wiser at the end of it, for the reason for the season.................