Resumo de Christmas In The Maritimes: A Treasury Of Stories And Memories

Mulled cider. Sleigh bells.Candles on the tree.These familiar trimmings of Christmas are part of the season for all of us who celebrate it, even if we'venever personally roasteda chestnut over an open fire.

That's because there's no time like Christmas for strolling down a snowy memory lane and adding to the collective memories of the holiday season. So when Canadaeast.com put a call our for Christmas stories from their readers, the response was, expectedly, overwhelming.

Editor Elaine Hogg has chosen the most appropriate stories to fit into three categories: traditions, trees, toys and Santa, and miracles and gifts. She has also included stories from well-established Maritime writers, creating an appealing mixture of honest, heartfelt accounts and professionally polished narratives.

In ?Christmas Rites,? Beth Powning captures thescene of a spruce wood in December as her family skis out onto their land to choose a Christmas tree. While most of us are forced to buy our trees from lots these days, we can share in her journey and experience the sights and smells of the tree decorating, so vivid are her appeals to the senses.

David G. Jones writes about contrasting Christmases Past in a recollection of his first year at college. His traditional Cape Breton Christmas was replaced by a more institutionally but none the less moving celebration at theUniversity of King's College in "Christmastime in the City."

Many of the memories are adult reminiscences of childhood experiences, and they remind us of how our view of the world changes as we get older. Several authors mention Christmas pageants, those rites that seem so important at the time but years later usually bring a blush and a smile. Something that seemed to strike many of the writers, particularly the women, is all the work that their mothers put into making Christmas special for them, and just how little they as children recognized the efforts being made.

Some of the accounts are from older writers, and they picture a world that is foreign to us younger readers. We can hardly imagine what joy they felt when they all found oranges and apples and nuts in their stockings. All of them except LorettaMackinnon, that is, whorelates in "The Christmas ICried" what happened the yearwhen she was six and she insisted there was no such thing as Santa Claus.

Elaine Hogg has a nice balance of the poignant with the humorous, including stories such as the comedy of errors that Monica Graham's family lived through when their power failed in "Don't Worry, We'll Have Christmas Tomorrow." Will it be barbecued turkey for Christmas dinner?

The last part of the book, in contrast, is closer to the heart. It includes Deborah Graham?s recollection of a personal health scare that inspired her to collect blankets to give out and "Spread the Warmth." In "The Christmas Surprise," the most precious Christmas gift in a little Maritime town in 1934 is not a toy but a tiny baby girl, weighing less than a pound. She is kept alive in a shoebox and fed with an eyedropper while visiting neighbours regard her as a miracle.And in Patricia Elford?s inspiring story "'O Little Town of Bethlehem' in Saint-Andrew's-by-the-Sea" a group of women revitalize a local church and bring Christmas Eve celebrations back to their small community.

This is a lovely book for the slowing-down time of the Christmas holidays, when the presents are bought, the tree decorated, and the baking finished. When you finally have time to pause and take in the essence of the celebration, you can read these shared memories and let your mind slide back down the years, over the miles, and into the homes of rich and poor. Just like Dickens? Scrooge, without the accompanying bad conscience, and without ever having to leave your couch.

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