Evergreen memories from Christmases past

You can tell the moment you pluck the envelope from your mailbox that the Christmas card in your hand contains a “Family Newsletter.” It has a bit more heft and is just a titch springier than the normal greeting card.

It may not be the sender’s intent, but “newsletters” highlighting a family’s accomplishments over the past year usually make me feel inadequate. Who can compete with a family so perfect that every one of their children earns straight A’s at school. But that’s just the start. The precocious little Einsteins also excel at lacrosse and, by the time they’ve finished grade school have chalked up 1,000 volunteer hours helping the homeless or saving the planet. Perhaps what really irks me is the unsettling possibility that, from time to time, these claims may not be mere bombast.

For example, take a Christmas ’catch-up’ letter Terry and I received just after Covid from an old friend who used to live in Dunvegan many years ago. Here’s a sample: “When spring came, I joined the tennis club and played for two hours three times a week… I was also busy making jam during the spring and summer… I made over 100 jars and sold them for $5 each… the proceeds all went to the church (to) help pay for the new roof they need… When the fitness centres reopened this summer, I joined one within walking distance of my condo, and I work out on the weight machines three times each week… My latest activity is joining a duplicate bridge club.” In this case, every word is 100% true.

What’s even more remarkable is that Joyce Cutts, the author of this letter, was just a few months shy of her 90th birthday when she wrote it. How did I know her claims were kosher? Simple, I have never known Joyce to tell anything but the plain, unvarnished truth… even when I prayed she wouldn’t. Joyce and her late husband Robb bought the southwest half of Lot 21 Kenyon Con. 9 in 1978. Even though separated by a full generation or more, we became fast friends and were extremely sad when Robb, who was CEO of Crawley & McCraken (owners of Murray’s Restaurants) at the time, retired. Shortly thereafter, in 1993, they sold their Dunvegan property to Lynn and Bruce MacGillivray and moved to Welland, Ontario to be closer to their children.

Joyce concluded her photocopied letter with a handwritten note. “It’s been a long time since spending time in Dunvegan. I certainly remember going out and chopping down a Christmas tree. What a tradition we all started.” The tradition to which Joyce was referring involved her and Robb, Terry, myself and our two children cutting fresh Christmas trees every December on Cy and Louise Walker’s back 40 + 60. With our “best ever” trees loaded on John Dashney’s horse-drawn sleigh (along with our kids nestled under the fragrant boughs), we would follow John and his team of Belgians back east, stopping at the Cutts and then our place.

Trees off-loaded, we’d all return to the Walker’s brick farmhouse and its marvellous sunroom for steaming hot bowls of Louise’s authentic New Orleans gumbo and homemade bread. As the song goes… “Those were the days my friend. We thought they’d never end.”