Our Christmas

So, Christmas is behind us again. I always wonder what the next Christmas will be like. After all, I'd never thought we'd be here in Ottawa (and yes, still loving it!).

Our Christmas Eve is "The Big Event" in our family. How did that get started? Yvonne! She could not wait till morning. She'd beg for just "one" present. We "tried" to say no to no avail. We gave in and the boys, even though they were older felt they should have just "one" too. So finally we said: "What the heck, in our family we can do what we want and we opened them all, get it over with and have done so ever since!

We always have a Fondue. How did that start?

Ted and I, besides our singing in churches, also did a lot of outreach in our community. We tried to make friends and the best way to do that was over a Fondue pot, which was something relatively new in those days. A Fondue would always break the ice. Especially a meat Fondue, since it takes a long time to cook the meat. We'd hope there be a chance to talk about the Lord, if not then it would come later. For my neighborhood ladies a pot of coffee did the trick. After a while a weekly Bible study/discussion came out of that. We only had ONE rule,

you could never say: "I don't agree with that!" After all, every body is entitled to an opinion, especially when you have an assortment of religious backgrounds

Back to the Fondue. At that time our boys were young and we believed they should be in bed early. They thought a Fondue seemed like so much fun, a real grownup thing to do. To make the Christmas Eve extra special for them, the Fondue party was born. We still have the original pot, that is becoming an heirloom, hahaha! Later on we had two pots going, one for meat and one for cheese. With the lights dim and candles only, it was not unusual for the boys to use a flashlight when a piece of meat had fallen off the fork. Those days were also very much fun!

Our Cheese Fondue now has some company. Jason's famous sweet and sour meatballs ready made and rice and he added pre-fried Dutch croquettes (bought in the Dutch store, they are the best). So the meat Fondue pot has been shelved, Ron and Jason thought it took too long to fry the meat, hahaha! Oh well.....so much for that!

To make a cheese Fondue any other time would almost be a mortal sin, so it really is a Christmas Eve tradition now and so is exchanging gifts.

On Christmas day we'd planned a Turkey/Ham meal at Ron and Lynne's place in Russell (ON about 50km away). We were supposed to eat at around 4pm. An hour prior Ted and I headed to our car in the underground garage and found out it would not start, what now? I had an overnight bag packed since we were going to sleep over and I'd packed some additions to the meal, for one "The green stuff"we call it. Anyways, Ted tried a few things but the battery was as dead as a door nail.

We called Ron and explained our predicament. Hoping Yvonne and Jason had not left yet I called them. Too late, they had just arrived in Russell. They suggested to call a taxi, which I did. I was so flabbergasted I could not think, which is unusual for me, hahaha! I better not tell you how much the fare was!

The driver happened to be from Iran, he came to Canada four years ago. He felt we should give him some extra since it was Christmas? (While I thought he should give us a break because of our unfortunate predicament being seniors and all!) Anyways, he was complaining he could not be a professional like he was back home, has to go back to school etc. Ted sympathized with him and the more he did the louder the driver became, he was given false promises by Canadian immigration and the war by US and Canada made living in Iran impossible.

I thought just keep your eyes on the road, you have some precious cargo here! Besides, I thought, it was not easy for us when we came to Canada or for other Dutch immigrants we know. It takes a long time having to start with nothing and..... in those days we got no financial help either from the Government. Nevertheless, the man was on my mind for a long time.

The next day Ron took us home and charged our battery.