The Bermuda Recorder

              saturday december 22 197i j page fourteen the bermuda recorder jhe day l&fah qhtimamtmiia christmas with the greene's what my dx^i 0ld-ra5hj0»edl twas the day before christmas when all through hamil-tovvn not a creature was idle you should have heard that sound continued from page 13 unpleasant experiences but we are determined to pull through this experience together and sharing reminding his flock that christmas was nearing and that the advent of christ was as good a time as any as to start the practice of loving and sharing if they had never done it before like he grinned to himself no one could make cakes and pies like his mother mother does sniff sniff . . . what was that burning it certainly could not be anyone burning trash in the middle of the night anyway there was only one house around the bcr.d and that was his tim pushed his bike hurriedly and smoke billowed and swirled out of the kitchen window no lights were on in the house tim dropped his bike and ran the last few yards to the kitchen door he knew his mother never locked this door until he was in so he gave a push and entered the kitchen for me at by this time they were hi the city where do we let you off nicole oh any where in town i am going to have to browse around first anyhow all the stockings were hung the houses were sparkling clean for they knew that soon old santa would be making the scene christmas nicole looked up at her father from under her eyelids she sensed his displeasure at the topic and she longed for him to be able to understand the true spirit of giving yes he had provided for his family but he had so much and failed to share with anyone else see you soon carl bye rita nicole gave the baby a last peck on the cheek and promised the couple that she would see them over the christmas holiday if she did not get the chance to see them before the crowds were growing bigger the pavement space was growing smaller the children were becoming more eager and tlie handsome packages were heaped taller and taller the day was brisk and cold with winds but warmth was the smile of coming home for christmas — the excitement of mom's bright loving face — the warmth of the tu'key cooking in the kitchen to gether w*e unite as always we have done since we joined as one then she thought sadly how he had turned away the little children who had come to his door on the many tag days and she could hardly supross the desire she had to cry b0lida7 cheer the holiday crowds grew thinner east cr west they went their way they had all gone home to await the dawn of christmas day shopping over nicole caught a taxi to her smi'a's parish home she felt satis fied with herself as the taxi drove up in front of her door and she knew that she had been able to buy all of her presents in one day tim will not have to worry about get ing knitted socks from me this year she chuckled the smoke was so thick switching on the lights he saw flames leaping at the kit here's hoping that you and yours will know every happiness of this season this day has joined people all over the world on tint lonely day jesus was born the birth of a small child changed that day for all by gregory woods age 14 years form 3 west school the berkeley institute over mary's house that aft ernoon nicole told of the dis agreement she had had with her father on friday night and again on that saturday morn ing mary was a dedicated christian girl and she told ni cole that she should pray for her father nicole as nice as she was was not that dedi cated she felt that her wish was good enough but she did not hurt her good friend mary ty telling her that chen windows and snaking un der the door towards the iv ing room tim began to think fast turn off the oven and hurry to wake the others groping among the smoke tim turned off the stove then strode towards the door to call his parents and sister he was not prepared for the scene that met his eyes carpet layer — new light hope and love — christmas day began gilbert r darrell feeling extravagent nicole tipped the driver a whole dol lar corner of king & reid streets telephone 2-1462 hamilton anybody home i'm back nicole hollered yes dear i'm up here mrs burch re dense smoke came from the living room luckily the house was only one storey tim ran from door to door calling his family alarmed they sprang from their beds only to be greeted by the same frighten ing scene that had faced tim il fl h flflflt i thought you would nev er get back she teased j h flflj c-^k^^a vof y \ mf&xlmm peace i believe i have bought every present i need to buy her daughter answered happi ly the igirls spent an enjoyable afternoon together nicole felt satisfied that at least mary had listened to her as a true friend and that her problem would not go any further i've never done that be fore usually i have to go to town three or four times a week for weeks before i final ly make up my mind good thing bermuda is a tou-\st resort we can certainly i ; nd a variety there the two weeks in between nicole's visit to mary's house and christmas flew by rauid ly nicole had only one other ocassion to stop by and see the greenes and the baby es pecially once during that peri ed she was satisfied that baby nykana would not be too big for the present that she was making her by this time they could hear the crackling of tne christmas tree and smell the smell of charred foods and materials outside every body demanded mr burch everybody outside mom i will let you see what i have bought for every body beside yourself of course nicole said we must be able to do something father tim ques tioned no everywhere seems to be alight call the fire bri gade mr burch shouted alright you know i'm cur ious her mother chuckled now it was christmas evs the sweater had been finished with mrs burch's help the burch's house was filled to overflow with the smell of christmas goodies and new furnishings only the turkey was left to be cooked even the tree was up in the living room and to think the whole family would be grouped around the table to eat christ mas dinner together ... to morrow four years since this had happened tim and his father came home simultaneously and men it was suppertime nicole washed the dishes rapidly he was anxious to get started an the baby's sweater the i.ext day would be sunday and she was not in the habit of knitting or doing anything of that sort on that day furthermore when she returned from church there were always so many places to go or peopl to entertain at their house i have already done lhat father nicole shouted i uced the extension in my room she explained may this holy season bring you an abundance of happiness soon the clanging of the fire-truck could be heard com ing up the driveway the burch family stood helpless ly outside watching their christmas go up in ashes the greene's their nearest neigh bours were there too let us renew the message off christmas at this season . im-m let the joyful songs of christmas ring out for all to hear and peace and good will de luxe cleaners carl was in the thick of the battle along with the firemen nicole walked into the kitchen to say goodnight to her mother tim was out he had invited nicole to come and go to the party with him but she had declined saving that she was tired it had been a busy day for her what wiih her doing extra rounds to say merry christmas to many of the children that came under her jurisdiction in her social work continued on page 18 cemetery rd pembroke dorchester realty limited climbing into her bedclothes nicole stretched the pattern book out on her bed trying to read the instructions in be tween her preparation for bed she finally gave this proceed ure up and decided she might as well make one thing out of putting her nightclothes on and then get down to business with the pattern real estate agency telephone 2-1536/37 jj/iom th rmqtjo fchotiwia ' dorchester house church street west hamilton mmmmm w j_f x d "' i ■ ay f imm **° ' b ' '&' *& mm ap ' ■'■' y 1 ' ~' —± 1 ~ -" jfe-ap '* j;yj-&fl^ko t^j^mmmmamamammmmr'^r^j m^ir^afa^^^w^^ms fl flfj il mw • / k >«. £ fll jb^^^^^^^^^a ss|^^l sssisbfl h a\r j^^ji w'^^^iw^mf^w i v aw^^^^^^^^b^^^ma fl f ' am nflw v *"^^^'*-*^ -^ ■* flflfls-jw - flflfly^wflfl>.fly fr ■ ' v7 " __— f -/" ' amw * marlmt f v^-^h hillv 4 . bpe e ' ammmmmw mmmwv a r a f j b l^h hk '. ■ ■» w*^tm^^h mm^t jr the sweater set was such a darling one it was to have a picture of a lamb on it quite an ambitious scheme tor nicole but she knew she could count on her mother if she ran into any trouble with the sweater mary had a little mrs burch was bending putting the turkey in the oven the last of the christmas cooked she beamed ni cole you have not done much of the cooking as you prom ised mrs burch teased 1 lamb singing tolauglianierseir what would her friends think it they heard her singing this childish song nicole stopped next year mother nicole joked i'm going to bed now its eleven o'clock i want t^be fresh for christmas dayh eeyouirii!_ei_tchtu_tg^_wth a young woman of deep feel ing nicole had a cross sec tion of friends to the more sophisticated ones they ta*._w only the grown up part of her but her mother and close friends knew that she could lapse into these momentary fits of seeming childishness but these two sides of nicole's character were an asset to her in her work as a social work er she was able to approach the problems she met effici ently and yet she was able to be sympathetic er nicole prepared for bed hap pily tomorrow would be a happy day for the family go inj over to the window to pull in the blinds she looked up in the starry sky and mide a wish again i wish that my father would learn the joy of loving and sharing this christmas even if this is the only present he gets this christmas nicole turned off the light for a while she could hear her mother's familiar tread around the kitchen and tnen she heard her parents lights switched off and all was quiet it was traditional for her mother to leave the turkey on a low fire and get up peri odically to check on it this christmas was going to ie different nicole was going to get her wish mr burch would thoughts of mary crossed her mind nicole decided she would igo over to mary's house after church the next day ind chat with her about her father's attitude toward ner friendship with the greenes nicole knew that mary would not criticise her father bu at least it was a comfort to be able to talk to her about it 5h emmm mm i had better call up mary now and ask her about com ing over her house tomorrow she might just be having company she reasoned learn the art of loving and sharing and this would be the only present that he would have sincere good wishes to you our good friends and customers this very joyous season party over tim came noise lessly into the driveway on his bike the burch's house was set back from the main road away from other houses thn knew that his family would be asleep and that the slight est sound would awaken them so that he turned off his motor and coasted into the yard hi nicole no i am not having any company tomor row yes we can go home to gether after morning service see you then goodnight nicole here's a cartful of good wishes for all our kcw g ms ' xunds again - we h »* he b you your friends and customers happy holidays goodnight mary nicole echoed sunday nicole searched the church for mary oh yes there she was sitting halfway down the middle of the church nicole flashed her friend a smile merry christmas anc rest of luck in the new year from all at management & staff tim like nicole was anti cipating the family chrstmas dnner for days he had been chased away from tbe pud dings and cakes that had tempted him only a few hours and he could have all he wanted say what you woodlawn supermarket uhb shoppikir rcmtd somerset bridge somerset the service was beautiful her minister rev stiurt spoke about the joy of loving victoria street hamilton