Merry Christmas to all! Some holiday memories of growing up in the rurals( south of Ottawa) in the 60s and 70s. Be safe, be well. Cheers!

Merry Christmas to all.  Enjoy your families and friends and maybe offer a prayer for those less fortunate at this time of year especially those who recently lost loved ones. We've had a bad run lately.  If you could offer a thought to those who are missing some special people this Christmas, I'd appreciate it. Especially during these crazy, crazy times. Stay safe, stay well.

When I think back there's three time periods that stand out at Christmas time for me, pre-teen, young adulthood, and those early days as a father.  

Growing up on the Kars Road in the sixties, seventies, three young boys in a very rural setting, looking back it was as good as it gets singularly due to our parents. My late Dad and my mother Sarah made sure we had the absolute best Christmas and as we hit double digits age-wise and our teen years and family would visit from out of town they truly were special holidays. We always went to Mass; there was tons of food; somehow Dad would find the money to buy the three of us way too much. All I really wanted every year was a new hockey net. I needed it after beating the crap out of my 'old' one for the previous 364 days.  One time I didn't get one, so it appeared. Dad forgot to get it from the basement. Then he remembered and told me it was down stairs. I hurriedly raced down through our old trap door, past the furnace, into where we knew the monsters definitely stayed at night, that dark, dank, dungy, cement floor room which always had a hundred cobwebs hanging from the ceiling and there it was! I could see the corner of the box, a new net! Beauty! lol....just things I remember. 

Many of the Maguire Christmas memories gravitate to our back kitchen.  Dad had it finished in the 70's but there was no heat other than an old wood stove.  Every fall Dad would get our wood from Emery Brophy. Mr. Brophy would deliver the cords, we'd spend that whole weekend splitting it and stacking it. Had to be done right. Some pieces we couldn't split. Dad called them, 'the big pigs'. They'd go on the fire once she was going real good. You'd fire one of those on and you had 40-45 minutes of awesome heat before you'd have to stoke and put on more logs. Most of what was delivered was split easy, some was used for kindling and it was our job, the boys, to make the fire each day.  It was never more necessary than during the deep freeze of '73 when our pipes froze and we had no water and for long stretches no power and no heat in the house at all. We fired up the stove and kept 'er going non stop.  When I think of it now....incredible.  

Such was life on the Kars Road then and Christmas time was special. Later, in the early adult years, having a few pints became a big thing. Our order from Brewers Retail, Manotick was pretty large. The beer would be stacked up under the table in the back kitchen, under our TV, the first colour TV we ever had. When we needed another case, lift the cover on the table, reach under, pull out another 24 Molson EX and rock on. Our place became a drop-in place for many of our friends especially on today's date, December 24th. So much fun. We'd drink and eat all day, then go to Midnight Mass at St. Bridget's on the River Road.  Usually end up sitting around the Boivin's for some reason, always seemed to be that way. And there was always the pre-requisite 30-40 Kelly's in attendance.  No question, the most memorable were the night my brother Mike set off a load of fireworks after Mass firing them over the River Road, over the houses into the river and the night of the massive snow ball fight where we had as many as three, four dozen participants. It was one of those nights of the perfect snow for snow balls, know what I mean?  One scoop of your hands, quick pat-pat and fire at will. The Priest, God love him, don't know which one it was but he tried to leave during the worst of it and I seriously did not think he was going to make it to the River Road out of the Church driveway. We hammered his vehicle pretty good. lol....Sorry Father.  I blame my friend Mike Doyle AKA Doyley. We lost him 15yrs ago tragically. Definitely thinking of him this time of year.

The early memories with our kids, when Liz and I were together, were the best. When they believed. When they helped us put out the milk and cookies for Santa; when Liz and I would get them to bed then have a night cap, reflect on the day, the month, the year, sit by the tree knowing we had done our best and I think, for the most part, although that ended far too soon, for the most part I think we did okay.  So for those of you who are going to do that tonight, relax and chill with your partner after what will probably be a hectic day, make sure it's a special day for your kids tomorrow. Always put your kids first, even if you split, always put your kids first.  And if you have some other sort of what you may think is a mundane routine but it involves your children, tell them, although they'll scoff or rebuff or say Mom, Dad, I don't want to! Tell them, kids, years from now, when you're older, you'll look back and remember these days with your brothers, your sisters and us...so please do this, it's important. And I love you okay, so please do this.  And they will. And they will remember.  

It was a different time, a different world. Enjoy your families and the holiday. On behalf of the spirit of the Kars Road, through the villages of Manotick and Osgoode, from Stoneham to Dublin, stay safe, have fun, Merry Christmas.  

Mariah Maguire, Shanna Maguire, Rory Maguire, Kiera Maguire; Christmas 2003.