Christmas is coming; the turkey's thawing out

It's noon on Tuesday, December 19 and Vernon is finally white for Christmas. When I woke this morning all was clear, but by now an unknown good Samaritan has shovelled the front walk and it is quickly getting covered again. The radio has just announced that the Coquihalla southbound between Hope and Merritt has been closed. I hope Mo and John made it over the Rogers Pass this morning; they're heading to Alberta for the holidays.







Before I get lost in the moment, I want to recognize the fact that Ron Noginosh died on November 15 this year. He had had heart trouble even before Jim died but had carried on quite well until he dropped suddenly while sitting with Max. I hadn't seen him in ages but I have fond memories of his visits to our place, sometimes with his sons. He rarely showed up when he said he would but we could count on surprise visits, sometimes to use the sauna as a sweat lodge with his boys. It's true that he had a "biting wit and a wild and wacky sense of humour". I'm lucky to have some of his works to remind me of that. In fact a bizarre thing happened when May and I were putting together the Christmas tree last week. We are two accident prone women, but in spite of the fact that I knew that from past catastrophes, I hadn't even had the forethought to get breakable things out of harm's way. Crash! The first to fall was 'The Church of Nog'. Ron's wonderful creation that I bought about 20 years ago at Mela's silent auction. The glue had dried so that when it hit the floor its many wacky symbols scattered. I must have looked shattered because May instantly assumed blame. I could see how sorry she felt, so I tried to lessen her guilt by making light of it and comparing the desecration of the church of Nog so soon after Ron's death to the old song about the grandfather's clock that "stopped short never to go again when the old man died". She'd never heard that song so it eased the moment as we picked up the bits. We found them all, even the little AFN (Assembly of First Nations) pin. The next day, I went to Canadian Tire and bought a tough metal glue. The objects had been so long on the church that a vague impression of each remained on it so I was able to glue them back on. The only part that has not fully recovered is the little music box that played 'The Shadow of Your Smile'. Once in a while a few notes ping out, hardly a shadow. But the memory of Ron and his inventiveness remains sharp.








I went to Jay and May's this Sunday for lunch and our annual decoration of Christmas cookies. I make the cookies but the girls are the decorators. Jay really threw himself into it this year too.