Page 25 - Giv'er Miramichi Magazine - Christmas Giver 2023

store-bought ornaments mostly and twisted up tinfoil to look river ice each year, to bring Santa to our home.
like icicles. There were no lights because we didn’t have Today I continue to knit and bake, preserve crab apples,
electricity back then, just the warm glow of oil lamps. and make jellies, and keep the traditions alive that were
I remember staring at the beautiful tree and us kids were formed by my late father Robert E. Jardine, grandmother
all so excited. Before long, Mom said, “I hear bells!” Laura Jardine, and my mother Dora Jardine who lives
We rushed to the windows with our ears pressed against with me now and is 94 years old.
the glass. Sure enough, there was the sound of bells, making
their way towards us, through the dark winter night.
Mom hurried us to the table to sit and “be good” and
before long the door opened and there was Santa Claus
coming in with a loud “Ho, ho, ho!”
Every year he came, big and tall, to us anyway, with his
red suit and knapsack on his back. He asked if we were good
boys and girls and we sat in awe, our eyes wide. Toys stuck
out of his knapsack, like little brooms and shovels and he
gave us a bag of candy to share.
After he left, we scurried to bed, but not before gathering
around Gram in her rocking chair, to say our prayers, as we
did every night.
The next morning Santa had come, and our socks were
filled with ribbon candy, a barley toy, and oranges and apples.
We unwrapped little brooms and shovels and knew then for
sure, that the man from the night before was Santa, because
we had seen them sticking out of his knapsack. Dad had
guided a sport that year, a fisherman “from away”, and he
sent my sister and I each a beautiful doll and a big red
firetruck for my older brother. We felt so blessed.
Soon the smell of roast chicken filled the house, freshly
plucked from the hen house a few days prior, and we sat
down to a Christmas feast. We had such a sweet closeness
with Mom and Dad and never heard a loud word spoken in
that house.
I am 75 years old now, and those memories stay with me
as if they just happened yesterday. I am so grateful for that
time in my life, filled with simple joys and the wonder of
Christmas, and for my dear Uncle Arch who came across the

Giv’er Miramichi is published by MCG Media 25