The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 28, 1994 - B1 \CE STANDARD INSIDE SECTION B ~COMMUNITY JEFF NAGEL 638-7283 nd a Ua Es Pen AG kaon eg ERE Te, SMa Pea teh CPLA, SU PEP TEE ayaa eet EVENTS B2 REG HORNE Holiday frenzy begins to wane ITH THE the decorations up and the Christmas letter dispatched, we are now ready for the end of Decem- ber which I can only describe as a holiday frenzy al our home. It begins on the Sunday before Christ- mas. When we moved away from our families in Ontario we found that we had no one wilh whom to spend Christmas. It did not take much looking to find some other families in a similar situation, Forcing ourselves upon them on Christ- mas day would, however, be unwelcome. Instead, we invite them over for a Christmas dinner on the Sunday before Christmas, The first time we tried this, an enjoyable lime was had by all and thus a tradition began. December 23rd is my wife’s birthday. We always celebrate this day. Last year my wife had a dessert party. She invited some friends over and they all had. to | bring something rich in calories. The boys’ and I loved it. This is also the first day of gift opening ~ for the season. Our boys get to open the gifls they have received from aunts and uncles and I get to discover if } have cor- 'tectly interpreted the top item on my wife’s wish list. In the European fashion, we usually have our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, This makes the following day far more tolerable as cold sandwiches can be interspersed with the gift opening and as- sembly or wilh some classic movie on television. Christmas Day is much the same in our home as it is in most other Canadian homes. I spend the whole day trying to pul together the lego which the bays have received while they watch their new video. If I am lucky, I will have time to try out some of my gills as well. On Boxing Day we usually visit friends. Their kids and ours fight over who got the ’ best gifts. If the breakage has been mini- mal and war has not broken out, we stay for the evening meal. December the 27th is our wedding an- niversary. Impossible to forget but always hard to buy for when so many gifts have already been given. This is my last chance to give the right gift. Having ihree chances fo get it right is a blessing I am sure most husbands would love to have, and il is wonderful when you finally succeed, Sometimes we try and buy something for both of us, i.e., for the house. Thank goadness for December 28th we don’t celebrate anything that day. It is clean up the mess day and prepare for tomorrow day. In our home the holidays are not yet over. December 29th is my son’s birthday. More presents to unwrap and screaming kids to entertain. They have a custom in Manitoba, I don’t know if it exists else- where, that you judge the success of a birthday party by how many gifts you ‘take home. Last year we had the kids doing crafts. They went home with a huge bag of paper plates, show boxes, Styrofoam and shiny paper, It was an all time success, December 30th is another off day for us. We celebrate New Years Eve more as the end of the holidays than as the end of the year, True the decorations stay up another week or so but no one seems to mind their quiet dismal to the basement until next year, Dr. Reg Horne is a member of the Uni- versity. of Northern British Columbia, Faculty of Natural Resources. and En- vironmental Studies, based in Terrace. Cor THIS YEAR’S judges in the Northwest Real Estate Board's Christmas Decorating Contest were Terrace Youth Ambas- sador Maggie Botelho, the Real Estate Board's Erica Langer And now, the winners Judges name the homes that light up our holidays THE JUDGES have cruised the streets, seen the lights, and come up with the winners, The Best Home in the 1994 Northwest Real Estate Board’s “ Christivias Decorating Contest was that of the Youngs at : 4931 Park Avenue. “.. Runner-up for best home -was The Hansons at 3961 Mountainview Ave. in Thorn- “hill. ‘Tt was a tough decision this _year,’’ said contest organizer Joe Barbosa. ‘‘All of them were really, really well done.’ The winning home on Park Ave. was an “‘all around pack- ‘age’? sporting tons of lights, he said. Barbosa was called on to break ties in voting between the four judges on a couple of - decisions. . There were 11 entries in to- tal, with the single largest number of them coming from Thornhill. ' ‘Maybe the competition end _of it pricked up some people’s ears,’’ Barbosa said. ~Winners from last year — such as overall winner Adrian Enright — didn't enter this year to make room for new- comers. Best Theme winner was the Alaric home at 3809 Pine Ave. Runner-up was 4910 Gair Ave, home of the Morrisons. The award for Best Commer- cial Display went to the Til- licum Twin Theatre. Best Street was — no sur- prise here — McRae Crescent for the sixth time. Honourable mention for Best Street went to Bolton Ave. on the bench. “‘There’s more and more lights every year on McRac Crescent,’’ Barbosa noted, “*But Bolton gave them a good run for their money.” * Every yard on Bolton had a sign in it, éach proclaiming a Merry Christmas message in a different language. and Dennis Lissimore, Beautification Society’s Angela Mills, and contest organizer Joe Barbosa. The well-lit neighbaur- hoods left a sparkle in all the judges’ eyes. And an honourable mention for Outstanding Apartment went out to Bud Kirkaldy at #204-2606 Sparks St. “His apartment was really really well done,’’ Barbosa said. “There were quite a few great houses that didn’t en- ter,’’ he noted. ‘‘We’re look- ing forward to seeing quite a few of those people enter next year.” Onc house on the 4900-block of Lazelle — which wasn’t en- tered --- featured a roof- mounted Santa Claus and reindeer that swung on a hinge mechanism. Another house in Thornhill sported a 12-foot wreath in their front yard. More props and other design elemenls are showing up now, says Barbosa. “We could have given out lots of awards,’’ he says. “Traditionally there were just lights and trees,”’ Barbosa explained. “Now people are doing fence posts up as candlesticks, there are a lot of Santas on the roofs.’’ He pointed to the Alarics’ home on Pine, the winner of = best theme. The front yard was done up ‘as Santa’s Workshop, = “It was very, very ase a “They’ve - done,’”’ he. said. gone to a lot of effort.’’ Their effort also fit in well with the change — from the Christmas Light Campaign to the Christ-. mas Decorating Contest. - That change, says Barbosa,~ reflects an intent to stress ‘ef- ~ fort, thought, design and taste- © ful decoration over sheer volume of lights. Judges were Northwest Real Estate Board’s Dennis Lis-. simore and Erica Langer, the. Terrace Beautification Sociely’s Angela Mills, and Terrace Youth Ambassador Maggie Botelho. contest’s mame _ Mi On the slopes TINY TOTS can be seen learning the turns at Shames Mountain ski resort as families hit the slopes for the holidays. Beginning adult skiers often pull their faces out of the snow to see amazing- ly young children skiing by in much more apparent contral. Around Town to the swim. in the New Year. info, @ January 3-4 — Basic two-day clinic _ W@ Tuesday, January 24 — Refresher : - M Tuesday, January 31 — Evening Adult Type I Q p W@ Wedriesday, February § — Refresher clinic © *:-: wm Wednesday, February 15 -— Refresher Clinic: lf Wednesday, March 1 — Refresher Clinic ~ @ March 7-8 — Basic two-day clinic : | Wednesday, March 15 — refresher clinic _— mm Wednesday, April 5—~refresherclinic Ready to take the plunge? THOSE WHO FEAR no cold will be taking the plunge once again into Lakelse Lake on New Year’s Day, _ > It’s the 4th annual Kermodel Bear Swim, and organizer Rick McDaniel is hoping for a good turnout. All proceeds this year go to the Rick and Paul King Founda- tion. Participants are collecting pledge money around town prior They'll be mecting around noon at Mt. Layton Hotsprings Resort, Participants will then be bussed to the Lakelse Lake Pic- nic Site, where the actual swim will take place at 1:00 p.m. Diabetic clinics planned A SERIES of refresher clinics for diabetics are planned The clinics help people with diabetes control the disease and stay healthy. To parlicipate, you must have a doctor's referral. Contact Dana Hill at 635-2211 loc. 321 for more . 2 | : - : ve