When it comes to putting up Christmas lights and decorations, I’m a bit of a Scrooge.
OK, actually I’m a huge Scrooge with nothing up again this year — HUMBUG!
However, that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate and applaud those who do, and today’s column features one of the most fab Christmas yards in the city. I speak of none other than the home of J.P. and Dana Lafreniere of 17 Boulder Bay, just around the corner from Archibald and Cottonwood.
It is a showpiece, to say the least, as evidenced by the steady flow of traffic idling by each Christmas season. For about 15 years now, this amazing couple starts in October or so, and take five or six weeks to get everything up in place and ready for showtime. Front yard, roof, backyard, all lit up like a roman candle.
I’m sure you can see it from space.
I’m showing it to you today with an invitation from J.P. and Dana to drive by and have a look in person. It’s a great way to plug in to the Spirit of Christmas, a cheery respite from this crazy world we live in these days. You’ve got till a bit after New Year’s to see it, then it all comes down for another year. Imagine. There’s so much stuff J.P. added a second storey onto their garage to store everything. And every year, in the post Christmas sales, they go buy more to add next year!
Bravo to this wonderful Winnipeg couple, and all the other festive folk who decorate for the holiday season each year, for brightening our lives a bit during the cold, wretched, dark heart, of winter.
Oops, did I say that out loud? Now you’ll know I DON’T LIKE WINTER, although it’s possible I may have mentioned this before.
But I do love the people part of Christmas, the family gatherings, the baking, the pies, mmmmm the pies. So fattening but so delicious. It’s OK to binge a bit at this time of year, just a bit, then behave the rest of the year. Everything in moderation.
ME: “Why yes thanks, I’d love another piece of warm cherry pie, make that two, and maybe throw in another heaping bowl of steaming Christmas pudding, smothered in that stunningly delicious sauce. Thanks.”
Wandering through J.P. and Dana’s yard taking pics awakened some of my own Christmas memories, one of them being a kid watching my Dad, Joe Mustard, wrap presents.
Dad had a hardware store in Killarney, and was always wrapping something, as efficiently and neatly as anyone possibly could. Waste not, want not.
He applied those elite wrapping skills to each present, cutting just enough paper to completely cover the gift, with the tidiest, neatest folds you’ve ever seen. Scotch tape used as sparingly as possible.
I think he may even have stuck his tongue out the left side of his mouth a bit at detail time. Had to get it just right. He absolutely loved Christmas, as did our whole family, extended as well. Wonderful years.
He was, however, no fan of winter, missed the green of summer a lot. Christmas offered him a bit of a coping strategy in that department, because once all the trees were removed from homes post New Year’s, Dad would gather as many as he could, make a base for each one with snow and freeze them into place till they toppled in spring.
We moved to Winnipeg in 1957. Our kitchen window overlooked the yard between our house and garage, and Dad would fill that space with rows of rescued Christmas trees, which were beautiful by the way, giving the impression we lived in a vast forest. He even nailed a big painting of a summer scene on the back of the garage facing the window. Hey, whatever it takes.
Get out and see some lights. They’re everywhere!
Comments and column ideas welcome!
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