Whitby Free Piss, Weckiesday, Doomber 13,199. Page 7 The tree hunt WH Christmas isn't Christmas without the tree; the iright tree, strung up in your living room just so. 2 It cen no more be artificiel than can a rose. It cen't be a real tree bought i a lot, although that will do in emergencies. Take them home, set them up, shake once and you have a carpet full of evergreen needi es to last until July. No: it has to be real fir, fr-om a real tree farm, trussed up by a real tree baler. The 'how' is important. That's wliy we have baptisms, m ariges, why brownies fiy up. It is why the Swans have their annuel Christmas tree hunt. First, invitations. Planned, *weeks in advance; so stunningly plenned, and planned, and planned, that six days belbre Sunday last we phone aunts, undles, brothers, ________________________________ sisters, sons, daughters, cousins, great-dear second cousins, a____0___m___0___m___z___m___z_______ m_______z_ fr-iends, neighbours. Long distance, of course, but what the ________________________________ heck. We're saving on postage. The day before: preparations. A dozen trips to the supermerket, one to the rum store to make the eggnogY I : II .BE sweet, polishing, scrubbing bannisters you cen see your face in, Christmas decorations rescued from a yeers storage, vacuuming, swab the floors, change the kitty litter, dlean the rat cage, clip and bath the dog, buy another outdoor extension. Comes the day. The beans are on to bake, the chili to imer, the hot dogs and chocolate lined up for action, the coffee-meker primed and reacly. Company arrives: two grendchildren, speciel delivery before lunch; then Jeni and Bill, one pair of last yeaes '< newlyweds. Guests came then thick as snowflakes. The hous fils with laughter, noses burrow into photo albums, memories freshen up, loved ones unlost for a moment, the house smells of chili and baked beans. Children laugh. Tree time. We won't now retell the story of the yeer we got lost. This yeer, a foolproof convoy, three cars long, cavorts two miles to the tree ferm: spruce, pine and fir, twelve to nineteen dollars, eut your own, borrow a saw if you didn'tbring one. And off we go, over the creek past the L__ line of willows to where the wild fir trees shiver i the __ wind. A sandpaper wind shoves lonely snow along INTERIOR 0OF HEWIS MAT MARKET, BROCK STREET NORTB, 1933 forgotten furrows. The Ileft to night are Bill Coombes, George Hewis Jr., Harry Hewis and Leonard Merklin. TeHewis Meat Market wae in the building now oecupied by Go Natural Health and Beauty The trees come i many shapes: too short, too talltoo Centre. Some of the produets on display are-Rose Lard, Jewel Shortening and Maple Leaf Pure fiat, too fat, too cold, too cold, too cold. Cold 'and thin onte Lard. bottom win out, cut it, grab Karen before it falîs on her. Whtby Archven photo Timber. Chris and I each shoulder an end, manfully jump 1 EB G the creek and whistle barnward. from the Wedneeday, Deoember 11, 1985 edition of the $19,Ialedndacand-cenfor ach -d,_elok1itin WiTBY FREE PRESSo Time to eat. Chili, beans, hot dogs, hot chocolate, cold 80 YEARS AGO cuts and coffee. Milk for the kcids, to spill on the carpet;fromn the Thursday, Deoember 9, 1915 edition of the cheese chunks for theý dog to bide under the sofa cushions; WHiTBrY GAZETTEAMD CHRONICLE enough butter terts and fudge to lest until Wednesday. Old a Whitby Townehip Reeve Fred Rowe hoeted an oyster supper at the Temperance House, Fezziwig neyer laid it on better. Brooklin, for hie council. Then, one by one or six as they came, they depart into a W.H. Elvise, who has operated the Brooklin flour milI for 14 years, has retired. the sharp, snowy, night, weather as Christmas as a Toronto Alderman Samiuel Morley Wickett, who was born at Brooklin, <ied yesterday at grandfather ever knew. the age of 43. Swas tee s p, ecoate; he eope, her nsese a tepayers are voting on a by-law to have WVhitby's new sewage system under the control Swan tre isupdecoate; te peple ther nsesof the Light and Water Commission. nipped by the tree-hunting cold, now too are up, decorated for the Christmnas season. May yours be happy. __Ã