A "message" from Message - Christmas for the son of a Peacekeeper
When I was seven years old my Dad went to Egypt with the UN Peacekeeping force after the Six Day War. As a young child I did not totally understand what my Dad was doing exactly but knew that he was far away and Christmas that year was a very different experience. Most people like to get their Christmas shopping done early but for us that year, it was a necessity as the gifts had to be sent by early November to reach Dad in time.
I remember going to the Bay in Saskatoon to shop as we always took the elevated walkway from the parkade to the store and then off we went to the Army and Navy store to look for more gifts. It was always exciting going to the Army and Navy store with the oldest elevator in town that still used a crank for selecting the floors and an attendant to work it and with old granite stairs worn into rounded depressions from thousands of feet passing over them. Since we were so young and our choices were limited for gifts, I seem to remember getting Dad socks but also getting the Jiffy Pop packages with the coat hanger like handle on the tinfoil pan and lid for Dad to have as a treat. I helped Mom with cooking goodies like ginger snaps, sugar cookies, peanut brittle and even a chocolate cake to be sent to Dad with love.
As Christmas approached it was certainly different without having Dad around and this did make it hard for a number of events such as the Father-Son dinner for Cubs. Thankfully a friend of the family did take me but it just wasn't the same. The sting of Christmas without Dad was lessened with Grandma and Grandpa coming to visit that year. It was always exciting to have visitors from BC in our home. To hear Dad's voice we always had to wait for a day that he was able to get to Tel Aviv so he would be able to get to a phone that could reach us.
A few years later we moved to Petawawa and yet another Christmas season approached. I was walking to Scouts with a number of my friends; we came to Mark's house. Mark was from Newfoundland and part of our troop. Through the window we could see a decorated birch tree with tinsel on the branches and bulbs of white, blue, green and red hung with care and a shining star at the very top. We were all perplexed and asked him why he had a birch tree for Christmas. He replied, "My Dad is in the Golan Heights and will not be home until March and an evergreen would lose all of its needles by then." We asked him why they didn't just get an artificial tree and he responded "but that is not a real tree." At least they did have their presents to open Christmas day and some more to open when his Dad got home.
Now years later at Christmas time I think of all the children this year that don't have a Dad or Mom home for Christmas as they serve our military in Afghanistan and around the world on peacekeeping missions and pray for the children that don't have a parent coming back for Christmas ever again.
Shawn McCaig
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Hugh Message - www.HughMessage.com
Macdonald Realty 1st Pioneer, 22424 Fraser Highway, Langley, BC
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