Harry Dec 24, 2009
Harry Stemp was born in Uxbridge in 1934. He started his career with the Uxbridge Times-Journal as an apprentice typesetter at age 14. He soon began writing sports for the Times-Journal and eventually owned 10 community newspapers in central Ontario including the Times-Journal. He started writing his award-winning Stemp’s Stew in 1965. The column came to an end shortly after he sold his newspaper chain in 1989, but was rejuvenated in 2006 when Harry became a regular contributor to The Cosmos.
Jingle Bells & Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
“My favorite Christmas carol or song”, was the request from Cosmos editor Conrad Boyce. How do you do that when you love them all? Well, for a while at least. However, when they play them steady from the first part of November I must admit that, by December 25, I have had an overdose and want to go back to normal music.
But I do have two favorite Christmas songs, Jingle Bells and Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. Not for their words, or the melody, but for the wonderful memories they bring back at this time of the year.
Going back many years a number of residents, I think they were part of a local church, traveled around town on Christmas Eve singing Christmas carols. It was a lovely tradition. One that I am not sure still happens.
My late mother, May Stemp, was in the Cottage Hospital and our family knew that it would not be long until we would be saying goodbye to this wonderful lady. She had not been well, and the death of our father a few months earlier had taken a tremendous toll on her health.
I was visiting when the sound of Christmas carols wafted down the hospital corridor. Mom perked up and I saw a bit of a gleam in her eyes.
She took my hand and pulled me closer. “Harry, could you get them to come in here and sing Jingle Bells for me?”
It was a simple request that was soon granted, and the singers gathered around the bottom of the bed and sang Jingle Bells like I had never heard it before.
The look of complete joy and happiness that appeared on my Mom's face is something that I have never forgotten. After all these years I can still see her weak smile.
From that moment on Jingle Bells was filed in my memory bank, and to this day every time I hear that song, the wonderful look on the face of May Stemp appears.
At one time there was only one service club in Uxbridge. That was the Kinsmen Club, and it boasted a large number of members and contributed much to the betterment of life for the residents of Uxbridge.
An annual tradition was the delivery of hampers to families in need at Christmas time. For many families a large box with a turkey, other delicious goodies, and gifts for the children was the only Christmas they would know.
The list was divided up amongst the members and one year, a request came from two families in Sandford and two families in Mount Albert, which I took on.
Son Dana was about four at the time, so Christmas Eve I loaded him in the car seat, picked up my father, Jack Stemp, and away we went. It was quite dark when we were heading back home and as we passed Sandford there was a large scream from the back seat.
Dana started yelling, “Dad, we have to get home in a hurry because Santa Claus will be missing our house”.
Both Dad and I looked surprise as we wondered what this was all about.
“Dana, Santa won't miss our house”, I said. “Why would you say that”?
“Because Rudolph is pulling Santa's sleigh past Uxbridge. I can see his nose flashing up in the sky right now. So we have missed Santa because I am not home in bed”.
I slowed the car and both Dad and I looked up in the sky. A large plane was on the flight path into Toronto airport, and all you could see in the sky was the flashing red light. Both Dad and I had a good laugh and managed to settle Dana down long enough to convince him it was just an airplane, and Rudolph and Santa were still on their way.
Maybe now you can see why those two Christmas songs mean so much to me. Treasured memories. And I recently told this story to my two grandchildren, Garrett and Mia, and they had a good laugh at Dad's expense.
No 'Stew' until 2010 so I send the wish that you have a wonderful Christmas holiday season and that 2010 will be everything you want it to be. There is only one resolution that is important. Please resolve to make at least one person happy every day of the year. If we all did that, wouldn't life be grand?
