Blessed to have caring, sharing community
This year’s blast of winter made the 21st Creemore Community Christmas Dinner a bit more challenging: some from further away could not travel to the Legion, while others could not follow their plans and decided to stay home. This meant a lot of last-minute cancellations and additions to our guest list.
We managed nicely but the dynamic of this year’s event was different. In addition to the blustery winter weather, quite a few people suffering from colds or other illness and a few still worried about COVID opted for take-out, halving our usual number of in- house diners. All told, we cooked enough food for 100, but when we would typically make about 15 take-out meals, this year we prepared 52. When we would normally have around 90 people dining in, this year we had 46.
On Dec. 24 the Elves gathered to deck the hall and prep the food.
The decreased number of dine-in guests presented our Decorator Elves with the challenge of visually decreasing the size of the large room to make it feel cozier. The increased number of take-outs, pick-ups and deliveries, put more onus on our Delivery Elves who took up the gauntlet admirably. In the hustle and bustle there were a few hiccups, but Marjorie R. will be happy to know that this year it was Norma F. who was last, but not least.
At 5 p.m. we had our wonderful dinner. With contributions from Foodland and The 100 Mile Store, Chef Elf Jim H. and his Helper Elves prepared a delicious traditional meal of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrots, turnip, gravy, cranberry sauce,offering a variety of pies, cakes, tarts and cookies for dessert followed by vanilla hazelnut coffee from The Creemore Coffee Company. Many thanks to those who quietly and efficiently worked at clean-up while the rest of us talked.
On Dec. 26th we gathered once again to put all the decorations in storage – happy after a successful event, but with a touch of nostalgia because Christmas was past. Afterall, it had been 3 years since all the toys had last come out to play and it seemed a shame to put them away.
So many people contribute to this event that it is impossible to name everyone. Time, effort, food, or funds are donated by everyone who attends and many who do not. We are blessed to have had enough money contributed this year to ensure a dinner for next year. We are blessed to have such a caring and sharing community. Thank you, friends, for all that you have given and for all that you do.
To all, and particularly to those recently returned home from the hospital, we wish you a healthy and happy 2023!
– Donna Baylis is the coordinator of the Creeemore Community Christmas Dinner.
