I sure had some good times jannying when I was growing up. In those days it was the only bit of fun we would have. Nowadays people don't go jannying anymore. That is a shame because it was a fun and harmless activity. Jannying put a smile on the jannie's faces and it also put a smile on the faces of the people they visited.

My earliest recollection of Christmas on the Point goes back to around 1950. Now, this was long before we had electric power or telephones. Our only light was the regular old kerosene lamp. The houses only source of heat was by a wood stove in the kitchen, usually a Comfort or Ensign. Many people burned green fir wood, which was very sticky. I have often seen people put the wood in their ovens to dry it a bit first before it would burn. Everyone would be in bed about nine thirty or ten o'clock. There wasn't much entertainment except for the radio, a game of cards or story telling.

This far back I remember waiting patiently for Christmas day to arrive to see what was in my stocking. Most times there would be a pair of socks or mitts and a few candy, plus an apple and sometimes an orange. One Christmas I got a stuffed horse (or maybe it was a dog), all homemade. Another year I got a set of alphabet blocks. I always remember hanging up the biggest stocking (or sock) that I could find and they were always hung on one of the nails that kept the pictures on the wall. In those days when people hung pictures they didn't hang them flat like we do today but they would let the bottom of the picture sit on two nails and the top of the picture would be let off from the wall on a piece of string or wire.

We always had baked duck for Christmas dinner. Accompanying the duck we would have salt beef, potatoes, turnip, sometimes pickled cabbage or greens and pudding with gravy. Then after there would be molasses cake. Christmas Eve was always special too and most often we would have salt fish for supper and at exactly six o'clock many of the men would fire their guns to welcome the Christmas season. The Christmas season then would never arrive until Christmas Eve, not like today when by the time Christmas Eve arrives, Christmas is almost worn out. In those days one would never see a Christmas tree until Christmas Eve. The tree was about the only thing that was put up in the house, mostly decorated with Christmas cards and a few coloured paper bows. In later years some people would string Christmas cards along their kitchen walls.

Christmas Day was always a day for visiting. We would go from house to house to see what our friends got for Christmas and perhaps to get a few candies. Did we ever see Santa Claus in them times? Well, some years we did and some years we didn't. There was no trail or road coming off Fox Harbour Point when I was a small boy. The only route to get off if the harbour was not frozen over was along by the shore. Some years the rocks would be too icy and slippery to walk over so we just had to stay put. I remember one year we could not get off the Point but Santa Claus decided to visit us anyway. I don't remember what house he came to but after supper on Christmas Eve most all the residents gathered in someone's house and there was a nice tree up and a few presents underneath. Soon there was a great commotion outside as Santa Claus arrived. He had no red suit but he wore a canvas dickie and a pair of seal skin boots. His face was covered with a white cloth with eye holes. He sure acted a lot like Sam Brown, but there he was with a jolly laugh and gave out the gifts. All the children got gifts and all the men got a carton of Camel cigarettes. Some years later when we could get off the Point there would be a Christmas Tree at the school on Christmas Eve and we would sometimes get a gift and always candy.