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Your a mean one, Mr. Grinch

November 25, 2021   ·   0 Comments

By Anthony Carnovale

I’m not going to lie — I struggle with the holidays. I mean, I love the time with my family and seeing and hearing my children’s excitement for things like: snow, Santa, a visit from Grandma, Christmas presents, and holiday movies. But the holidays are also a time for sniffles, ugly sweaters, loud meals, turkey, and those stupid Christmas crackers. I’m tired of spending money on gifts my kids will have forgotten about by Boxing Day. At some point, it starts to feel like it’s just too much. I look forward to the end of the holidays, as much as I look forward to the beginning of them. My relationship status with the Christmas season? It’s complicated.

One thing I do enjoy about the Christmas holidays is the Orangeville Santa Clause Parade. I like seeing the looks on kids’ faces as the floats trickle by; I get a kick out of seeing the Grinch marching down Hansen. My nephew told me that the best part of this year’s parade was the smell of hot chocolate and seeing Santa Clause.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve managed to work a mini tradition inside the bigger one. Before the parade begins, I offer to buy hot drinks for those in our group. Once I’ve taken my family’s order, I walk over to French Press. Before I walk into the café, I take a slight detour into Booklore.

There’s just something about being inside of Booklore that I find so comforting, something that just makes everything feel so right —especially during the holiday season. When you’re inside you can’t help but feel that you’re inside of a very special place (any bookstore that is still operating must be very special place). The soft lighting is soothing; CBC is always playing on the radio. I’ve always been envious of the collection of book-ends that wrap around the store like a ribbon. I love walking around the stocked shelves, and allowing myself to get lost in opening paragraphs, random quotes, artwork, and verses of poetry. The more time I spend reading, the less I hear the noise outside.

Truthfully, most of the books I purchase from Booklore are special order items. I stay away from popular fiction and award-winning books. What they don’t have on the shelf, they can always order and have shipped to the store. I look forward to the emails that tell me that my books have arrived and are ready for pick-up.

If you’re looking for a work of fiction that is like nothing you’ve ever read, consider everything Ali Smith has ever written. Smith’s “Summer’ and ‘Autumn’ are part of her seasonal series of novels; they explore politics, the pandemic and the possibility of forgiveness; there is nobody like her. Smith’s “Summer” and “Autumn” are now on the shelf at Booklore.

If you’re looking for something more whimsical and playful, consider purchasing a copy of Harry Posner’s poetry and fiction. Harry is a friend of mine, but he’s also the Poet Laureate of Dufferin County. Support our local authors.

If you’ve got young kids or grandchildren, you can’t go wrong with a Pete the Cat book. My daughter and I have spent hours upon hours reading and laughing at Pete and the crazy shenanigans that he and his crew get into. Booklore has plenty of ‘Pete the Cat’ titles in stock.

I think what makes things even more special is that when I’m purchasing a book from Booklore, I’m shopping in a local bookshop, owned and operated by people who live in my community. In some ways, I’m helping them as much as I’m helping myself. In my life, how I spend my money is just as important as where I spend my money.

This Christmas, please support our local businesses. If books aren’t for you (we probably won’t ever be friends), or the people you’re shopping for (them neither) buy a bag of whole bean coffee from Mochaberry, visit a local thrift shop for something unique, pick up a gift certificate from Moguls n Mocean. Yes, these are places that I frequent, but I know what they offer, and I know how much these merchants care about the people in our community. There are real people behind the products that are being sold.

My son says I should give people what they like for Christmas, instead of giving them what I like. I want to give people something new, something they may have never thought about before, something that could change the way they see the world, see themselves, see our community. Carl Jung was once said, ‘each of our lives is an experiment’. Let’s take that approach into this holiday season. Let’s break from some of the tired traditions and try something new for a change. For me, it’s not the thought that counts, it’s the effort that counts. If more people treated the holidays this way, I might actually enjoy them a little more.


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