Supporters seem to be responding positively to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum’s online Christmas Arts & Crafts auction. I haven’t looked at every item, but many of the ones I did check had received opening offers, and a number were already the focus of embryonic bidding battles.
However, as of this writing, there are still some real bargains to be had if you’re in the market for one-of-a-kind Christmas gifts. A perfect example is the unique silver bracelet donated by Brenda Taylor of Monkland. Made from an antique silver fork, its tines are curved into a heart-motif. Brenda fashions a complete range of silver jewellery and ‘objets d’art’ from antique silverware, including necklaces, rings, earrings and even wind chimes. Valued at $35 (in itself a steal), the minimum opening bid for her bracelet has been set at just $15.
The auction will close at noon on Friday, December 4th, so you still have well over a week to support the GPM’s fundraiser by placing a bid or two or even three. To view the virtual auction’s lineup in its entirety, click the appropriate tab on the museum’s web site: GlengarryPioneerMuseum.ca.
a.k.a. Christmas at Maple Creek
This next item goes out to Linda Howes of Charian King Farms in Martintown. Linda called to ask if I knew when the movie that had been filmed at the museum in Dunvegan this past summer was going to be aired. So I checked with Jennifer Black the museum’s curator.
Apparently Linda isn’t alone when it comes to an interest in when the Dunvegan movie will hit the little screen. “Ever since November 1st,” Jennifer told me, “I’ve had people asking every single day.” Part of the reason folks have been unable to unearth any information on the production shot chez nous starring Jeni Ross and Jake Epstein is that its title has been updated. Once Upon a Christmas was just a working title. The title that Neshama Entertainment, the production company, has settled on is Christmas at Maple Creek.
As for when the movie will air, there is no firm date yet. Jennifer’s production crew contact told her that it’s probably enmeshed in a bidding war.” Like so many other industries, Covid-19 forced the film industry to shut down for a time. So there is a shortage of new material in the pipeline. “They’re probably holding out for the best offer from the networks,” Jennifer told me in an email. “It could end up with Hallmark, Lifetime or some other network.” She’ll let us know when she gets word of the release date from her source.
I’m supposed to pay YOU money?
While I was speaking with Linda Howes, she told me about a second Christmas movie production she’s keeping her eye on. Linda’s brother, Mark Montgomery, lives in Victoria, B.C. He and his wife have a small cut-your-own Christmas tree farm outside of town. They only harvest 200 trees a year, and are usually sold out in just one weekend. To underscore how little city folks appreciate what farmers bring to the table, Mark tells of one customer who said, “Let me get this straight. You lend me a saw and I have to go out, cut down the tree and carry it back here. And, for all this I’m supposed to pay you money?” The assumption was that quality trees just happen naturally. Now, Mark could have explained that he and his wife had had to plant, nurture and trim the trees for eight to ten years. Instead, he just replied, “Yup.”
This past summer, a west coast film production company rented the Montgomery’s tree farm as the setting for yet another movie on the romantic power of the Yuletide season. In a nutshell, a romance writer whose column is cancelled right before Christmas gets an unexpected visit from the man who cancelled her column. True to the genre, he fights not only to reinstate her column, but also for her heart. Entitled Christmas She Wrote, it’s slated for release on the Hallmark Channel on December 6th.
Twelve Days earworm
Speaking of Christmas, I was in the Alexandria grocery store last week. While wandering up and down the aisles (obeying the directional arrows, of course), I was accompanied on my journey by the obligatory November and December playlist of seasonal music… a selection that becomes less and less secular and more and more ecclesiastical as we approach C-Day. But I digress.
As I hit the spice aisle, a rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas yanked me out of the store and back to the DRA hall in Dunvegan with a vivid recollection of how the entire cast and crew of Music & Mayhem would bring the house down belting out this holiday favourite at the close of each performance. No matter how many times I saw it – and I saw it frequently over the show’s four-year run – it was a joy to behold. Each time it was just a little bit different, as serendipity worked its magic.
If you too remember the number fondly, or even if you’re tempted to see it for the first time, I prescribe a dose of YouTube. Just search for “Music & Mayhem, 2016” posted by “Dagwoodsboy.” This 44:51 video captures an entire performance of the troupe… including their Twelve Days finale. Over the course of four years, Rosemary Chatterson and her merry band of Music & Mayhem thespians raised almost $20,000 for the St. Vincent de Paul food bank in Alexandria. So, if you enjoy this YouTube trip down memory lane, and are in a position to do so, please respect the show’s raison d’être and send a monetary donation, big or small, to St. Vincent de Paul to help those who are less fortunate.
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