Christmas 2025: Radford prioritizes faith over the holidays
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
For Londesborough correspondent Brenda Radford, Christmas means celebrating the birth of Christ. “To me, the meaning of Christmas is church, faith and family,” she told The Citizen. It’s the simplest of sentiments, and one she has been gently reminding readers for 25 years.
In 2003, she reported on the Londesborough United Church’s (LUC) Jesse Tree - a small evergreen tree decorated by the congregation’s children, under the supervision of Rev. Pat Cook. “Jesse, the father of King David, was the father of Christ’s royal line,” she wrote. “Pictures and symbols are added as examples of the spiritual lifeline of Christ.”
In 2007, she discussed two newcomers to the LUC nativity scene - Bugsy and Snippity, a pair of Christmas clowns with a unique approach to the story of the birth of Christ - while, in 2010, she educated readers on the meaning of the Advent wreath and the symbolic importance of outdoor Christmas lights.
In 2016, Radford returned to the story of the birth of Christ through the story of John Henry Hopkins Jr, who, in 1857, wrote “We Three Kings of Orient Are,” which tells the tale from the perspective of the three Magi who came to pay tribute to the Christ Child with gifts. “The next time you sing this hymn, think about how Hopkins fit his words to a tune that mimics the rhythmic gait of a camel caravan,” she advised. “Gold is a gift fit for a descendant of King David. Frankincense is a symbol of prayer, and of Christ as the Son of God. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for all of mankind is symbolized by the gift of myrrh.”
Of course, Radford doesn’t stick to just jotting down her thoughts on the birth of Jesus - she also has decades of experience reporting on upcoming church events during the holidays, from the annual “white gift” service, where gift donations are collected for those in need of Christmas cheer, to the church’s “Longest Night” service - a quiet service intended to help those who have experienced loss that year.
In 2011, Radford dedicated an entire column to the charms of the LUC Christmas concert. “The thing about a Christmas concert such as was held at LUC on Friday, Dec. 16 is that the performers are among friends and mistakes are accepted and not criticized,” she pointed out. “This makes for a less tense attitude, and children and adults alike can take part and gain a little confidence and experience performing.” She also has a long-running habit of including Christmas trivia, language lessons and holiday song themed brainteasers in her column.
For 2025’s columns, Radford is staying true to festive form - reporting out on the Christmas activities of the LUC, including the recent Christmas pageant put on by the church’s Sunday school students. It told the story of the Three Wise Men’s encounter with King Herod, who ordered them to tell him where the Christ Child could be found. That night, God came to them in a dream and asked them to disobey Herod, and instead return to their homeland by a different route. She’s also still keeping The Citizen’s readership abreast of upcoming community events in and around Londesborough, like the upcoming Christmas Eve service at the LUC, which all are invited to attend.
While the spark of Christmas spirit is first struck in church every year, the flames of her festive faith are often fanned in the kitchen. Radford has a handful of closely guarded recipes. “When I die, they get passed,” she said, with a laugh. “One is my nuts and bolts recipe. I’ve tried other people’s, and, of course, you can buy nuts and bolts now, but my mother had this recipe - I have no idea where it came from. She made it for years. She’d hide them because they’d be gone in no time, and every now and again she’d bring out another bowl of nuts and bolts. I took the recipe on, and I’ve been making it ever since.”
Her family knows it instantly. “One year we weren’t at my house for Christmas - we were at my son’s house. I had taken my nuts and bolts, and my son from Montreal came. He was sitting enjoying the snacks, and suddenly he grabbed a handful and said right away, ‘Oh, these are Mom’s!’” Radford recollected. “He’s tried to duplicate them, because I haven’t passed the recipe on yet, but he’s never quite come up with the right one.”
Some holiday traditions have shifted as her life has evolved. “Things change as your stages in life change,” she pointed out. “The activities and the things that are important change, too.” She recalls a time when the season felt more crowded with events. “It used to be the parades. It used to be a concert. I sang in the Blyth choir for quite a long time, and those Christmas concerts were pretty special.”
Even decorating has been rethought in recent years. “We have ornaments that are brought out every year, but when you don’t have family around, having that big fancy Christmas tree isn’t necessarily as important,” she said. “A few years ago I said, okay, that’s it, I’m tired of decorating the Christmas tree. Why am I bothering? Now we have a pencil tree. I love it. It’s white, it changes colours, it sits perfectly in the corner of my living room… to me, that’s still Christmas - but I don’t have to decorate it. Everybody who comes in says, ‘Oh wow, do I ever like your tree!’ So that’s good.”
Looking ahead to next year, Radford hopes for more time with the people she loves. “I’m just hoping we can have the family around again.” Her family is still shifting into its next phase. “I have grandchildren, but the adult grandchildren don’t have partners yet, so it’s still just all of us,” she explained. “That partner part will be another stage. And we don’t have great-grandchildren yet, either… Christmas Eve is a great time for romance, though.”
Her faith remains the anchor of her holiday, and she wishes more people shared in it. “One thing that would make Christmas a better holiday would be if everybody had the faith.” She remembers when Christmas Eve services drew overflowing crowds. “At Christmas time, the Christmas Eve services were packed. Even Londesborough’s used to be packed, with seats in the aisles,” she recalled. “Christmas Eve is still a big deal, though. Now, there are people who show up on Christmas Eve that you don’t see any other time of the year. It tells me that the faith is still in there somewhere, and someday it’s going to blossom. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be in my lifetime. The churches are going through this stage of dwindling rather than flourishing. I’m hoping that changes.” For her, Christmas and faith are inseparable. “If everybody realized that Christmas is a faith-based occasion and holiday, I think the world would be better, and families would be better, too.”
Radford doesn’t point to one defining Christmas memory, but rather to a lifetime of them. “It’s the families from my childhood, to my own family, to now. Getting together, being together. It’s not the gifts. It’s the sharing, the being together, making that reconnection. I used to think Christmas didn’t come often enough. It’s gotten so commercial that maybe it’s just as well it doesn’t come more often!”
For Brenda, the secret to an extra-special Christmas is getting back to the nuts and bolts of what the holiday is truly about. “It needs to get back to the basics,” she declared. “Love is the best gift.”