Tania Rempel-Orsetti -- I do not know what all burned that day, but I do remember feeling an overwhelming sense of community

I think I was 8, back in 1982(ish); it was a day when our trailer burned to the ground in the middle of the night.

We had just come back from a long day of shopping in Nelson. My dad had actually stopped on our street to warn another neighbour he had fire shooting out of his chimney, and he was worried they’d have a chimney fire. Our pipes were frozen, so my dad went under the trailer to thaw them with a torch. Something he’d done before. The winters in the Kootenay’s were crazy!

I remember my mom coming down the hall fast yelling at us to get out. She was literally pushing us from the back and when we looked back where we had just come from, it was in flames.

My sister and I ran to my Grams, which was just a hop, skip and a jump away, and phoned our cousin Perry who lived not far from us, and he came over. We did not have emergency services and our home literally burned to the ground in 3 minutes.

All of our Christmas presents were gone, and my dad’s eyebrows were singed, along with his ego.

I do not know what all burned that day, but I do remember feeling an overwhelming sense of community. People came together and gave us a Christmas to truly remember.

A young girl I’ll never forget, Sarah Reimer, gave me her favorite Christmas present. It was a life like doll, and I cherished that doll. Long after I stopped playing with dolls, I kept it because, oh it was a gift to treasure!

Merry Christmas to you all.

I hope the biggest gift for everyone of you is to be overwhelmed by the deep feeling you are loved ... to cherish the beautiful humans around you, whether they are with you in spirit or in the physical. In your home and your surrounding neighbours, and community.

Tania Rempel-Orsetti
Kamloops, BC

Copyright remains with the author – not for publication without express permission of the author.

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