It was December 19, 2014. It
was cold outside and “the bells were ringing out” (alarming in nature) on our
crossover SUV. Seems the door latch mechanism on the back hatch was frozen; not
closing well enough to satisfy the vehicle’s warning system. As a result, we
were not relishing an upcoming 1,400 km holiday journey with it sounding off
all the way. Or maybe worse yet, the vehicle’s hatch popping open while we were
enroute.
Call into service once again,
as we had so many times over the years, our trusted CONAIR euro style 1600! A
half hour with that hair dryer, well aimed, is all it took to get an all clear
of the idiot lights/alarms and a well functioning door latch once more! Believe
me when I say, it wasn’t the first time that this CONAIR model 130NG had saved
Christmas!
The stories vary as to how
this lifesaver came into our (more specifically my wife Margaret’s) possession.
So, here’s where I will use my blogger’s license. It was a Christmas gift of decades
ago from me to my darling wife! Although it started out as hers, over the years
it really did become ours. The stories of it saving Christmas, past and present
are real.
One only needs rewind to last
year for another. I’d arrived back at Grouses’ Grail after being away on a
three-year work sojourn to points south. It was a cold month of December. There
were many feet of snow to deal with before the arrival of our daughter and her
family for Christmas. The electric starter on our snow blower was, and still is,
notorious for not engaging in weather below -15. And, it was then colder, much
colder, where the snow blower sat, looking more like an exposed iceberg!
Never to fail me yet, I sprang
into action with our sleek, yet ever so powerful, CONAIR (two speeds, no less)
hair dryer! First I got the snow blower tented. Then with that marvel of
consumer appliances aimed at that frozen electric starter, I got that snow
blower turning over like it was summer, and snow cleared faster than I could
say, “Take that Old Man Winter!”
The hair dryer stories over
the decades are too numerous to mention. They include thawing many a frozen
car, truck and tractor battery to respectable cranking power. There also were frozen
water hydrants, thawed to the point of delivering water to awaiting thirsty
livestock. No task seemed insurmountable. It had me dubbing the hair dryer,
CONAIR the Barbarian for its brute blow drying force!
There are stories from the
1990’s to thaw your heart. I recall how back then Margaret and our kids,
Michael and Joelle, spent many an hour using that CONAIR marvel as a lifesaver.
With compassion and dedication I marvel at to this day, they dried off, and
warmed to the point of standing and taking a first meal, many a hypothermic new
born calf. The CONAIR contraption’s effect was often nothing short of miraculous.
They literally saved many lives back then with that simple, yet highly
functional and relatively inexpensive gift.
Christmas is a blessed time
of year for celebrating miracles and new life. It’s also a time of year for
gifting. I’m imagining how I’d have been the wisest man of all had I been able
to show up at a certain stable a long time ago in Bethlehem with a CONAIR euro
1600 in hand to help dry and warm a new born baby in a manger!
Gifts don’t have to be gold,
frankincense and myrrh to be most appreciated, or life-changing, or in some
cases, even lifesaving! Think of them; those kinds of gifts are out there. Here’s
hoping you find your CONAIR euro 1600 and that you can find ways of saving
Christmases for years to come. A very merry and blessed Christmas to you all
and a happy, healthy 2015!
