The Paper Sack

Keeping Christmas traditions alive is getting harder with each passing generation. For instance my wife and I both grew up in Montana – but that’s about where any commonality ends.

My family enjoyed live Christmas trees. Across the street from our home in Roundup where I lived in central Montana grew fir trees and aromatic cedar bushes. South of town were the Bull Mountains and northwest were the Snowy Mountains, covered with nature’s Christmas trees. My oldest brother, who lives near Billings, continues this tradition today as he and his family head to the Snowy Mountains every year around Thanksgiving to cut their tree – one among thousands. However, my wife grew up in Glendive on the eastern Montana prairies so an artificial tree was her family choice, and we have an artificial tree also.

She grew up in a Catholic family where I grew up in a Protestant family, so it was hard to carry-on the tradition of midnight mass.

But there is a tradition that we both believe in…it may seem odd, but it’s a brown paper sack full of fruit, nuts, homemade and store-bought candy and placed under the Christmas tree for all the family members celebrating Christmas in our house.

As far as I know, the tradition began with my grandfather. His name was William, although most people called him Bill. He was born at the time of the Civil War and raised in Tazwell, Virginia, and lived there until he was about 50. That is when he left his first family and moved to Montana with his second wife in the early 1900s. Along with my grandma, they homesteaded and began to raise his second family.

In all, they had 10 children. My dad, Willis, was their third. Born in 1920, my dad’s formative years were in the Depression. So when he received a sack full of goodies for Christmas, chances are that was his only gift under the tree. Dad was raised on a farm called Strawberry Acres along the Musselshell River west of Roundup.

After graduating from high school and working on nearby farms, my father served in World War II before returning to his hometown as a miner in the underground mines. By the 1950s, he began working in the oil fields as a roughneck and in the early ‘60s he joined Continental Oil Pipeline, which feeds Canadian and Montana crude oil to the Conoco refinery in Billings. I don’t know how much you know about oil fields, but they don’t close down for Christmas. Therefore, we never knew if we were opening presents at night or in the morning…it all depended on Dad’s schedule.

Working on a pipeline was a steady job, but working on oil rigs was not. As a roughneck, dad had a job as long as the rig was drilling, but if the rig was torn down and sitting on the edge of town, Christmas could be a lean time.

I had two brothers and two sisters in my family. I was the youngest, so it’s hard to say that I ever went without anything. My parents or an older brother or sister always made sure that there were presents under the tree for me…but I could depend on my Dad for making sure that there was also a paper sack with an orange, an apple, peanuts and mixed nuts, homemade almond bark, gum drops and candy canes.

Dad simply said that the sack was a holiday tradition. His father made sure that each of his 10 kids had one, and my Dad said it was important that his kids had one also.

Growing up, I probably enjoyed my Viewmaster or Etch-A-Sketch more than I did my sack of goodies – which was a little too sensible to be fun. But it was there, it was something that you could depend on – whether dad was working or not.

As Belinda and I began our family 26 years ago in Mandan, we also wanted to bring traditions with us that we had in our parent’s homes. This was hard. One reason was because we liked to spend Christmas with our parents, even after we were married. So we often opened our gifts on December 23rd and then left for Glendive to spend Christmas Eve with her parents before driving on to Roundup for Christmas Day with my parents. The last Christmas we traveled to Glenidve and Roundup was in December 2005. My mom died in June 2006 – and part of our tradition died as well.

This year, like the five Christmases past, there will be five of us celebrating and opening presents at our home. Belinda and I have two sons. They will be home for Christmas, and we will also be celebrating with my Dad, who is now a spry 91 years old.

He has lived with us since July 2006. With mom’s passing, it was easier to have him move with us to North Dakota than to teach him to cook, clean and wash clothes. The idea of putting him into a care center didn’t appeal to me because Dad has always been one who put family first. Just as his mother lived with us when I was growing up, I wanted my children to have that experience of living with a grandparent. Some teenagers may think they are immortal, but believe me, a teenager who lives with a grandparent does not.

With a grandparent and children in the same household, that makes me part of the “sandwich” generation, an expression I’m not very fond of.

To Belinda and I, our children and my dad complete our household. And this year for Christmas, besides all the presents that dad will receive from his five children, his 13 grandchildren and five great-grandsons …there will also be a present that he’s accustom to seeing – a brown sack with his name printed in crayon. The sack full of goodies under the tree this year will be one of five. There will also be one with my name on it, one with my wife Belinda’s name, one with my oldest son Derek’s name, and one with my youngest son Scott’s name.

The tradition will continue…not because it’s the only gift we can afford, but because that sack will remind all of us of how thankful we can be for the year we enjoyed and for the prosperity we as family have experienced.

This one Christmas tradition is how the Steve and Belinda Van Dyke family will continue to tie our holidays of the past with our future.

Home sweet home!

Our utility bill came in the mail the other day, and, frankly, I was surprised. In Mandan, Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. is a combination utility. That means it provides both natural gas and electricity.

There have been a number of changes over the past 26 years we have lived in our home. When we were first married, we didn't use to heat our basement in the winter. However, when the boys got bigger, we needed to make sure the heat was on upstairs and downstairs.

We also didn't have a TV set in every room of the house or as many computers and other electronic games and gadgets. When we bought a new energy-efficient refrigerator a few years ago, we didn't throw out the old, less efficient one. Instead, we moved into the laundry room downstairs where it runs 24 hours a day to keep a few jars of jelly and pickles cold, just in case we'll ever eat them. Scott also has a little refrigerator downstairs that keeps his water and Gatorade chilled.

Now, to be truthful, you must judge your energy use not only by the number gadgets but by how much energy is actually used. For instance, the energy hogs in our house are not the electric blender or toaster. It's things like heating your home and water that really adds up. Also washing and drying your clothes take a lot of energy, and our laundry room seems likes it's always busy.

We heat our home with natural gas and we have a 50-gallon natural gas-fired water heater...a little larger than most. About five years ago, we also had central air installed. Now, living in North Dakota, you know that a good furnace is a necessity, but not so with air conditioning, except for about three months in the summer.

If you don't mind tossing and turning in a bed of your own sweat, then no need to invest in central air conditioning, but if you like sleeping in pleasant temperatures, than it's a must. As we got older, the need for night-time comfort became greater.

So, there's no denying that we've got plenty of appliances that use a lot of energy. That's why I was surprised to see that our MDU bill had actually gone down, significantly!

We're on Balanced Billing, which means that our monthly utility bill is roughly the same every month. A few years ago, our monthly bill was somewhere north of $200. Now it's down to $140. I could chalk this up to Derek moving out, but Scott still lives in our basement and he showers long enough for two or three people. Also, he keeps our basement as toasty as he wants it. Luckily for us, hot air rises so his heating the basement makes our floors warm in the winter.

So what gives? Did the price of electricity and natural gas suddenly drop? No, not really. It's true that energy in North Dakota is quite affordable. The majority of our electricity comes from coal, so we have cheap power. And natural gas prices have remained reasonable, especially since there's so much oil drilling going on in western North Dakota and natural gas is found in conjunction with oil.

However, the real culprit for our lower energy bill has been the improvements we have made to tighten up our home. The first move was to replace an old drafty window in dad's office. Belinda's father and her uncle replaced it with a fiberglass framed, triple-pane, energy efficient window. It was such a nice improvement that it wasn't long before we wanted to change all of our old windows for new ones. Luckily, our church was undergoing the same type of renovations and a couple of retirees went to all the window retailers in Bismarck and discovered that the best value came from Pella. So we went with Pella Windows ourselves, and didn't have to do all the legwork.

Then we replaced our two outside doors and had a craftsman hang the new energy-efficient doors. Suddenly, we didn't have the drafty windows and old metal doors. Our home not only looked better but it also became a lot more comfortable during North Dakota blizzards. Then last year after Christmas, we had some more insulation added to our ceiling. Unfortunately, my brother and his family were visiting at the time, so having people blowing insulation into your attic is a bit odd, but it all worked out in the end.

Yes, the improvements cost some money, but we were able to save several hundred dollars on our taxes by claiming the improvements as deductions.

Add it all up, and our home is more energy efficient, comfortable and cheaper to maintain...plus we have more appliances to make life a little easier. It's all good. And it's like giving ourselves a $60 a month raise.

Tips for the job interview

Recently, we've been conducting a number of interviews as we look toward hiring a college intern to help with graphic design. The process of interviewing candidates brings back lots of memories...of interviewing past candidates and also at times when I've been the one looking for a job.

Let's start with the easiest interview. About six years ago we were hiring a college intern and I had one person apply. So I had to do one interview and when it came time to pick the best candidate, it was easy. Luckily for me, he turned out to be a great hand.

How about interview jitters. Let's face it, we all get them. But there really is no reason to be scared. The employer needs you as much or more than you need the job. Also, very few people make it a career to be the one conducting interviews, so often the person conducting the interview is just as nervous as the person answering the questions.

The questions aren't hard. The hard part is keeping your answers short. How many of us remember the first question asked, "So, tell me about yourself?"

Remember that this is an open-ended question...intentionally. There are a lot of things that the interviewer can't ask you so there's no reason to voluntarily bring the up. Can you imagine the surprise if the job candidate actually said something like, "I'm a career child molester who has just spent five of the last 10 years behind bars. I didn't get out for good behavior, but was released because of prison overcrowding."

That's not the answer anyone would expect. Basically, you can answer the question by simply saying, "I'm a person who believes in hard work, family values and an appropriate salary for a good day's work." You might want to shape this answer in a way that more clearly identifies you, but that's the answer the employer is looking for.

You don't need to tell them your age, your religion, your wife's name, how many kids you have or anything else that you would just as soon keep to yourself.

There's a couple of other questions that get some strange answers. One of them is "What would co-workers say about you?"

No need in airing the family laundry here. Something short and to the point will do just fine. "They would say that I'm punctual, professional and like to get my work done right the first time."

However, there are others that will let you know that they suffer from procrastination, partying and trying to cram too much fun and frivolities into an eight-hour day of work.

Another question along the same vain is, "What would you say a weakness of yours is?"

A couple of sentences is all anyone is looking for as in: "I'm shy and find public speaking difficult." That's a good answer unless you are looking for a job in public relations or broadcasting.

Finally, at the end of the interview, you are asked if there is anything you would like to ask.

At a minimum, find out when they hope to pick the person for the job. You might also want to ask about salary, benefits, etc....but I've noticed a lot of applicants seem like they are too tired to think or talk at this point, so they just pass on this opportunity.

So, Steve's words of wisdom are simple. Keep your answer short and don't volunteer a lot of information that  can easily be misconstrued.