It seemed like just yesterday (in fact it was three weeks ago) when all the goblins, witches and masks were put away, when someone in a red suit started making his appearance. Give me a break man, are there only three months of the year when we are safe from the rush of the holidays and festivities and they are all during the coldest winter months at the beginning of the year. As I watch many people grow tired from hours of shopping and already haggard attitudes compete with the season’s joyous activities, you realize that there is an awful lot of work related to taking holidays from work.

I believe that holidays and the season to be jolly puts a tremendous amount of stress on people and the lucky recipients, who are the children, will grow up thinking that this is what it is all about, receiving, not giving. I may sound like Scrooge, but hey, I was a kid once too, and holidays meant a break from school and the chance to go out sliding or setting snares. When we got older, it was snowmobiling, but hey, again, we didn’t pressure ourselves with endless consumerism, because we had no money to spend anyway.

Enough with grouching, I noticed that The Nation is working on its tenth year, as this issue is Volume X Issue 1. How can we announce to the world, that hey, The Nation is getting old. I talked to Neil Diamond the other night and I happened to get the dates wrong and I thought that the Nation should have a big blowout issue, commemorating 10 years in the making, but, it seems to be in the same category as when 1999 turned over to the year 2000. Does it start at the beginning of the year or end at the end of the year?

Is it apocalypse now or later? Anyway, The Nation has been around for more than nine years now, no questioning that. I happened to bump into one of the founders of the magazine, Wernie, who just so happens to be a host of another Cree medium (another story to say the least) and meeting him made me remember why the magazine format is the way it is today. If you notice, its glossy on the outside and plain, but sturdy paper inside. If you compare it with the latest Spiderman comic book, you’ll see the resemblance. Yes, The Nation is made with the same materials as a comic book. Why, because its harder to crumple up and use during an emergency, unlike those cheap newspapers that litter the streets of major cities and outhouses. ‘Nuff said.

And…announcing that there is another tournament to end all tournaments, again. Wow, the teams just keep on getting better and better. With Jonathon Cheechoo (or Cheech) now in the NHL, who knows just how good some players will get? I may be a very old man when the Cree Nation will have their own team in the NHL, and maybe TV will be in 3D then, but I say, good game boys and girls. Keep it up, and maybe the Molson – er, Bell – Centre will see me behind the players’ bench cheering on my grandson, who just maybe called Bobby Orr II!