Holidays 2024: Joslings of Blyth balance festivities with firefighting calls
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
The Josling family likes all the typical trappings of a traditional Canadian Christmas. They enjoy decorating the tree, exchanging gifts, having festive feasts and seeing family. But the Joslings are also a firefighting family, which means that suddenly cutting your Christmas celebration short to go save lives is just another family tradition. Christmas may be the most magical time of year, but it can quickly turn into the most flammable time of the year if you’re not careful.
When volunteer firefighter Paul Josling married Dianne Cook in 1976, he was joining a family that took the concept of Christmas dinner to the limit. It was not uncommon for upwards of 40 members of the Cook clan to gather under one roof to break bread and eat together. Dianne and Paul’s son Jeff has a lot of great childhood memories of those times. But he also has more than a few festive memories of his father running off to answer a call during the big family dinner. “It was just chaos,” he recalled. “I loved it. It was so much fun having all those people around. But you know, we sort of can’t get away from being a fire family… we’d usually have to run away on Christmas Eve.”
One of the Josling family’s core Christmas traditions is watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation every Christmas Eve. Or at least trying to! “I can remember on Christmas Eve, we’d be sitting down for Christmas Vacation. And I can remember lots of times where we’d just get ready and then we’d have to go out to something, right?”
Even though being a first responder on Christmas sometimes means missing out on the wacky adventures of the Griswold family, the Joslings wouldn’t have it any other way. Being on call during the holidays isn’t just a necessity, it’s a tangible way to honour Paul’s legacy. As the first firefighter in the family, Paul never hesitated to give up something he wanted to do in favour of something that needed to be done. Paul’s bravery and selflessness inspired Jeff to become a firefighter, which has, in turn, inspired some of Jeff’s own children to also become first responders.
Jeff is always looking for new ways to support those in need during the holidays. “Things have changed a little bit in the last few years,” he explained. “I really look forward to the opportunities we have through the fire department to make a difference. We’ve donated a lot of money to food banks and to families directly. We reached out to schools and asked if there were any families in need, and we were able to help one this Christmas. It really warms my heart to do that.”