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By LeRae Haynes

 Many people have wondered over the years about the significance of the gifts that the three Wise Men presented to the infant Jesus and his humble, blue-collar earthly parents. It’s not that gold, frankincense and myrrh would have been completely unknown commodities to the probably bewildered little family—gold is gold, after all, and myrrh was commonly used in the embalming of rich people and frankincense was a really expensive fragrance.

 Bottom line, they were really rare, pricey, precious gifts. And even though Joseph might have faced a couple of challenges getting his carpenter friends to help fence them on the Hebrew black market to buy groceries and cover travel expenses for his small family and their donkey, he still must have been deeply appreciative.

 I think that if the whole Wise Man visit happened today, there would definitely be a fourth visitor to the Nativity Scene. Bearing a gift every bit as precious and rare as the other three, the fourth Wise Man would have an Interior Roads logo on his jacket and would bear a little bag of gravel in his hands.

 There is apparently nothing in the world more rare and precious than gravel on the roads in the Williams Lake area. One stretch of highway near the ‘Welcome to Williams Lake’ sign, ironically enough, has been the scene of at least a dozen accidents due to slippery roads in less than a week.

 I know that speed can definitely be a factor, and that drivers need to take extra care when driving on winter roads, gravel or not. But I have personally driven Pinchbeck Hill and Dog Creek Road many times, in a long line of slow-moving traffic, hoping against hope that the seven precious allotted grains of gravel would be enough to provide the illusion of traction.

 I’ve heard nothing but good things about the hard-working guys at Interior Roads. All I can guess is that the gravel is parceled out with a stingy hand from ‘head office’ with the stern reminder that gravel doesn’t grow on trees, that it’s criminal to waste it on rural roads, rural drivers and rural families, and that in another era it was probably used to embalm rich people.

 Maybe for their Christmas bonus, all the Interior Roads employees are given a small, elegantly-wrapped box of gravel for their very own, complete with an embossed company Christmas card that says, ‘From our home to yours---here’s a little something for you and your family to make the season brighter.’

 How ironic that something made from rocks is so rare in BC---this province is fraught with rocks.

 I think some community Christmas caroling at the front door of Interior Roads may be in order, especially a rousing, creative version of ‘We Three Kings.’

‘We Four Kings of Orient are
Bearing gifts we traverse afar;
All our gifts are rare and pricey
Fit for a king or czar 

Oh, myrrh and frankincense and gold
Plus a gift that ne’er grows old
Here’s some gravel when you travel
Safely in the winter cold.’

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