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Christmas in Ontario
Christmas when I was a child was much different from our Christmas today. A week before Christmas, the whole family sat around the dining table and gift wrapped, as beautifully as we could, fruit cakes, boxes of short bread, nuts etc. for Christmas gifts for our friends and neighbours. Our family gifts were wrapped and hidden in our closets, under our beds, anywhere we could think of to hide them. Family gifts were, for the most part, items that we ourselves had created. My grandmother would oooh and aaaah over a handkerchief that I had hemmed with my own two hands. She carefully inspected the stitching in the convent hems to be sure that they were beautifully done. |
| There was such an air of expectancy and tension--it is almost Christmas.
It is cold outside and we are having to keep the old coal furnace stoked to keep the house warm. Day before Christmas--Dad and Mother took off early
in the morning and we were kept busy doing our chores--making sure that everything was clean and shining for the most important time of the year. We had two adjoining living rooms with sliding doors between them--the piano was in the front room as was a great big picture window looking out to the front of the house. Suddenly we kids were sent out on an errand. When we returned the sliders between the living rooms were closed, blinds were drawn on both windows and there was mystery everywhere. Dad and Mom and Granddad were closed in the front room and we kids were left to our own resources. We got out the toboggan and went sliding down the hill beside the house and slid on the rink Dad had flooded for us on the side lawn. After a light supper, we read and listened to Christmas carols on the radio. Then it was time to go to church--it always seemed that the beautiful flakes of snow began to fall gently just before it was time to go to church. We lived in a small town, and everyone walked to church--the churches were all within a block of one another. There was a war memorial in the park--a beautiful tower with a huge carillon in it and the bell ringer was actually from Switzerland. The Christmas carols pealed out over the town as we all walked to church and the snow squeaked under our feet. The local undertaker/furniture store owner gave each child a big red apple for Christmas on the way to church. All the churches had Christmas eve traditional services at the same time and all let out at the same time. At 11:30 the strains of Oh Come All ye Faithful rang out over the quiet skies--you could hear it from all of the churches together--like one great choir. At the end of services, the carillon again played beautiful music and we all thought of the wonder of the birth of the blessed Babe in Bethlehem. We children could hardly wait to get home so we could go to bed, hopefully to awaken by five a.m: "Mommy, Daddy, Santa has been here--wake up." We were not allowed to open one present until after breakfast which my grandfather made--we had 1/2 grapefruit each (in the middle of winter--oh wow), bacon, eggs and toast--what a treat. Our curiosity had been alleviated a little by the riches we found in our stockings which Santa had so generously stuffed full of goodies. Then, the great moment arrived--Granddad threw open the doors and there stood the Christmas tree in all its beauty. I remember the first year we had lights--one wondrous string of eight lights. If one went out they all went out. It was like fairyland. Our sumptuous Christmas banquet began with frosted tomato juice, and ended with flaming rum topped Christmas pudding with caramel sauce. There were favours in the pudding which would tell us for sure what we would be when we grew up. Oh we must not forget the Crackers--which, when pulled made a satisfying snap and included a fun hat and a toy. Dinner was attended by everyone who was even remotely related to us by marriage or courtesy. Then, we all settled down to play with toys and games till a light supper and bed time. That was the beginning of Christmas. Between Christmas and Epiphany (January 6) we absolutely had to visit every friend we knew. Pulling the toboggan laden with the fruit cake and cookie gifts we had all wrapped, we knocked on each door. "Oh come in, come in--you must have your piece of fruitcake and apple cider. A minimum of 12 homes must be visited, twelve pieces of fruitcake devoured, to ensure good luck throughout the twelve months of the next year. Epiphany was almost the highlight of the Christmas celebration. We all took our Christmas trees to the church, We had a beautiful service in the church called the Festival of Lights, after which we paraded out to the church yard with our lighted candles and set fire to the Christmas trees. There were no environmentalists to tell us we couldn't do that, nor was anyone from the fire department handy. We just knew that we must be careful with the fire. The joy of Christmas lasted throughout the entire month of December--on into the New Year, and we started anticipating the joy of next Christmas season before the last ornament was put in its box. |
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"Christmas story" by Amy-Claire Skaggs |