Pamela Chan, M.Ed/Editorial
Every Christmas season, Christmas seems to be far away until it isn’t. Now that Christmas, Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day have passed, I’m taking a moment to think about the Christmas traditions that matter.
My Childhood Christmas Traditions
My family has always attended church at Christmas time. When I was very young, we would go to church on Christmas day. Then, when I was old enough, we went to midnight mass. I really enjoyed the mystery and magic of attending mass at nighttime. It was exciting to be at church late at night, sing Top of the Pops Anglican Christmas songs and hold candles. When I was in middle school, I got to be an acolyte during the midnight mass at Holy Trinity Church, under the tropical night skies of Manila. No matter where we were living in the world, my family always went to church. Some of the most memorable locations for me were churches in Kingston (Ontario), Baghdad, Manila, Tokyo and Barbados.
Adopted Christmas Traditions
I love watching Rick Steves’ special shows about Christmas traditions in Europe. Based on influences from European friends and families who have had children in my Montessori classes, I introduced North European traditions into our household. Since my family hails from families in Ukraine, Germany, Scandinavia and the Netherlands — going back to the early 20th and 19th century — it feels all the more special to be learning about these traditions.
When my twins were younger, we visited St. Nicholas at Amsterdam Greenhouses in Pitt Meadows. St. Nicholas no longer visits Amsterdam Greenhouse but you can find him in a few other locations in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley. On December 5th, my children put out their shoes by the fireplace on for St. Nicholas to fill. In the morning, they find European chocolates (including a chocolate letter) in their shoes and package of speculass cookies. We have also celebrated Santa Lucia over the years. I had the opportunity to celebrate Santa Lucia in my classroom with my students and have also celebrated it with my twins. It is always a magical time!
A traditional Scandinavian Christmas moving brass chime carousel. The parts move as the candles generate heat.
The Challenging Part About Christmas
Putting the decorations away is always a bit of challenge. We keep them up until after Orthodox Ukrainian Christmas is over at the end of the first week of January. I do have a lot of boxes of decorations and everything has to fit in just the right place. Then I have to carry them down a flight of stairs and fit them under the stairs. It’s a huge job! If it weren’t for the fact that I decorate for Chinese New Years and Valentine’s Day, who knows how long the decorations would stay up!
The Issue of Christmas Cards
Like many people, I’ve shortened my Christmas Card list over the year. Covid and then a postal strike struck through the heart of my Christmas cards plans. This year I handed out Christmas cards but I didn’t send any out, and didn’t receive many either. I’m thinking about an alternative to Christmas cards. I might send a card out in spring or close to Mid Summer just to be different! Or maybe I’ll just try to be more organized in early November!
Avoiding Over Spending
When my twins were younger, we would give each twin one main gift for Christmas and a few smaller gifts. They would get gifts from close relations and friends as well. If we had bought them a large amount of gifts, they would have been overwhelmed. All year they would tell me about the toys they wanted based on TV commercials. I would tell them to add it to the list (for their birthday or later for Christmas). They would get some of them but not most, let’s just say. They were happy with this arrangement and have always been very blessed to receive what they do thanks to the generosity of others.
This fireplace mantel features pop culture looking decorations. Top left: Two papier-mâché sock snowmen made by my twins at school. Bottom left: 1960s Santa. You will see this decoration from time to time. I loved it when I was little and still do. Bottom right: My mother made this Christmas tree out of ribbon-covered empty thread spools.
My Favourite Christmas Activities
Over the years, I’ve enjoyed watching the carol ships from our Yaletown flat where we used to live; going on a carol ship; seeing It’s a Wonderful Life on Granville Island; attending a Christmas show at the Evergreen Cultural Center; visiting with St. Nicholas at Amsterdam Greenhouse; going on the Stanley Park Christmas train; seeing the lights around Lafarge Lake and, driving around neighbourhoods looking at the lights. As my twins got older, I’ve also enjoyed going with them individually as they shopped for Christmas gifts for their family members and friends.
Food at Christmas Time
I’ve celebrated Christmas in 24 homes. (I’ve moved around A LOT!) Plus I’ve been invited to the homes of other relatives and friends. I’m often the guest but I also have the opportunity to help prepare the meal or be in charge of the turkey. Christmas meal is usually a cooperative affair. When I was single, I tried to source out interesting deli and gourmet food items to bring to the meal like a yummy artisanal bread, spread or dessert. In my family, the most popular dish would be the cabbage rolls that we eat for Ukrainian Christmas in early January. It takes a long time but the results are worth the effort. For Orthodox Ukrainian Christmas, I like to make a braided bread and put on a large dinner.
My Favourite Christmas Gift
It’s linked to all kinds of clichés about people who wear them but I’d like a fitted, modern Barbour jacket in black. Please and thank you!
Dream Gift for My Children
When they were younger, I would have said a year’s worth of tuition for preschool. We also took them to Strong Start and homeschooled then. They went for 6 months before Kindergarten, which was a nice experience for them. Now I would say a trip to wherever they would like to visit. Travel is expensive these days so why not think big?!
Christmas Memories
One of my best memories was the Christmas that I spent in Barbados with the first grandchild in my family (who was 2 months and had traveled from Vancouver). This was a super sweet experience. I was living in Asia at the time and counted the days to meet her. (This included two days of traveling to get to Barbados.)
Related
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We don’t put up an Elf on the Shelf. Instead we are visited by a Norwegian mouse (likely referred to as a rat over there) called Johannes. Johannes has a sister who visits on Christmas day. Here you can see the notes that my children would write Johannes when they were younger.