Holiday Memories

My Christmas candle lantern from Fort William Historical Park. | JOYCE FERGUS-MOORE

More than Just a Decoration

Almost everyone has that one holiday decoration that you cherish more than the others. Perhaps it’s a family heirloom or something that reminds you of your childhood. Or maybe it’s something you made yourself. We asked a few of our writers to talk about their favorite decorations, and they didn’t disappoint.

A Unique Christmas Decoration

By Joyce Fergus-Moore

One of my most treasured Christmas decorations is a beautiful candle lantern which was a gift from my daughter. It was crafted by a tinsmith at the Fort William Historical Park, close to our city of Thunder Bay. I have always loved visiting this site and seeing how things were made with meticulous attention to detail in the 19th century. My candle lantern is a good example of such fine work, for the design is perfectly crafted to let the light come through at just the right angles and proportions.

I especially appreciate my lantern’s soft glowing light at Christmas time when we are experiencing the darkest days of mid-winter. Seeing the lantern, flanked by a few smaller but also lovely candles, never fails to lift my spirits and renew a sense of hope. In these days when our world is struggling to overcome the ravages of a global pandemic, we need such symbols of hope, love and beauty.

Hope is also needed when we try to address the urgent environmental issues of our times. On April 22 each year, our family honours Earth Day by turning off all our electric lights and appliances, and enjoying a quiet Earth Hour by candlelight. Our tin candle lantern provides beautiful illumination as we look out at the stars, drink a glass of wine, and share a few thoughts. My parents, who lived through the Great Depression and never wanted to waste anything, would be very pleased that my special candle lantern is not used for a few short days at Christmas and then hidden away in a box for another year. They also taught me, by their example, to enjoy the simple gifts of life—music, laughter, shared meals, and all the light you can encourage to shine and reflect.

May your holiday season be filled with light!

A Silly Little Choo-Choo Train

By Eric Weicht

When it comes to celebrating Christmas, my family does not mess around.

I was born Christmas day, so it should come as no surprise that it is my favorite day of the year. Christmas presents in the morning, birthday dinner in the evening— it’s no wonder my childhood-self could never fall asleep on the 24th.

But my family’s love of the season—the Christmas traditions that have come to define the end of each year and the start of the next—started well before me; before any of my relatives thought it clever to tell my mom that she should name me after my great-great uncle Rudolph.

In fact, I don’t really know when Christmas came to take on such an important role in my family’s story. It’s just always been that way, as far as I can tell.

December 25 is the one day each year that you can’t, under any circumstances, not be home for the holidays. My mom and her three brothers have never missed a Christmas, an impressive 64-year streak that me and my siblings are determined to beat. So far, we’re 24 for 24, a perfect record that we’re all quite proud of.

Christmas is the only day each year that I know exactly where I will be and what I will be doing.

In the morning, I will wake up in my childhood bed, my siblings asleep in rooms next door, and listen for the sound of my parents’ downstairs. I will get up, walk to the living room, and take a seat on the couch in my pajamas with a mug of coffee while I wait for everyone to find their way to the Christmas tree.

The air will smell of fir needles and cinnamon rolls, with the occasional whiff of woodsmoke sneaking out from the fireplace. Christmas music will fill the room like sunlight, and everything will feel right with the moment, right with the world.

We’ll open presents, eat the usual breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls and egg dish with a glass of fresh orange juice, and at some point, someone will, inevitably, set off the train…

ChhooooOOO chooOOO.

CHUgga chugga chugga. CHUgga chugga chugga.

WOOOOoooooooooo!

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

Ka-klunk ka-klunk, ka-klunk ka-klunk.

It is such a silly little Christmas tree ornament, but it is an ornament that has come to mean so, so much to my family and I over the years.

[LEFT TO RIGHT] Author Eric Weicht and his siblings Patty and Brett. | ERIC WEICHT

Like the season itself, I don’t know where or when that little red and green locomotive with the button on top of the stack that you can press to hear a series of recorded train sounds came into our lives, but at some point, it choo choo-ed its way into our hearts and wove itself into the very fabric of the holiday season.

I press the train’s worn button and am brought back to a past Christmas where my wish list comprised mostly of Legos and I worried that Santa might miss our chimney on his way back North.

I listen to the train ornament’s recording and am reminded of the year that our cat Taffy pulled down the Christmas tree, of the years when you could tell the height of my siblings and I based on how high up the Christmas tree the ornaments made it.

I see that train and I’m reminded of the first Christmas that I could have wine with the adults and how weird that made me feel, and of the first Christmas that I spent with my wife.

I hear the sound of that train and I’m reminded of how silly our traditions can be—and why they are so important.

One Last Gift from Grandma

By Joe Shead

My grandma was a hot mess. As a boy, I wouldn’t have described her as such, but now that I’m more or less an adult, I see it. She was a packrat. I mean a bona fide hoarder. You had to navigate a narrow goat path to get around her house and in her old age, her knees gave her problems, which made it all the more difficult for her to hobble through the tunnels she had created through her home.

Plus she was chronically late. I knew that even as a boy. In childish naivety, I would wait at the window for Grandma to arrive to take us to the lake or wherever our adventure might lead, but I soon learned I should add at least an hour to the pre-appointed time. And when she did arrive, it would take several minutes for her to move around the overflowing mass of junk in her old Buick to make room for my brothers and I.

I say this not to rag on Grandma, but to paint a picture of her. Whether good, bad or otherwise, these qualities were just Grandma, and I loved her for who she was. I see (unfortunately) some of those same traits in myself. I guess maybe some of Grandma rubbed off on me. Grandma always laughed at my nonsensical sense of humor, and I know I was her favorite. The twinkle in her eye when she looked at me gave it away.

Grandma’s last gift was likely purchased a few years before I discovered it deep in the recesses of her basement, just days after she passed away. That last gift is one I’ll always cherish. | JOE SHEAD

At Christmas, Grandma always made her homemade Chex Mix, which she called “Nuts and Bolts.” She made this treat long before it became popular, and hers is the best I’ve ever had. Nothing else comes close. Everyone in the family would get a gallon bag of Nuts and Bolts for Christmas.

On Christmas Day, Grandma was always fashionably late. Plus, she would arrive without wrapping our gifts, so she would skulk away to some quiet corner of the house to wrap them. Usually, my brothers and I got the same thing, so we hustled to unwrap the gift first while the identity was still a surprise.

We lost Grandma last year, two weeks before Christmas. As we took on the monumental task of going through a lifetime collection of junk piled to the ceiling in her home, basement and storage unit, we first grabbed the multitude of Christmas decorations we didn’t intend to keep, so we could donate them and let someone put them to good use for the Christmas season.

For days we toiled at cleaning out Grandma’s home. Some items we kept, some we donated and others we hung onto to sell in a never-ending garage sale.

As we went through unending boxes of dishes, gardening equipment, clothing and other Grandma items, one tiny gift caught my eye. It was a tiny snowman ornament with a bell inside, wrapped in tissue paper. Written on the paper was the inscription, “Joe here is your male Snow Bell. Love Gram.”

Given the location where we found it buried on a table far back in the basement, I suspect it was intended to be given years earlier. But what impeccable timing!

Looking back, I can’t recall many of the Christmas presents Grandma ever gave me, but I’ll always cherish the last one.

Making a Christmas Legacy with Vintage Handmade Ornaments

By Elle Andra-Warner

One of my favourite Christmas memories was decades ago when a friend asked if I’d like to take an evening course with her on making fancy Christmas ornaments.

Admittedly, it wasn’t of particular interest to me, but I said “Sure, why not.” I was already a knitter but one who strictly followed a pattern, so making these ornaments would test my creative skills—I was definitely stepping out of my comfort zone as there was no pattern to follow. For the next four weeks during a cold November, we drove out to a nearby rural community centre to attend the course.

We learned to make an eclectic mix of elegant handmade Christmas ornaments using satin-covered balls in various colours and shapes. Nowadays, I see on Etsy similar ornaments listed as vintage, some selling for over $100. We made ornaments with sparkling sequins, crystals, beads and fancy ribbons that were anchored with little straight pins onto 3-inch diameter satin balls.

One of my favourites was the 4-inch angels we made using bell-shaped Styrofoam balls decorated with sequins for clothing, accented with ribbons and topped by a premade plastic angel with wings. Another favourite was the swanky Victorian-style ornaments made with hundreds of beads, sequins and fancy ribbons pinned on a white or coloured satin ball, about 3 inches in diameter, a style reminiscent of the famous jewelled Fabergé eggs. And then there was the pinecone-shaped shapes that were completely covered in round bright sequins (pinned starting from bottom upwards) topped with a colourful ribbon tree hanger.

The Victorian-style swanky Christmas ornament was a style reminiscent of some of the famous jeweled Fabergé eggs.

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One style we made used artwork from a napkin that was transposed onto a Styrofoam oval and framed on the sides with colourful ribbon and beads. Easy to make, though I can’t remember now how we got the napkin design onto the Styrofoam ball.

The handmade fancy decorations I made were a far cry from the first ornaments we had after coming to Canada. I remember those Christmases when our real tree (cut from a nearby bush) was decorated with colourful glass ornaments (that would shatter when dropped) and European-style clip-on candleholders that held white, short candles that were actually lit.

The vintage ornaments I made back in the 1970s are now family heirlooms; a Christmas legacy to pass on to my children and grandson in the years to come. And for me, that makes them super special.