Holiday Traditions

They’re here!   The holidays, I mean.  Actually, they have been for a couple of months now.  That cheery, yet slightly stressful time of year is upon us when we struggle to get things done, vow to do way more than humanly possible, inevitably don’t get it done but then realize that it’s all about the people we’re with, anyway.

I’m an American living in Canada, so the holiday season starts early October with Canadian Thanksgiving.   This is always on a Monday and it’s not nearly as big a deal as it is in my homeland.   Yes, there is turkey, and gravy, and stuffing (or dressing as the northerners call it), and cranberries, and sweet potatoes, and biscuits.  I love biscuits, I love them so much that, in college, I nicknamed myself “The Biscuit Terminator” because I would not leave any on the table at the end of the meal.  That was before I knew what carbs were and I still had the metabolism of a teenager.  Now, I’m “The Biscuit Lover Who Realizes That More Than Two Is A Really Bad Idea And I’ll Have To Do 58 Burpees Tomorrow if I Keep Going – Inator.”  There are a couple of other dishes on the table at a Canadian Thanksgiving that are both confusing to me while at the same time inspiring, as I vow to embrace and learn about other cultures, no matter how close to my own they appear to be to the outside world.  Okay, one of these dishes is a plate full of pickles.  Now, I’ve only ever had Thanksgiving with my husband’s immediate family, so I don’t know if this is a Canadian thing, or that this particular family really likes pickles.  I personally loathe them, maybe that’s why it’s intriguing to me.  I even tried eating pickles when I was pregnant to see if I liked them then, because it seems every pregnant lady does. . . still nothing.  I don’t like pickles and I don’t eat them at Thanksgiving, or any other day.  I will not eat them on a boat.  I will not eat them with a goat.  (Especially not with a goat, I don’t like them much, remember?) But, everyone is entitled to have their pallets satisfied on the day we give thanks, so I keep my mouth shut and just pass the pickles.  The other dish that finds its way onto our Canadian Thanksgiving table is coleslaw.  I am very supportive of this addition.  While I always thought of coleslaw as a summery side salad, added to a nice cheese burger while sipping on a cold beer kind of dish, I love it in all seasons.  My mother in law makes, without a doubt, the BEST homemade coleslaw I have ever tasted.  She gave me the recipe and I tried to make it once, but it just wasn’t the same.  Maybe she pulled a Marie Barrone on me, I don’t even care.  Her coleslaw is the best and I pile it on my plate right next to my turkey and cranberries and I dip my warm biscuit in the sauce it leaves behind.  Then we relax for about 10 mins, dive into the apple pie I made and get back home by 5 pm.  See?  It’s not really that big a deal in Canada, we have to go to work the next day.  Early dinner then back to the grind.

Once Thanksgiving #1 passes, then it’s time to prep for Halloween.  Every year it is this:  my oldest tells me what she wants to be for Halloween (this year it was a witch).  Perfect!  I find a witch’s hat downstairs in her dressup bin, her vampire cape from last year, I announce we need to find her a black dress and shoes and I get to do makeup, yay!  The minute I utter “dress,” I’m toast.  She will NOT wear a dress, she wants to change her costume.  I counter-offer with a pair of black sweatpants and a black shirt.  Too late, she already associates a witch with something girly, so I’m done.  She wants to be Spiderman (again).  Fine, we already have that costume, perfect.  So what if the legs are midway up her shin, it’s been a mild fall, she’ll be fine.  Okay, so now for little sister; she’s been loving the Hulk mask, so I’ll just find her a little Hulk outfit and we are all set.  Except now big sis wants to be Hulk.  Fine, two Hulks coming right up!  Oh, wait, Daddy went away for the weekend and came home with an adult sized Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle onesie.  No joke.  So now, everyone has to be a Ninja Turtle like dad.  And no, we can’t each be one turtle, we ALL have to be Raphael (my least favourite TMNT, BTW).   So, $200 later for a holiday I don’t even like, there we are, all four of us, posing as Raphael.  Every year, I vow to make costumes and this is what happens – overpriced Halloween store for matching costumes.  I don’t like Halloween, and overpriced costumes is only one reason.  I don’t eat candy too much either, so the big part of the holiday for the kids has never appealed to me.  Now, don’t get me wrong, you place a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup within a mile radius of me and I will find it!  But, with all the peanut allergies wreaking havoc on our Halloween fun, nobody is giving those out anymore.  Strike 2.   I also get really creeped out by adults in costumes.  Not the ones dressed as clowns to match their kids, but the ones dressed as the grim reaper, with no apparent kid to escort them, that just walk up and down the street, staring straight ahead, making you wonder if they plan on doing a spontaneous kidney transplant in the middle of the street.  Those people creep me out.  Strike 3.  Okay, enough of Halloween.

Then, less than two weeks later is Veterans Day/Remembrance Day.  November 11.  This holiday gets a lot of recognition and yet it’s not really considered a holiday.  Yes, we wear poppies and thank those who sacrificed for our rights.  But we are still expected to go to work and go about our day as usual.  The reason I mention this holiday is that there has been a lot of talk (in Canada, especially) of holding off on the “Christmas Season” until after this holiday.  No decorations, no “Christmas sales,” nothing until after November 11th.  I’m all for it, remember, I still have another Thanksgiving to celebrate.  Not to mention the men and women who have fought for our freedoms deserve our respect and undivided attention for that day, at the very least.

For American Thanksgiving, it is our tradition to travel down to Long Island to spend it with my family.  We make it a week-long trip every year and we eat Thanksgiving with the same people every year.  This year, however, my sister was missing.  It was sad … she was all the way in California where she moved in July and it was really weird.  My daughter still made her a place at the table and we FaceTimed with her at least 3 times that day.   So, like any normal American, we put the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV but only caught a float or two.  I keep waiting for the year my girls sit in front of the TV and watch the whole thing and get excited for the floats and the dancers and Santa, of course.  Not yet, though.  After the parade is the National Dog Show and I’ll be honest, I love this part of Thanksgiving.  Actually, I love every part of Thanksgiving, but this is one of my favourites.  I especially love how awkward the handlers of the dogs look when they are not quite jogging along next to the dog but their partner is moving a little too fast for them to just walk.  It’s like they can’t decide if the bus driver has seen them or not – should I run just in case?  No, I think he caught me in the side view mirror, I can walk.  Well, maybe I should walk sorta fast … this semi-run/jog/speed walk should do the trick.  Oh, good, the doors are still open, I can walk normally now, glad that’s over.   So, we do that and then I head over with my husband and daughters to my aunt & uncle’s house.  It’s amazing how kids change your life not only within your own home but how they bring you closer to the rest of your family.  Now, I do consider myself to be very close with most of my family, and I say most only because some of them live in far to reach places and I don’t see them often.  Still love them, no doubt about that.  Since I have had children, I have become closer to a few of my cousins that I always thought were awesome, but we just were a little bit off as far as age and we didn’t hang out because of it.  Nothing personal, just semantics.  But now we have kids the same age and we make a point to see each other more, and there is nothing better than realizing how many great friends you have within your own bloodline.   I also really enjoy what amazing spouses they have chosen for themselves.  Yes, Thanksgiving is truly my favourite time of year, I see the people I love the most and can most sincerely give thanks for the amazing things I have in my life.   We certainly can’t talk of Thanksgiving without mentioning football, however, so here goes: there is usually a football game on the TV in the background.  Sometimes people actually watch it.  Football is played on Thanksgiving Day.

Well, now that Thanksgiving is taken care of, we must naturally progress into Christmas. We trade off years between Canada & US Christmas celebrations.  This year, we will go to NY for the big day, it will be my younger daughter’s first insane Italian-American Christmas.  I hope she can keep up, but she’s pretty hardcore so I think she can hang.   If you know any Italians or are yourself Italian, you will know that Christmas Eve is more the holiday than Christmas Day.  Yes, you open gifts on the 25th, but the real magic happens on Christmas Eve.  For a few years when my grandparents were still alive, we actually had Christmas Eve at a fire hall because our family is so big.   Then, one of my crazy aunts volunteered (?) to have the holiday at her house.  BWAAAAHHAAAHAAA! (my evil laugh)  My aunts and now a few of the older cousins, myself included, are responsible for the food.  Yes, we are very old school and the women do most of the cooking, but that’s cool, at least we know it will taste good.  (burn!)  Italians eat seafood on Christmas Eve.  And if you’ve ever seen a comic strip or “meme” about a typical Italian Christmas meal, it’s all true.  There is no such thing as too much food.  Imagine yourself at a Chinese Buffet … except instead of egg rolls and moo shoo pork, there are baked clams, shrimp cocktail, crab dip, cheese & crackers (duh), ugh… I don’t even want to list all the food, my carpal tunnel is acting up.  Long story short … whack load of food, okay?  You get the picture.  After we eat, Santa comes, of course.  We have gone through a few Santas over the years.  My grandfather was my favourite Santa, but he wasn’t the original.  Believe it or not, for the first couple of years, my great grandmother was our Santa!  I don’t even know what to say about that, we all knew it was her, she had a really high-pitched voice and she was about 80 at the time, but we all sat on her lap and got a picture taken with Santa and sat on her/his lap to receive our first gift.  After my grandfather passed away, one of my uncles took over the job.  I have to admit, he was a great choice.  He is very jolly and really gets the crowd going.  There are roughly 30-40 people that will sit on Santa’s lap and he has a special song or snippet to say about every one of us.  It takes a while, but it’s so special and we love every minute of it.  After Santa does his thang, we start packing up.  I’m one of four cousins with small children, so we like to get home (to my parents’ house) and prep for the next morning.  It’s exhausting, it’s fun as hell and it’s so great to spend a few amazing hours with many of my favourite people.

I’m noticing that my older daughter is starting to catch on that we actually have traditions.  When the holidays roll around, she is excited for what is to come, she is excited about seeing her family that maybe she doesn’t see much of.  It’s important to me that my girls know that their everyday life isn’t the only thing available for them to enjoy. There are special people and special occasions outside of this house.   I really love the traditions we are making for our kids.  One day, I will get the Halloween thing down, though and make costumes.  And, can anyone give me some input about the Thanksgiving pickles please?

Happy Holidays to all!  xoxo