11/04/2024
CHRISTMAS 2024
For those who know me well, you know how much I LOVE the Christmas Season. I even call myself "Christmas Carole!"
My very favorite Christmas' took place between 1990-1995. That's the time period my Family spent 5 Christmas' in New Brunswick.
My sister & brother-in-law traveled from Boston, Geoffrey & I from Toronto to join my Mother in NB.
We would all stay in the old Shediac Hotel in a 3 bed room suite with living room & 2 bathrooms. We set up our own tree & that was our Family's home for the Holidays.
Around 1 p.m. on Christmas Day, we would pile into a rented van & head for Beaumont, Memramcook to my Mom's sister, Tante Bella.
Once there, my cousin Marcel would don a Santa's Hat & hand out gifts. We were a "cast of 1,000s" with so many cousins. Christmas 1995 boasted a crowd of 55 for dinner, which had to be carried out in several seatings. Tante Bella, Mom & we out-of-town guests, were served first as a show of respect & hospitality. Bella's daughters did all the serving & clearing up after each seating & once the last dish was washed, dried & put away, we got ready for the next event.
It was usually around 5 p.m., dark & perhaps a light snow falling. My cousin, Leo Paul would have the horses hitched to the sleigh with bells on the reins & a couple of lanterns. My Aunt & Mother were treated like royalty. Helped onto the sleigh, they would be covered with blankets & settled comfortably. The younger kids would tie their sleds & tobagons to the back & be pulled by horse power through the snowy trails. We sang Christmas Carols in French, laughed & chided Leo Paul when he reached up to shake a branch laden with snow all over us!
Truly a magnificent Dicken's like Christmas.
So, this year, our tree does not have a theme or a color trend - instead Geoffrey & I call it our Memory Tree.
So many ornaments remind us of loved ones passed; friends who have gone separate ways & those still very much present in our lives.
I want to thank Aline (Cormier) Gaudet, my cousin Leonce's wife, for introducing me to my cousins & so much of the joy I have experienced.
Geoffrey & I wish everyone a healthy, safe & HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON. It's what's in our hearts that matter.
