On Christmas day, many families gather around the tree to open presents and enjoy each other’s company. Danielle Andrus’ morning is a little different. Andrus opens gifts to the soothing sounds of the Swiss Chalet channel.
“The rotisserie chickens are just turning and turning,” said Andrus. “My dad turns it on while we’re opening presents and we’re watching these chickens drip and like cook and its really weird. I don’t know why he does it.”
Despite this quirk, Danielle Andrus looks forward to Christmas every year. As soon as the snow falls, her excitement mounts Andrus is what one might call a Christmas lover. She likes the lights, she likes the food, she likes the atmosphere, and she loves the family togetherness.
“It’s also really exciting because I’m done of exams so I can go home and relax with my family, I can see them catch up with them and see what my friends have been up to for the past four months.”
Like many others, Andrus and her family share Christmas traditions centered around food and drink. Unlike most, her traditions also include National Lampoon.
“We watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation together,” said Andrus. “We have a drink, we make our traditional cheese ball, we sit down and eat that.”
Andrus’ love of the holiday dates back to childhood. She has memories of Christmas lights illuminating her neighbourhood, and of ribbon everywhere. She and her family even sought out the lights of other neighbourhoods.
“We used to drive half an hour out of Oshawa to these huge mansions and they would have the biggest brightest lights, flashing lights, big blow up snowmen and Santa Claus and the snow in the globe,” said Andrus. “I used to look forward to that every year.”
Her family had a seven-foot tree, and presents everywhere.
“You couldn’t walk with all of the wrapping paper on the floor, My grandmother would come over and we’d make turkey and the ham and potatoes and everything,” said Andrus.
Andrus’ Christmas experience seems picture perfect and almost too good to be true. It’s hard not to fall in love with the holiday cheer her story brings to mind.
It’s like a Coca Cola holiday commercial. All it’s missing are the baby polar bears. There’s only one thing Andrus dislikes about the holiday.
“Climate change is fucking Christmas up,” said Andrus.
“A perfect Christmas for me is waking up Christmas morning with fresh snow,” said Andrus. “You wake up, crisp fresh snow, still falling and Christmas lights are on. But the past years it’s been mud, dried up brown grass, slush…nothing.”
It’s hard to ignore the changing times, even when you’re standing in front of a seven-foot Christmas tree. It may be harder to have the entire family together at one time, because many people have had to move from their hometowns to find work. It’s also become an opportunity for part-time workers to pick up an extra few hours at increased wage.
Real life is creeping in on Christmas. We’re growing up.
“Last year we had to wake up at six in the morning because my sister worked the day shift at McDonald’s. I miss that whole family aspect of it, we used to all sit down and watch movies together on Christmas Eve, and last year I got hammered with a friend and was hungover Christmas day last year,” said Andrus. “I mean, people change right? We grow up and we do our own thing.”
For some, Christmas hasn’t ever been picture perfect. Meet Isabel Myers. Her birthday is December 1st and it’s been in the shadow of Christmas her entire life.
“My birthday comes a month before Christmas. Anyone with a birthday from mid-November to Christmas get the shitty end of the stick,” said Myers.
“It’s like ‘oh, let’s combine birthdays and Christmas presents’ your birthday is never about you, which is fine, but every single year?”
The combo attitude bugs Myers. This year, her birthday was turned into a house decorating party. She even got a gingerbread cake..
After her birthday, though, Myers’ heart grows four sizes and she tries to embrace the Christmas culture. But she’s weirded out by the gift craze.
“I lived with a friend whose family used to buy presents all year round, they’d start from boxing day until Christmas Eve the following year,” said Myers.
She has a different approach to gift-giving. Myers likes to buy a few gifts with meaning, rather than throw money around buying tons of presents.
“It made me embarrassed to have my mom see me receive all of these pointless gifts like napkins and socks,” said Myers. “They were buying gifts just to say they had a lot of gifts.”
Spread out families and holiday materialism aren’t the only things university-aged people have to worry about. By now, we should all have figured out that not everyone celebrates Christmas.
Jasmine Kranat loves many of the same things Danielle Andrus loves about the holiday season. She likes the food, the family, and the togetherness. But Kranat celebrates Hannukah too.
“I’ve celebrated Hannukah my whole life and I love coming together with my family, and making the doughnuts and special kinds of food,” said Kranat.
She and many of her friends back home celebrate both Christmas and Hannukah. In Fredericton, though, she senses a lack of education about other holiday celebrations.
“I do feel like Fredericton is huge on Christmas and it doesn’t talk about the other festivals such as Duvalli, Eid and others,” said Kranat.
Despite this, she enjoys the holidays.
And our Christmas lover, Danielle Andrus? She’s ready for the festivities to begin. She’s been counting down the days until she can get home. It doesn’t really matter whether snow or mud greet her.
“I’ve started listening to symphonic Christmas songs on 8tracks so I can start getting the Christmas feel,” said Andrus. “My mindset right now is ‘get me home.”
