Christmas in July?

Mathieu teased me this weekend when I slyly started putting up the Christmas decorations. "There's nothing like Christmas in July!!" He proclaimed! Well, it's not exactly July….and in my opinion it's never too early.

Christmas is a special time for most families, but it was amplified in my house as a child because my mother is an absolute Christmas freak. As I type this she’s stringing her one-millionth strand of popcorn and watching Christmas movies in her green Christmas pajamas….the ones she wears all year long. My brother John, sister Sherrie and I are now 25, 28, and 32 respectively, and yet when we want a good laugh we just follow my mother around the house saying that Santa Claus isn’t real. She covers her ears and says, in a much wounded voice, "Don't say that!" She used to get so excited about opening presents that she'd wake us up at 5:00 a.m. on Christmas morning. Of course, by then Sherrie had already completed her recognisance on the presents.

Christmas changes as you get older, but as soon as my niece Maddie and nephews Zach and Zane came along, we realized why having kids around makes the holidays magical again. Seeing them at Christmas is one of the things I miss most now that I live far away. For their part, however, they don't seem to mind much. They have started making lists of things that are easily available on the internet because they know that Aunt Kari will break her neck getting to the computer to make their every wish come true. WELL, nearly ever wish. Last year Maddie decided she just had to have a Furreal pony. "Aunt Kari, they move, look and act JUST like real horses." Well, that's a good enough reason I think! That was until I saw that the little bastards cost $300-$500!! I felt bad until I called my sister to let her know I wasn't going to buy the furreal pony. She said (in the 'can-you-get-any-more-naive?' voice she’s used with me since I was 10) “Kari, are you a moron? She's surrounded by dozens of real horses every day, why would she need a mechanical one?" *sigh* Well, Miss Maddie did, nonetheless, get the furreal tiger. After all, she's NOT surrounded by real tigers every day and they move, look and act JUST like real tigers!!!

Since moving to Canada I haven't been back to Idaho for Christmas. It's hard being away from family when you live far away, but I have been blessed to spend the last seven Christmas' with Mathieu's family in Hearst, Ontario. And considering that I have no interest in visiting the North Pole, I’m convinced that being in Northern Ontario is the closest thing to a real Christmas village one can get. And from the first time I visited them, Mathieu's family have given me a home for Christmas. They have their own food, traditions and memories that I feel honored to share in now. Of the things we look forward to, many of them have something to do with Meat, Maple, and/or Liquor. Add that to the fact that we open our presents one day earlier, on Christmas Eve….and then tell me how it gets much better than that?

So, Christmas has changed over the years, but it's still about home....family.....faith.....and maybe just a little, itsy, bit about the meat, maple and liquor! :) And when Mathieu and I spend snowy nights by the fireplace surrounded by tons of Christmas decorations it reminds me of my 31 Christmas' across two countries.......even if it's still November.

Acutely aware that not all things age well.......

I have always loved reveling in bygone days by re-telling the same old stories; rehashing long-gone situations; listening to nostalgic music; and even having the same conversations over and over. On our 12-hour drive to Mathieu's home town of Hearst each year for Christmas I make him tell me the same stories or fun-facts about the things we see. Every year he has to point out the "No Toronto Garbage" sign in Kirkland Lake that's been there for 15 years. (Isn't it incredible that the threat of incoming garbage is still THAT fresh for someone?) And of course, there is the Cold Weather testing facility in Kapuskasing and then, close to home, one of my favorites, Grandma's house! So, I have never understood the pressure to "try something new" and just "forget the past." I have some pretty good stories. I also married a man whose friends have some of the best "back in the day" stories going. They're a sure thing....they're tried and tested....and if it ain't broken, don't fix it!! But recently, I became acutely aware that not all things age well. This happened shortly after I was clapping with excitement when I saw that the movie "Footloose" had successfully been recorded on Tivo! That movie was sooooo cool!!! So, I settled in for a flashback. I was only somewhat disappointed with the opening credits. I mean, shoes are a weather vane for fashion. It's only natural that some of those shoes bopping back and forth would look a little strange. But as it wore on I realized that it was so much better when played back in my head. Ariel's pants don't ride up so high.....and the montage of a seemingly "cool" high school boy teaching another to dance isn't so.....uh, gay and utterly ridiculous. And most of all, a pent-up Kevin Bacon who breaks away to an abandoned warehouse because he's JUST GOT TO DANCE isn't so pathetic that I cover my head in embarrassment. It's so sad! This movie inspired me.....I played the soundtrack in my Walkman until it started smoking. It led to my sister and I dancing on our water bed while throwing handfuls of glitter into the air. It gave me a comeback when my uncle told us that dancing was Satanic. "But in the Bible it says that David danced!!!" I sputtered! But, regardless of those things, now, well..... it just sucks. *sigh* I still love it of course. But now I understand; Some things should be left in the past. If only I would have realized that BEFORE ordering the set of banana clips on ebay.