This year, we will be celebrating a Colorado Christmas! It is a bit of a relief to just BE, especially after the calamities of last year’s Canadian commute (which included a huge blizzard that crippled Denver for a few days and almost made Jamie miss Christmas with us).
However, I will be homesick for The Motherland. A few years ago, I compiled this Top 10 List of Favorite Things about Christmas in Canada.
10. The Left-Right Game on Christmas Eve. A time when it is confirmed we would never win any I.Q. contests as we struggle to tell the difference between our left and right hand.
9. Tobogganing and giving ourselves icy en*mas as we shoot down the steep gully near our house. Followed by hot chocolate in front of a REAL wood-burning fireplace.
8. The year my brother Patrick and I snuck out to open our Grease 8-track
and played it 100X before anyone even got out of bed. Oh, and the nifty shag carpet and lime-green wallpaper in all our pictures.
7. Cross-country skiing in sub-zero temperatures on the golf course across the street. Nothing like snorting frozen nose hairs for the holidays.
6. Playing the bells on Christmas Eve. A confirmation that not only are we
not musically inclined but we somehow seem to get worse every year.
5. Conservative and shy Dad performing the Polish 12 Days of Christmas.
Hilarious even if you’re not numbered among the chosen Pollacks of this
world.
4. Ice skating for miles along the “Bow Liver” (as mispronounced by Dad’s
good Chinese friend).
3. Spending THE ONLY two Christmases with your honey in Canada praying to the porcelain gods as you vehemently puke up Mom’s cooking that you had craved all year. Thanks, Norwalk Virus.
2. Playing the piano for Dad as we sing carols and belt out all 18 verses
of Good King Wenceslas. It’s as if tone-deaf meets off-key for the first time, and what a delightful duet it is. I still can’t figure out why no one else wants to join in.
1. Christmas Eve’s gift exchange game. A brutal competition as we all fight over the coolest farting book of the year. If you think that’s bad, I won’t even mention the lowest of lows when “Bum Darts” somehow made it into the schedule of events one year….
On a more serious note, in keeping with tradition here is a link to my best “Christmas” ever – spent in Shepherd’s Fields. It is a reminder of what all this celebrating is about.
Jamie has the week off and his entire family is in town so posting will be patchy until after the holidays.
Merry Christmas to you all. And I can’t wait to read about your holidays!!!!
XOXOXOXOX
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 