the daily snivel
Christmas and everything after
This has been one of the nicest holiday seasons I've had yet.
It's been a tradition over the past few years in my family to have the big Christmas do on December 26, as my older brother Scott regularly works on the night of the 25th at the Dominion Tavern in Ottawa's Byward Market, where he tends bar. Accordingly, I got to sleep in on Christmas Day, lounge around in my underwear while Natalie (who is equally putting me up and putting up with me until I find an apartment) was at her mother's house opening presents and having X-mas dinner, and read my new copy of Terry Pratchett's "Thud!" in the warm glowing glowy glow of the tree in the living room. Then it was off to the Dominion, which is another Christmas Day tradition in my family, where I hung out with my older brother and was joined by the lovely, enchanting, and hilarious Tara, her fiancée Nick, while I awaited the arrival of my younger brother, who had recently returned for the holidays from Alberta (where he is working as a welder). Unfortunately, he ultimately wasn't able to attend that night, being out in Smiths Falls at our mother's house without transportation, but his absence was certainly compensated for by the presence of an old, old friend named Ryan who was also out enjoying the fun but non-festive atmosphere of the bar (which lacked so much as even a single strand of tinsel).
On the 26th, my family descended upon my brother and my sister-in-law's new home, which they have been renovating since last Spring. It's an old post-war bungalow in Vanier, and as I hadn't seen it since the summer, its current state was amazing. There used to be this dreadful green linoleum flooring all over the house, and they'd pulled that up. Underneath that was another layer of awful linoleum tile, so that had to come up as well. Underneath that was a wooden base that had been nailed down right over the original hardwood floors. Beautiful, untouched hardwood floors that had probably been buried under unbearably tacky flooring for 40 years. It took my brother two weeks to pull up all the boards and nails parasitically piercing the living beauty of the hardwood underneath, and then the hardwood had to be sanded down and refinished. But the result is stunning and probably added a huge chunk of change to the value of the home. They also put down porcelain tiles in the kitchen, and in a small corner of the living room. There they had a small, energy-efficient woodstove that was heating the entire house. It had glass doors that allowed you to watch the fire and it was extremely cozy to sit around while my brothers jammed on guitars with our uncle Thomas (who through a quirk of a grandfather's remarriage is actually younger than my older brother). They'd also renovated the entire bathroom and had almost finished the kitchen -- though my brother still had to cook in the smaller kitchen that had been put into the basement by the previous owner.
As happens when you get a family together to celebrate Christmas, there was a lot of great food (prepared by my older brother, who is also a talented and experienced chef) as well as a never-ending supply of booze to keep everyone in the holiday spirit. That said, mine isn't the sort of family that requires the lubricating effects of alcohol to keep functions running smoothly and without sparks or overheating. My siblings and I simply like the drink (though our dear mum is not included in that equation), respectable citizens though we may otherwise be. In fact, I love how easy it is to talk and laugh and open up when I'm with my family. There are no weird tensions or feuds, or those sensitive, nerve-jangling issues that you Simply Don't Discuss when there's a certain person in the room. Most people flock to a bar like the Dominion on Christmas Day to get away after they've had dinner with their families -- I like the fact that it is with my family that I would feel most at home.
I think, because of the fact that my father died on Christmas Eve some 25 years ago, we've turned the holidays into a more personal, and less materialistic or formal occasion. This year, for example, my sister and her nieces spent Christmas Eve cooking and serving Christmas meals to the needy. I don't think you can hit closer to the "true spirit" of Christmas than that. They spent that time together and had fun while helping others and giving of their time. Similarly, spending time with my family (particularly when it is so hard to get us all under one roof, given busy lives and countless miles) and making it more about the company than the presents has resulted in me really looking forward to celebrating Christmas, as opposed to feeling ambivalent or melancholy about it as I once did.
I hope you all also had wonderful, happy Christmases. In this season of blowhards whipping up phony outrage about the "war on Christmas," fomenting rage and spraying bile to diverting people's attention about the real crises of the time, like unabated poverty, warmongering, and political corruption, it's important to enjoy those times of peace, charity, laughter, and intimacy.
Comments:It's been a tradition over the past few years in my family to have the big Christmas do on December 26, as my older brother Scott regularly works on the night of the 25th at the Dominion Tavern in Ottawa's Byward Market, where he tends bar. Accordingly, I got to sleep in on Christmas Day, lounge around in my underwear while Natalie (who is equally putting me up and putting up with me until I find an apartment) was at her mother's house opening presents and having X-mas dinner, and read my new copy of Terry Pratchett's "Thud!" in the warm glowing glowy glow of the tree in the living room. Then it was off to the Dominion, which is another Christmas Day tradition in my family, where I hung out with my older brother and was joined by the lovely, enchanting, and hilarious Tara, her fiancée Nick, while I awaited the arrival of my younger brother, who had recently returned for the holidays from Alberta (where he is working as a welder). Unfortunately, he ultimately wasn't able to attend that night, being out in Smiths Falls at our mother's house without transportation, but his absence was certainly compensated for by the presence of an old, old friend named Ryan who was also out enjoying the fun but non-festive atmosphere of the bar (which lacked so much as even a single strand of tinsel).
On the 26th, my family descended upon my brother and my sister-in-law's new home, which they have been renovating since last Spring. It's an old post-war bungalow in Vanier, and as I hadn't seen it since the summer, its current state was amazing. There used to be this dreadful green linoleum flooring all over the house, and they'd pulled that up. Underneath that was another layer of awful linoleum tile, so that had to come up as well. Underneath that was a wooden base that had been nailed down right over the original hardwood floors. Beautiful, untouched hardwood floors that had probably been buried under unbearably tacky flooring for 40 years. It took my brother two weeks to pull up all the boards and nails parasitically piercing the living beauty of the hardwood underneath, and then the hardwood had to be sanded down and refinished. But the result is stunning and probably added a huge chunk of change to the value of the home. They also put down porcelain tiles in the kitchen, and in a small corner of the living room. There they had a small, energy-efficient woodstove that was heating the entire house. It had glass doors that allowed you to watch the fire and it was extremely cozy to sit around while my brothers jammed on guitars with our uncle Thomas (who through a quirk of a grandfather's remarriage is actually younger than my older brother). They'd also renovated the entire bathroom and had almost finished the kitchen -- though my brother still had to cook in the smaller kitchen that had been put into the basement by the previous owner.
As happens when you get a family together to celebrate Christmas, there was a lot of great food (prepared by my older brother, who is also a talented and experienced chef) as well as a never-ending supply of booze to keep everyone in the holiday spirit. That said, mine isn't the sort of family that requires the lubricating effects of alcohol to keep functions running smoothly and without sparks or overheating. My siblings and I simply like the drink (though our dear mum is not included in that equation), respectable citizens though we may otherwise be. In fact, I love how easy it is to talk and laugh and open up when I'm with my family. There are no weird tensions or feuds, or those sensitive, nerve-jangling issues that you Simply Don't Discuss when there's a certain person in the room. Most people flock to a bar like the Dominion on Christmas Day to get away after they've had dinner with their families -- I like the fact that it is with my family that I would feel most at home.
I think, because of the fact that my father died on Christmas Eve some 25 years ago, we've turned the holidays into a more personal, and less materialistic or formal occasion. This year, for example, my sister and her nieces spent Christmas Eve cooking and serving Christmas meals to the needy. I don't think you can hit closer to the "true spirit" of Christmas than that. They spent that time together and had fun while helping others and giving of their time. Similarly, spending time with my family (particularly when it is so hard to get us all under one roof, given busy lives and countless miles) and making it more about the company than the presents has resulted in me really looking forward to celebrating Christmas, as opposed to feeling ambivalent or melancholy about it as I once did.
I hope you all also had wonderful, happy Christmases. In this season of blowhards whipping up phony outrage about the "war on Christmas," fomenting rage and spraying bile to diverting people's attention about the real crises of the time, like unabated poverty, warmongering, and political corruption, it's important to enjoy those times of peace, charity, laughter, and intimacy.
