SHARING STORIES FROM THE SEASON OF GIVING

Throwback Thursday | Emma Puddicombe

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As the semester comes to a close and the holiday season begins, I thought I would look back on this time of year and learn more about the different traditions the students in our program do with their families. Read ahead for some Museum Studies style holiday traditions and to get into the spirit of the holiday season!

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“My grandma handmade this advent calendar for my family. For as long as I can remember, my brother, sister and I have always loved putting a nativity character up. When Christmas Day came around, it would turn into the hunger games between the three of us as to who got to put baby Jesus up. We still do this tradition to this day, and despite us all being in our 20s, it is still a major competition to see who gets to put baby Jesus up on Christmas morning.”

- Natalie Heaton, 2nd year MMSt (Photos courtesy of Natalie Heaton)

“For Christmas, my dog, Robbie, “buys” my sister and I socks! When he was a puppy he liked to steal socks so it seemed fitting.”

- Emily Finbow, 1st Year MMSt (Photos courtesy of Emily Finbow)

“For as long as I can remember, my best friend and I's families get together on Christmas Eve every year and we eat Tourtière and lobster fritters! The tradition is even sweeter now because my friend goes to Dalhousie and Christmas is her big break for the year when she comes home.”

- Sabryna Ekstein, 2nd year MMSt (Photo courtesy of Sabryna Ekstein)

“In true German tradition, Christmas Eve is the big day for my family. We have a light dinner, including my Dad's favourite German food tradition from his childhood, pickled herring (he's definitely the only one that eats it). Then we head off to church for a Christmas Eve service and carols. On our way home, my Dad makes a point to delay our arrival by driving through our surrounding neighborhoods to see the Christmas lights. As kids, this was exasperating because we were waiting to go home and open presents, but now it has become a more relaxing and welcomed excursion. The drive would always be long enough to ensure Santa had time to deliver our presents, and, lo and behold, every time we arrive home, to this day, Santa has been there.”

- Jordan Vetter, 1st year MMSt

“Every year my family wears matching outfits and we go to the distillery district together.”

- Savannah Sewell, 2nd year MMSt (Photos courtesy of Savannah Sewell)

“For a long time, my family followed a Dutch tradition. Everyone in the family gets a big chocolate letter of their first initial. They’re huge, so it was always a race to see who could eat theirs the fastest without feeling sick!”

- Martin Bierens, 1st year MMSt (Photo courtesy of Martin Bierens)

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“For the past 3-4 years, my family has been going axe throwing during our holiday break. We have so much time off (especially me and my sister, because we're both in university) that by the time the winter break ends, we're bored out of our minds. One year, we decided to go axe throwing, just for something to do. It turns out that my sister is actually really good, and my whole family really enjoys it! We're not the sportiest family, but we're all pretty good at axe throwing.”

- Emma Myers, 2nd year MMSt

“Every year my step-mom knits my cat, Biggie, a new outfit, and hat.”

- Lindsay Chisholm, 1st year MMSt (Photos courtesy of Lindsay Chisholm)

“As a tradition, my family and I always drive out to Alliston, Ontario to the Drysdale tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree. We also always watch It's a Wonderful Life after Christmas Eve mass.”

- Matt Dominico, 2nd year MMSt (Photos Source)

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"The morning is spent opening presents under the tree (stocking stuffers are opened first of course) and then we eat brunch and take our dogs out for a family walk around our town’s golf course. We also go visit my uncle who lives in a long-term care home and bring him hot chocolate. Later when we sit down for dinner we open Christmas crackers and read the joke/trivia and play with the toy that comes inside and wear the paper crowns while we eat. To end the night we usually drink tea and eat sweets while playing board games or card games.” 

- Vicky Jamieson, 1st year MMSt 

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“The only tradition my family seems to have is our "strike" against turkey. Basically, we got so tired of turkey after Thanksgiving we decided to ban it at Christmas and instead eat lamb or ham. It's just the 3 of us so it's an easy consensus.” 

- Elizabeth Cytko, 3rd year CDP

“My family isn’t super festive, but the holidays are the only time we're all in one room. In addition to leaving snacks for Santa, my family would also put out a bowl of baby carrots for the reindeer. One year they forgot to bring it back in and I cried because I was worried the reindeer would go hungry.” 

- Georgia McKee, 1st year MMSt (Photos courtesy of Georgia Mckee)

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“Every Christmas morning, while my mom would make breakfast, my dad would blast his Kenny G Christmas CD to wake me and my brothers up!” 

- Denise Tenio, 1st year MMSt

“On Christmas Eve, my family has a réveillon, or a Christmas Eve party (Derives ‘réveil’, meaning "waking", because everyone who is invited stays until midnight or later). We make traditional French-Canadian dishes, and all our neighbours, family and friends are invited. My dad even sets up a chocolate fountain! Every year our invitations feature a different Christmas movie character and people guess who it is. It’s my favourite part of the holiday!" 

- Emma Puddicombe, 2nd year MMSt (Photos courtesy of Emma Puddicombe)

Happy Holidays to all of you!