By NATALEE CAPLE
Saturday, December 3, 2005 Page D9
In December, Canadians think about work and the landscape and how much work it is to live in this landscape. And, as Christmas approaches, we think about the year that has passed and the new year coming, the people we miss and the people we live with. We read the ribbons and signs in the malls and on the streets that say, Feliz Navidad, Joyeaux Noel, Buon Natale, and are reminded of how lucky we are to live in such a diverse culture.
Christmas in Canada means everything from stories of pioneering in Saskatchewan, fighting the winds by the sea in Nova Scotia, horse-drawn sleighs in Montreal and dog-sledding in Labrador. From immigrant families (like mine), to French Canadians, Acadians and Northern cultures, we all have our different take on what it means to celebrate here every year.
This year, when I travel back from the mountains in Canmore, Alta., to the little city of Whitby, Ont., to be with my family, I am bringing armloads of gorgeous Christmas books by Canadian authors, hoping to renew an old tradition and show my gorgeous niece what Christmas is really like for children across Canada. Here are some of the many treasures I plan to pack in my bulging suitcase.
For the days leading up to Christmas, activity books always helped to keep my sister and me from killing each other. Christmas Crafts from Around the World, by Judy Ann Sadler (Kids Can, 2003), will help the whole family to make ornaments and personal gifts in the days leading up to Christmas. Each craft is from a different country, reflecting the collage of traditions that makes up Canadian holidays. Learn how to make straw ornaments from Finland, gold walnuts from the Ukraine, advent calendars from Germany, crinkle-paper chains from South Africa, nativity scenes from Italy and Christmas fairies from Britain.
The young scientist in the snow belt will appreciate Snow Watch, by Cheryl Archer (Kids Can, 1994). This neat book provides experiments, activities and things to do with snow, including how to study a snowflake, how to make a snowball thermometer and how to look for snow critters, along with an explanation of how snowflakes form and how glaciers move.
Stories about family history have special significance in a young country, because they so often relate to adjustment, cultural differences and acceptance. Adolescents relate to these issues keenly. Canadian Christmas books address this theme from many different angles.
Angels in Winter (Penguin Canada, 2004), by Kathy Stinson, is part of a great series called Our Canadian Girls, about children from across the country. Angels in Winter is set in Montreal. The main character, Marie-Claire, looks forward to toboggans and tourtière, to making an étoile de mer (starfish) in the snow the way her English friends make snow angels, and to the annual ice palace. But most all, she looks forward to seeing her Tante and Oncle, and seeing her French mother stop worrying about how her English friends have so many more material goods.
Under a Living Sky, by Joseph Simons (Orca, 2005), takes place in Saskatchewan during the Depression. Mary's family feels left behind as neighbours move to more central cities to find work. Mary can't go to school because of a hole in her heart, and her sister, Judith, is driving her crazy. But it is when she loses her only gift, a doll made from a feedbag, that she becomes friends with her sister for the first time.
In The Gift, by Joseph Kertes (Groundwood, 1995), the director of the Humber School for Writers tells his own touching story of being a Jewish boy in Toronto, suffering anxiety because he wants to give his best friend a special Christmas gift when he is invited to come to his first Christmas dinner.
One Christmas in Lunenburg, by Amy Bennet (Lorimer, 1964), takes place in Nova Scotia, where a young girl wants to hear the animals speak on Christmas Eve. When she takes her younger brother, who has Down syndrome and has never spoken, to the barn at night, he reveals a present he has been practising for some time when he speaks her name.
A gorgeous book, The House of Wooden Santas, by Kevin Major (Red Deer, 1997), tells the story of a single mother who tries to provide for her increasingly adolescent grouchy son by making exquisite and eccentric carved Santas, including such incarnations as superhero Santa and sleeping Santa. When they are about to be evicted from their home, her son and his friend plot to save Christmas. A special edition of this book comes with two CDs produced by the CBC: How Canadian.
Re-interpreting traditions is a theme also common to our mixed-up culture. Telling stories again in a new way must be part of the broken-telephone game of history. Some of the most artistic books this season fall into this category.
The Nutcracker is retold by favourite Canadian prima ballerina Karen Kain (Tundra, 2005). The Nutcracker is a simply glorious version of the famous nutcracker tale, based on the National Ballet of Canada's production by James Kudelka.
Another Canadian family project involving the nutcracker story is Woodland Nutcracker (Key Porter, 1999), retold by Avril Tyrell and illustrated by her daughter, Frances Tyrell. In this version, it is Christmas Eve in the forest, and the bear cubs are dreaming fantastic dreams.
In A Northern Nativity, by William Kurelek (Tundra, 1976), Christmas seems unreachable for a boy during the Depression, until he has a series of dreams in which he sees the nativity played out across the country. The scene appears to him in boxcars, country missions, lumber camp stables, Niagara Falls, a grain elevator and many other places where the spirit of Christmas finds a way to appear even to the desperate.
The Olden Days Coat, by Margaret Laurence (Tundra, 2004), is written by one of Canada's most famous authors. Laurence takes on the Christmas time-travel tale, with a story about a girl who tries on an old coat and gets to meet her grandmother as a little girl her age.
Since Canadians are not just about art and history; we are also known for creating original comedic characters in every medium, so it seems important to mention some examples of our goofy take on Christmas with books about a turtle, a camel, postcards and a moose (it wouldn't be Christmas without a funny story about a moose). Franklin's Christmas Gift, by Paulette Bourgeois and illustrated by Brenda Clark (Kid's Can, 1998), shows lovable Canadian turtle Franklin as he frets over which of his toys he should donate to charity for another child for Christmas.
Aunt Olga's Christmas Postcards, by Kevin Major (Groundwood, 2005), tells the story of a girl and her great-great auntie who invent a fun new Christmas tradition, laughing over tea and making up Christmas poems as they look over the Christmas postcards that the auntie once illustrated for a living. This one is illustrated partly with examples from the author's private collection of historic postcards.
The Last Straw, by Frederick H. Thury (Key Porter, 1998), is about a vain camel who has a humorous take on the saying about "the straw that broke the camel's back." Hoshmakaka gets talked into bringing gifts for the baby Jesus from everyone he meets on the road to Bethlehem. His vanity keeps him going, but his reward is to be part of a great joy and never to act blindly again.
Elliot's Christmas Surprise, by Andrea Beck (Kid's Can, 2003), shows Elliot Moose as he wakes up and finds an early Christmas gift. But when he thinks that no one else has received an early gift, he makes presents for all of his friends.
Last but not least, although we know they are not children any more, for the teenager who is a secret softy, here are two lovely collections of stories from across Canada. Christmas in Canada, edited by Rick Book (Red Deer, 2003), contains short stories as culturally diverse as Orca Child, Miracle at Forty Below and Les Habitants du Richelieu. And Sleds, Sleighs & Snow, edited by Anne Tempelman-Kluit (Whitecap, 2005), reprints stories by Canadians including Lucy Maud Montgomery, Grey Owl, Emily Carr, Father Jean de Brébeuf, Nellie McClung and Stephen Leacock.
Sharing stories at Christmas is a ritual that serves multiple purposes. The stories we tell at Christmas illustrate what we most want our children to know about our culture. They also remind us of what we consider the very best aspects of ourselves. In Canada, the wild and varied landscapes of prairies, sea ports, mountains and tiny townships are more than settings for our stories. The landscape is as much a part of our national personality as the many accents and traditions that enliven our shared values.
I felt so big, like such an important part of my family, the first Christmas Eve that I was old enough to read the Christmas books out loud to my sister. Suzi and I snuggled in our nightgowns between our parents in front of the fireplace with the bright pages spread across our little laps. Cookies, presents, music and lights were all part of how we celebrated every year, but my favourite part of Christmas has always been the ritual of excitedly getting ready for bed and then being all together, reading our favourite stories to each other, year after year.
Natalee Caple is the author of Mackerel Sky.
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