Part one of a look at Christmas traditions. (file photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Josh Ryan

Generosity = Joy

Christmas Traditions: Part I

Dec 24, 2020 | 4:00 PM

While we’re not out of the woods yet, battlefordsNOW has chosen to produce our usual series of end-of-year stories with a focus on hope and the future.

Like most of the western world, families in the Battlefords share in the same sorts of Christmas staples. And even when they slightly differ from one another, or have changed over the years, the intention behind them largely remains the same.

We conducted a non-scientific poll on battlefordsNOW, as well as reached out to local residents, to see what people would say is their favourite tradition, be it opening presents, watching A Christmas Carol, the family dinners and/or playing outside in the snow. For most, many of these pastimes all bleed together, but opening presents and turkey dinner were the most frequent answers.

Our poll also prompted some special stories about the festive season, like this one from a community member who has seen many Christmas seasons in the Battlefords.

A look at Christmas past

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Less than 100 years ago, families experienced the holidays without nearly as much of the glamour and sparkle. David Conroy, a longtime resident of the Battlefords, said he can remember as far back as the later stages of the Great Depression and the Second World War.

“There were hard times, it’s hard to celebrate Christmas during a war,” he said. “But we did it, got presents out of the Eaton’s catalogue, made a Santa list and hoped you got some of them. Christmas times were still always wonderful, of course.”

Christmas changed for Conroy after his parents passed away, where he spent several festive seasons with his brother on Club Med vacations, where people took all inclusive vacations and stayed inn unlit huts in villages at tropical locations. Conroy said there were many good memories

“For two single men at that time, there were many great times,” he said.

However, his strongest memories of the holiday predate that time, to when they were young children.

Much of the window dressing for the holiday looked different. Yet, there were still a lot of lights on the home’s exterior, the inside was decorated, and there was still the exchanging of gifts with distant family members. Conroy said the highlight was the horse-drawn carriage that operated a delivery system of gifts.

“It had bells on the harness and they’d be delivering presents that came in the mail,” Conroy said. “My mum would try to have some little present delivered for my brother Peter when the horses would go by the house, a present or book or something little. She didn’t like them to go by without having something for us two kids.”

Family and fellowship

There were other memories, like being unable to sleep from pure excitement, waking the parents up early on Christmas Day. In the 1940’s and 1950’s, Conroy said there were usually Christmas parties at local stores almost every day leading up to Christmas. It had a more collective vibe than what may be experienced in communities now during retail holiday sprees.

“Men’s wear stores were very personal, it wasn’t Walmart,” he said. “And there were lots of high school boys working at these shops then.”

When asked what Christmas most stands for, Conroy said: family, fellowship and the warmth of life, something he said his mother always tried to hammer home for her children.

“My mum went to great lengths to make my Christmases like that,” he said “I had a flashlight that I’d shine through my hand and say ‘look mum, Christmas!’ That was the kind of Christmas she wanted us to experience.”

“There’s no other holiday like Christmas.”

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josh.ryan@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JoshRyanSports