Jen's Genealogy Pages

We have always baked cookies for Christmas. When I was young, my mother and other family members baked many different kinds – from shortbread to sugar cookies to Nanaimo bars to fruit cake to rum balls to these really neat marshmallow chocolate logs. We used to have a big family Christmas party where all these […]

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When I was young my parents held a Christmas party at the end of November. It was for all the family – aunts, uncles, cousins. It was lots of fun to see everybody. There were enough of us that we didn’t get together en masse very often. I particularly remember the year it was held […]

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As a child, I regularly sent letters to Santa Claus with my list of requests and to assure him I had been very good. Canada Post had a special service that would send a letter from Santa back to any child that wrote to him. (They still do it. If you’re in Canada you can send a […]

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I actually don’t remember much in the way of outdoor decorations from when I was really little. From about the time I was 10 or 11 though I do recall Dad putting lights out on the bushes and trees in front of the house along with a coloured flood light. He would also sometimes put […]

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My parents always sent Christmas cards and I remember being quite excited when we received one. I still like receiving them, though they are much less common than they used to be. I was always particularly interested in those that came from ‘away’ and tended to hope for a stamp or two from somewhere outside Canada. For […]

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Advent Calendar prompt: Did your family have heirloom or cherished ornaments? Did you ever string popcorn and cranberries? Did your family or ancestors make Christmas ornaments? A lot of the decorations that I remember best on our tree growing up were souvenirs brought back from our travels or given to us following others’ travels. I continue […]

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Our Christmas Eve meal is fairly traditional. It would be even more so if we were French Canadian. Some years ago my mother started making tourtière, which is traditional French Canadian Christmas Eve révillion fare. None of my family is French Canadian, but the tourtière is delicious! Christmas morning sees us drinking champagne and orange juice (or orange […]

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Growing up we always had a real tree. We’d go out to a local tree lot and pick the perfect one – as best as one could in the dark. I remember it was usually evening when we were out choosing our tree. I’m not sure whether that was because of the shorter winter days, the […]

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