HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2008-12-24, Page 27SHAWN LOUGHLIN
Reporter/photographer
There are traditions and old
reliables every Christmas at the
Loughlin house, but scheduling is
not one of them.
There are always plates of
gingerbread cookies I love, bowls of
clementines that no one ever touches
and my dad and I watching National
Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and
laughing harder every year.
However, the holidays were never
a time of great consistency for us.
On one hand, the shift-work of a
Toronto police officer saw my father
protecting and serving on a different
schedule every holiday season. On
the other, my mother and I both
worked for businesses that saw fit to
stay open until 8 p.m. on Christmas
Eve.
This was a main factor in the
Loughlins never hosting a Griswold-
style family Christmas. If there were
invitations, the time would always
read “To Be Determined.”
However, whatever time of day or
night, in strolled our living,
breathing Christmas tradition. They
were the one constant in years of
jumbled holidays; my grandparents.
They lived around the corner from
us, so transportation was never an
issue for them. They were like
doctors on-call and when they got
beeped, they were there in a flash.
It wasn’t always like this.
Sometimes they were home when
my parents weren’t. My
grandmother would be cooking
while my mother was working or
cleaning up in preparation for the
night that laid ahead.
However, when everyone was
under the same roof at the same
time, Christmas became pretty
traditional.
It was a small gathering. There
were never long-awaited reunions
with long-lost relatives or the too
many bodies, too few beds
predicament, it was tightly-knit and
that was how we liked it.
Since my grandparents, who were
German, were such a big part of our
holidays, we opened our gifts on
Christmas Eve like they had done
their whole lives.
There was never any argument
from my sister, Dana and I though,
as we knew we were opening our
gifts one day sooner than the
majority of our friends.
There were always jokes that
seemed to follow my grandmother
around on Christmas Eve. She
would never waste, so we would
often receive gifts covered in squares
of wrapping paper, resembling a
square, paper quilt.
She also had a frequent tendency
to forget to remove price-tags fromher gifts. This became a playfulrunning joke, where not a Christmaswould pass without us receiving agift still bearing a price-tag.Often Christmas means recipes
that can be passed down or traditions
that can be upheld from generation
to generation. However, my
Christmas tradition has been a tough
one to uphold as the years have gone
on.
My grandmother passed away the
year I graduated public school and
my grandfather has been holding on
ever since. However, with three
quarters of a century in his rearview
mirror and a recent health speed
bump on his path, my grandfather is
finding it increasingly difficult to
spend quality time with his family.
My grandfather still comes for
dinner and gifts and we tell stories
about my grandmother, but it all
seems to be over too fast.
I’m not alone in this. I would be
foolish to assume I’m the only onewho feels Christmas comes and goesin a flash, but as I get older, I findone less year of Christmas traditiongreets me on Boxing Day sooner andsooner every year, despite the
calendar’s insistence on 365 days
annually.
So as years go on, gifts get more
practical and piles of torn wrapping
paper grow smaller and smaller, the
Loughlin Christmas remains as true
to its roots as it can.
However, I can’t lie and say I
don’t miss seeing presents under the
tree quilted up in wrapping paper or
a price-tag or two when all the dust
settles.
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2008. PAGE 27. Grandparents the one constant in Christmas
The good old days
Without a constant time and place to celebrate Christmas, my grandparents became the one
constant in our hectic holiday lives. While my grandmother, Liselottie Hesse passed away
several years ago, my grandfather, Benno is still with us and celebrating, despite a recent
health hiccup. My sister Dana, and I have been grateful for the time we had with them and
look forward to many more years of Christmas with our Opa at our side. (Courtesy photo)
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