The Citizen, 2007-12-20, Page 34“It used to be a pretty normal day.
We’d get up, do the chores, come in
and have breakfast and then we’d
get to open a present, but then we’d
have to go out and do more chores,”
said Paul Nichol, economic
development manager with the
Huron Business Development
Corporation.
“It wasn’t really until I married
that it became a big deal.”
Nichol’s wife, Kathy, grew up in a
household where Christmas was a
big event and family members
would come from as far as Orillia
and Quebec to be with the rest of
their family to celebrate. Nichol
confessed that celebrating
Christmas in a big way quickly
became contagious.
Now, Nichol says, he has
experienced the holidays with 18
people in a house and waking up
with just his wife and two sons,
Seth and Ethan. He says that both
are good, but that there’s just
something old-fashioned about a
big, family Christmas.
Much of what Nichol calls
tradition in his house as far as
Christmas is concerned is like
a journey through the past, start-
ing with the very house he calls
home.
Nichol lives in a beautiful old
home just north of Brussels and he
prides himself on preserving as
much of its history as he can.
Each room greets like a themed
museum room, but slightly adapted
for functionality. The kitchen
features a wood stove, while living
rooms and offices house antique
violins and guitars, desks and
leather chairs.
Nichol says preserving the
historic integrity of his home is
important to him and that he wishes
others would do it more often.
This brings him to one of his
favourite Christmas traditions
stemming from an old legend he
once heard when he was a child.
After being told that the animals
out in the barn would talk atmidnight on Christmas, he wouldmake his way out to the barn, alone,every Christmas and wait to strikeup conversation with the animals.This never happened, but it led him
to a tradition that he holds dear to
his heart with his wife and sons, a
tradition that he says brings him
closer to the true meaning of the
holiday.
Every Christmas, Nichol collects
his Bible, bundles up his family and
takes a walk out to the barn. Setting
up hay to sit on, out in the cold with
the animals, Nichol reads the
Christmas story to his family. He
says it gives him a true
understanding of the nature of the
Christmas story, out in a barn, in the
cold on Christmas night.
In addition to keeping the
religious aspect of Christmas
intact, one that seems to fade
steadily every year, he says it keeps
him grounded and helps him to
channel his ancestors. Nichol says
he has always been interested in
pioneers and how they did things,
hence his old-fashioned home, and
doing this, he says is celebrating the
way that those before him might
have.
Taking it one step further this
year, but met with mixed reactions,
Nichol hopes to start a new
tradition.
This year, he hopes to temporarily
move the family out to a small one-
room cabin just beside his house to
sleep Christmas night. Again,
channeling his ancestors, he says itfeels like the way families beforehim would have done it, not tomention bringing a sense of familythat can only come by spendingsuch a solemn occasion together in
such tight quarters.
While Nichol and one of his sons
are on-board (before they’ve tried it,
Kathy notes) his other son and his
wife are unsure if they want this
new tradition to be a staple of their
holidays.
With both traditions firmly
scheduled for Christmas Eve and
Christmas Day, one tradition that
takes place a few weeks before was
in full swing. Kathy and a friend of
theirs from University, Dave
Stinson, collaborate each year to
make Christmas cake (that people
seem to like, Nichol says).
Joking that “it makes a good gift,
or a good doorstop”, Stinson stood
by his recipe, saying that he rarely
gets a response other than positive.
The secret, he says, is none of the
things that people don’t like, and
more of the things that people
do.
While Nichol has come a long
way from the days of doing chores
before breakfast and presents on his
family’s farm just outside of
Brussels, his fusion of his old-
fashioned Christmas and Kathy’s
big celebration seem to be working
together to form a strong
family foundation based in
history, albeit a possibly cold,
outdoor foundation.
PAGE B2. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2007.A Christmas tradition recalls true meaning
Away in a manger
Paul Nichol likes to channel his ancestors when the holiday season rolls around. Stemming
from his childhood tradition of heading out to his barn at midnight on Christmas, when as
legend goes, the animals would talk, he now shares Christmas night with his family out in his
barn, reading the Christmas story from the Bible. From left: Nichol, his nine-year-old son Seth,
his 12-year-old son Ethan, his wife Kathy, his father-in-law Leo MacNeil, and close friend
Dave Stinson. Front: Ed Davies, Nichol’s close friend. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
MM ee rr rr yy CC hh rr ii ss tt mm aa ss
Wishing you and your family peace & happiness
Throughout this Holiday Season!
Seated(L to R): Larry McGrath, Deputy Mayor Bernie MacLellan, Mayor Joe Seili,
Alvin McLellan, Joe Steffler
Standing(L to R): Bill Siemon, Frank Stretton, Orval Bauer, Bob Fisher,
David Blaney, Andrew Flowers, Les Falconer
from the council and staff of
Municipality of Huron East
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen