The Citizen, 2007-12-20, Page 48The first adjective that comes to
Gil Garratt’s mind when asked about
Christmas, is complicated.
“But in a good way,” the associate
artistic director of the Blyth Festival
stressed. “It became a little
complicated when Gideon (his son)
came along, because now everyone
wants to see him.”
Garratt says that things could be a
lot worse than family wanting to be
around, and that he is happy for all
of the time he has with them.
However, he does make a point to set
aside time with Gideon and his wife,
Capucine Onn, where they can be
together, just the three of them.
Generally Christmas morning is
when they shut the blinds and spend
some time together, all the way
through to dinner that night.
Garratt, originally from Toronto,
backtracks after thinking about it
and recalls that Christmas tends to
start on Christmas Eve in the house
now. It’s something that he has
brought to his wife and son from his
holidays as a young boy, maybe with
some slight alterations.
“I guess it has followed me here
now, but when I was a kid, my mom
would always let us open one
present on Christmas Eve, and it was
always a big deal. So, she would go
and pick out one present for us and it
was always pyjamas. Every year:
pyjamas,” he said. “After a while, we
came to expect it, but we would
always wonder in the back of our
heads, ‘is this the year?’”
So while Gideon spends his
Christmas Eve opening one present,
which may or may not be pyjamas,
he’ll enjoy a truly unique soundtrack
to the holidays, another tradition that
Garratt says came with his wife.
“There is always a lot of music. A
lot of people play an instrument in
the family, so there is always a lot of
music and singing around the
house,” he said. “Even Gideon, he
was in a Christmas pageant last year
in Blyth.”
In addition to music and pyjamas,
Garratt says that his household is no
different from most, in that his
family subscribes to the more
common tradition of having a lot of
food.
“Capucine is an amazing baker
and we always have a lot of pie
laying around the house,” Garratt
said, making sure to point out that
the Christmas pie of choice is
pumpkin pie.
This year’s Christmas tree, as it
always is, was taken from Onn’s
father’s bush and this year it is a 17
foot cedar tree that had to be slightly
trimmed before being brought into
the house.
Garratt says that as the years go
on, his family is trying to give gifts
of hope more and more. He says that
he and his wife like to give to
charities and donate in their friends’
names as gifts.
He says this goes a long way to
distancing themselves from the
material aspects of Christmas,
something that a lot of people, often
get carried away with.
The only other tradition Garratt
can think of is a New Year’s Eve
party thrown by Onn’s aunt in
Hamilton. He has been going since
he and his wife were married, andOnn has been going for nearly 30years.And with any luck, on Christmas Eve, Garratt will open his one giftand find pyjamas he can wear onNew Year’s Day to relax in after theparty.PAGE B16. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2007.Garratt finds Christmas wonderfully complicated
Pyjamas?
Gil Garratt says there were no surprises around the Christmas tree when he was a kid on
Christmas Eve. Every year his mother allowed him to open one gift, which always turned out
to be pyjamas on Christmas Eve. Garratt and his wife Capucine Onn have selectively passed
this tradition on to their son Gideon. While Gideon is allowed to open one gift on Christmas
Eve, it may or may not be pyjamas. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
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By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
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