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Christmas is fast approaching, and we at the MQUP are getting into the spirit. On that note, we present an excerpt of Family and Community Life in Northeastern Ontario by Françoise Noël.
"The Laroque family lived in the city of North Bay and were parishioners at St Vincent de Paul church, as were most of the French Canadians in North Bay. Hermès Laroque recalled that when he was very young (he was born in 1924) Christmas was a family celebration. They had a Christmas tree in the living room. His mother decorated the tree on Christmas Eve, after the children were in bed, so they wouldn’t know what was happening. When she had finished, she put their presents under the tree. The adults went to midnight mass and when they returned, the children were awakened so that they could come and open their gifts. There was no question of going elsewhere, he emphasizes; this was a family event. When they were older, his mother also prepared a family supper on Christmas Eve after Midnight Mass: “le soir de Noël y avait toujours la rencontre de toute la famille” (on Christmas Eve there was always the get-together of the whole family). Even after the children got married, the whole family would get together for Christmas. The favourite meal was turkey, and they had access to it from the store his father kept. Although they received their gifts at Christmas, some of the older tradition of giving gifts at New Year’s remained, since they received their “Christmas stocking” at New Year’s. This stocking contained the only oranges they saw in a year, apples, and grapes – a real treat. The Christmas gifts must have been small items that they needed, but Hermès had no real recollection of them. Only one gift stands out in his memory. One year his father managed to find two used bicycles for five dollars each for the boys."
Click here for more information on Family and Community Life in Northeastern Ontario
Happy Holidays from all of us at
McGill-Queen's University Press
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