CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS PART 5 HONG KONG / CANADA

Here is a warm personal account of the Christmas traditions from one of my former students. Now Eric Kam is one of many Brebeuf grads who's helping me in my quest to be a lifelong learner.

• My grandma was not religious, but since Hong Kong had some Western culture, she still celebrated Christmas with my mom, aunts, uncles when they were little kids.
• My grandma's house had a Christmas tree, and her friends' houses had a Christmas tree with presents, Santa Claus, with a festival atmosphere.  
  
• My grandma was poor and a single mother, so she took the kids to her more well-off friends' house for a party every year with other kids.
• The party had a buffet meal, with everyone lining up around the big table.  The adults joke that the buffet is like beggars lining up for a meal.

• My mother went to a Catholic school in Hong Kong.
• My mom was religious.  She almost became a nun, to the point she opened the door to leave for the convent until my grandma said to my mom "you forgot your sweater, so how can you take care of yourself in a world you don't know much about".  That one sentence touched her emotions deeply and changed her mind.
• My mom's kindergarten had Christmas performances, where she was cast as Holy Mary due to her long hair.  Her teachers told her not to cut her hair, but she misunderstood and asked my grandma to cut her hair.  Teachers improvised by adding extra cloth, because the show must go on!!
• Her school also had parties with gift exchange.
• After immigration to Toronto, my mom was in the St. Pascal Baylon parish choir.  Then for the past 10+ years, she's in the conductor's Italian choir, where they perform in concerts around the city, especially during Christmas.  The Italian culture has welcomed her with open arms, and she loves the choir's concerts in Italy.

• My brother and I both went to Catholic schools in Hong Kong and Toronto.
• In Hong Kong, my mother would bring my brother and I to walk city streets and to see beautiful Christmas lights and decorations.
  
• In Hong Kong kindergarten, for Christmas performances, I played the sheep, while my brother was the shepherd.
• At home, my mother always wanted to have a Christmas atmosphere during our childhood every year, with a Christmas tree and presents.  I remember ornaments with angels and Jesus' manger.
• Since my dad never celebrated in his childhood and was not Catholic until recently, he always criticized my mom for buying too many presents, because he would say "it's giving easy profits to the business man."  Thus my mom always gave him practical gifts like socks and toothbrushes.
• The first year we immigrated to Toronto in 1995, my 70-year old grandma visited from Chicago and wanted our family to have a Christmas atmosphere.  Therefore, she walked 20 minutes to Centerpoint Mall to buy a Christmas tree, then pushed the tree in a shopping cart home (we returned the cart the next day).