15 Canadian holiday traditions

We asked Canadian Living readers to tell us about their own special holiday rituals and family traditions. The response was a great mix of new and old traditions, with an overwhelming majority placing a high value on the importance of family.

The following 15 letters are just a few of the many wonderful responses we received. Perhaps they can inspire you to create a new family ritual of your own. Enjoy.

For more festive family traditions, check out the December 2003 issue of Canadian Living magazine.

Our Christmas angel
Each year we place a special angel on the top of our Christmas tree. She is the Christmas Angel" reminiscent of the angels who watched over baby Jesus on his birthday.

She watches over us throughout the holiday season, and on Christmas morning when we get up and our eyes are drawn to the lighted tree, we make our Christmas wish to the Angel prior to opening gifts.

Over the years the wishes have ranged from hoping the special present that was asked for from Santa was under that pretty tree, to wishes about issues dear to our hearts. These wishes are not secret; they will not come true unless you share your wish with the rest of the family. It is sometimes surprising to hear some of the wishes and we all do our best to make everyone's wish come true throughout the coming year.
– Maureen Daoust

Special stockings
My mother started a family tradition when I was about two years old. Every Christmas, she made a different stocking for my sister and I. Our stockings were always original and always slightly different from each other's. She used all kinds of materials and just when we thought she had done it all, the next year was a whole different stocking!

One year she knitted our stockings. Another year, she sewed them to look like high-heeled boots. One time, they were made out of old jeans. Sometimes they were decorated with buttons, other years with lace. My sister's and my stockings were usually different colours (various shades of green and red) but were always the same style. In early December, we would wake up one morning and see our stockings hanging by the fireplace. We couldn't wait to see what my mom had come up with!

She filled our stockings with seven little gifts. One to open each day from Dec. 25 to Jan. 1. My sister and I would sit near the fireplace and take out all the wrapped gifts, trying to decide which we would open that day and which one we would open the next. We loved looking at our stockings hanging over the fireplace.

My mom died of cancer in 1997 but every year, from the time I was two until I was 24, there was a new and original stocking waiting for me at Christmas. Nothing stopped my mom from fulfilling this tradition that she started. Even when my family was going through financially tough times, even when my mom was so busy trying to start a new business with my dad, even when she was sick... there was a stocking for us at Christmas. I don't know how she did it!

Now that I have a baby of my own, I'm looking forward to taking out those stockings and filling them up for my own children!
– Caroline Rousseau

Click "SEE ALL IMAGES" under the photo above to see some of Caroline's treaured stockings from her mother.

Tree hunting
My family has a lot of rituals that we celebrate throughout the holiday season but I will tell you how we begin our festive season.

The first Sunday in December is the day we go to get our Christmas tree. We go to a tree farm in the country . It's about one hour's drive so we bring along Christmas music to play in the van along the way.

My three boys, husband and dog Sandy always choose the same tape – Bing Crosby's Christmas. We sing all the way there and we know all the words. When we get to the farm we all run around trying to find the perfect tree. I like short and fat, my husband likes tall and thin. I usually win with the help of my boys and our tree is always too big for our house. We love it anyway!

We stop for a hot chocolate on the way back and when we get home we put up the tree and have a big spaghetti supper with friends. The smell of the fresh pine with the seasonal smells of gingerbread and cinnamon are abundant in our home .We are usually lucky and get a few snowflakes on that day. We love Christmas!
– Debbie Starkey, Porters Lake, Nova Scotia