Discover Unique Christmas Traditions in Canada | Tips from Canadian Chefs"

[susan g]

Hi Canadian Cheffers! My 2nd grade daugther is doing a report for her class on Christmas in Canada (the kids drew countries out of a hat) and now we are looking for anything that Canadians do differently than Americans for Christmas. So far, we have barley candy and chicken bones candy (according to the internet) and the fact that you all can probably expect a snowy Christmas while here in the south most children have never seen snow on the ground (we get a few flurries, but nothing that sticks).

If you can give us any more suggestions or confirm the chicken bones and barley candies, please post! Thanks!!!!

 

[Sherry Leigh]

Hmmm...I've never hear of barley or chicken bone candy!
Do you guys have Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) off as a holiday too? Our Boxing Day is like your Black Friday. People camp out the night before to get a good spot in line for sales...that's not really about Christmas though...

 

[raebates]

Nope. No Boxing Day here. Just "Day after Christmas Sales Day" & "Huge Return Lines Day." Though, I'm not sure those are legally recognized holidays.

 

[lovenpc]

Never heard of the barley or chicken bone candy either. The snow would be one thing, however right now where I am in Ontario we don't have very much....just enough to cover the grass. As for other differences, I really can't think of any.....Santa comes on Christmas eve, we decorate our homes with Christmas trees and lights, have turkey or ham and drink egg nog for dinner and celebrate the holidays with family and friends, gifts are wrapped and placed under the tree and are opened on Christmas morning. Sorry I couldn't be of any more help.

 

[rennea]

I too have never heard of Chicken Bone candy. As for the Barley sweets, those are a British thing, they call them "boiled sweets".

Our big difference here is "boxing day", most Canadians know it as a shopping day.
" The day after Christmas, the Feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, is better known as Boxing Day. " It too is a tradition from England that we have taken and made our own.

 

[susan g]

Thanks for all the information. The chicken bone candy sounds strange but I did find it for sale at several online candy stores (although it looks kind of gross-pink cinnamon flavored hard candy with a chocolate center:yuck: ). The barley candy is so pretty we'll probably pretend that you all eat it and buy some for her class to enjoy. I'm sure someone in Canada likes it.

Boxing Day is a great suggestion-that's always printed on my calendars but it means nothing to us-we'll definately use that in her report.

Keep your ideas coming!!

 

[rennea]

Thanks for all the information. The chicken bone candy sounds strange but I did find it for sale at several online candy stores (although it looks kind of gross-pink cinnamon flavored hard candy with a chocolate center:yuck: ). The barley candy is so pretty we'll probably pretend that you all eat it and buy some for her class to enjoy. I'm sure someone in Canada likes it.

Boxing Day is a great suggestion-that's always printed on my calendars but it means nothing to us-we'll definately use that in her report.

Keep your ideas coming!!

The barley candy is good I've had it

I'll try to think of some other "traditions"..........

How about "christmas crackers" I started a thread on here about them a while back and it seems a lot of you folks from the US didn't know about them. We have them in all our store up here. They are made of paper and you pull each end until it "snaps" and out comes a surprise.

 

[PChefPEI]

I can't believe you guys have never heard of chicken bones!! They are hard pink candies, kinda skinny, about an inch long with chocolate on the inside. Very tasty!

I can't really think of anything else that we do different either. Some places of work have Christmas parties for the kids on Christmas Eve.

As far as food goes, we have sweet potatoe casserole and cranberry pudding.

 

[adventurechef]

a west coast christmasI've heard of, and eaten chicken bones candy (pink with chocolate in the middle) but I didn't think it had anything to do with Christmas.

Growing up we would go to my grandparents in the middle of British Columbia, all the other relatives lived there too. There would always be snow, unlike the wet, oops I meant west coast. A few days before christmas we would go into the nearby forests and pick our christmas tree, a la charlie brown, and decorate it with heirloom and children hand-made ornaments, cranberry and popcorn garlands, lights and tinsel. Our stockings, or sports socks, would be filled with small gifts, oranges, nuts and candy canes. We could open those christmas morning but we had to wait until everyone woke up to open the rest.

During the day we would visit the cousins and go snowmobiling, skiing (downhill or cross country), take our sleds to the nearest hill and play with whatever boardgame someone got for christmas. There would be snacks - chocolates, potato chips and dip, etc.

That night all the relatives would come over for dinner - either turkey & stuffing or roast beef and yorkshire pudding. There was always mashed potatos, some veggies - corn, peas, brussels sprouts, yams. Dessert would be the traditional christmas cake and a pie of some sort. Then there was hot chocolate and eggnog. By that night we had eaten so much that it was an early bedtime for all. There might have been a kids christmas show on tv that we would watch.

My mother-in-law, who was raised in Ontario would have tortiere (meat pie) for dinner - her mother was of french canadian heritage.

With kids of my own we've started our own traditions. On Dec 1st we'll have a christmas light-up party. I've been putting up lights for the last week. We'll also start the kids chocolate advent calendars and have a santa count-down started. Slowly we'll decorate the inside of the house and add a real tree the week before christmas. There will be lots of visiting family here, there and everywhere. Lots of food.

We are going to start this year going to the Stanley Park christmas train - the small train goes around various decorations and lights in the largest park in Vancouver. There are a few other christmas trains and tree displays to see. We also drive around and see the houses that have large light displays - the local papers usually list all the big ones. My cousin has been doing one for several years that is great (lightup.ca). There are also activities at the three local ski hills, which are great when it does snow here.

My siblings and I usually have a dinner on christmas day. My husband's family has a dinner about a week before, to accomodate all the kids and grandkids (about 30 people). One of my brother-in-laws is Dutch and they have christmas dinner on the 24th. Another brother-in-law has carribbean roots and does the garlic pork and food like that. It is quite the assortment of cultures.

You'll find that people will have different traditions depending on what part of the country they are from, what ethnic background they have and what religion they observe. Probably the same as in the States.

Hopefully this helped a bit, Linda.

 

[mistym]

I am a Brit living in Canada and we were taught the meaning and significance of Boxing Day which is as follows:

The holiday is named Boxing Day because the tradition of giving gifts of cash, food, clothing and other goods to the less fortunate were placed into boxes for easier transportation. The goods were distributed based on the family needs and their services to the giver.

for more info check this link:

http://teachertipstraining.suite101.com/article.cfm/origin_of_boxing_day

Also:

In Canada the Governor General of Canada issues a New Year's Eve message that is broadcast simultaneously by Radio-Canada and the CBC.

It is of similar nature too the Queens Christmas Speech which is Broadcast in the UK Only on Christmas Day, BBC1 at 3pm. Growing up in my family, we were NOT allowed to open our Christmas Presents until the speech was finished at 3:10pm. THE LONGEST 10 MINUTES OF MY YEAR

just my 2 cents

m

 

[rennea]

My family is from Scotland so many of my traditions are ones passed down from the "old country" as my family calls it.

A week before Christmas we would start with our decorations for popcorn, candy funnels etc. As a child we stayed up until midnight on Christmas eve for a big dinner, yup that's right HUGE!!!(roast,cabbage rolls etc.) We would each take turns opening up small gifts from close family and then it was off to bed for St.Nic to come. In the morning we opened gifts from St.Nic and had a nice breakfast of eggs, bacon, biscuts and pancakes. We would spend the day visiting and eating pie, sweets and nuts.

Christmas day dinner was turkey, ham, potatoes, brussel sprouts, christmas pudding, etc. We would exchange home-made gifts and "pop" our Christmas crackers as well...........

I LOVE old victorian christmas'.:love:

 

[baychef]

I am in the US but live close to Canada and I am loving these posts. My next door neighbors moved to the US from Canada many years ago. My sister-in-law's parents were from Canada also. The only real difference I am familiar with is Boxing Day but as I say, I am enjoying reading about Christmas traditions even if they are similar to ours.

 

[mistym]

Christmas Pudding in England is stuffed with coins. Usually coins like 10 pence, 20 pence, 50 pence and 1 pound coins are inserted into the pudding and you would be the lucky winner if your piece had a coin in. We then set the whole thing on fire and served it with the flames

 

[lrmart]

maple syrup...boiled...then poured on fresh snow...is that Canadian? We used to do that...when I lived in the country (snow wasn't as polluted)

Hay/Sleigh rides are quite common around Christmas

 

[peichef]

Do you guys do mincemeat in the U.S.?? I know a huge tradition (in this part of the country at least) is peameal back bacon. Plum pudding. I'm sure there are some specific French Canadian / or Acadian traditions, but non are coming to mind right this minute. GIve me a minute to think back to my French Immersion days & see my I come up with:?

 

[muffetts]

Canadian ChristmasReally, because Canada is known as a multicultural nation, there are tonnes of traditions. However, Quebec might be known for more of a regional tradition with Tortiere on Christmas Eve.

In my family, we have very hard-fast traditions. Mom makes Christmas cookies which consist of the cookies of her aunts, Aunt Molly's Fruit Drops, Aunt Glady's Pecan Balls, Nana's Gingersnaps, etc. She also only ever makes Nana's dressing (stuffing) and Grandma's steamed pudding. This was her way of bringing her family to the table after she and my dad moved to Alberta from Ontario. We also are allowed to open 1 gift Christmas Eve, and the rest in the am. They now live on a farm and if there's snow, we are treated to a one-horse open sleigh ride with a jingle bell harness.

We also have a radio broadcast usually broadcast across the country covering Santa's ride over the skies and his ETA etc.

I would try and find special traditions from each province and territory.

 

[Veevahchef]

In my family, we all get drunk and fight.... JUST KIDDING!!! Saw that on a movie once... funny.

Im not sure that the American and Canadian Christmas is different enough to actually make a kid do an assignment on! I hope she can make it work!
Good luck!

 

[rennea]

In my family, we all get drunk and fight....

Isn't that what Christmas is all about

 

[susan g]

Im not sure that the American and Canadian Christmas is different enough to actually make a kid do an assignment on! I hope she can make it work!
Good luck![/QUOTE]


They are way to similar to make for an interesting report. We will try to focus on some things that are different (but not necessarily Canadian) from what we do. Since we are in the South, Christmas day is usually fairly warm, never snowy. I am also ordering some Barley candy for her to give out to her friends and we'll use some of the things you all mentioned too.

We are having so much fun reading about everyone's holiday traditions. At our house, we have a Christmas eve party with one side of the family then hurry home to get in bed early so Santa will not skip our house. We leave out milk and cookies for him and a carrot and reindeer food (oatmeal mixed with glitter). On Christmas morning we have a special breakfast at home and play for a while. THen we go to Christmas lunch with the family we didn't see on Christmas eve. We exchange gifts both places.

We go to lots of special church services throughout the holiday season beginning with Hanging of the Green when the church is decorated for the season. THere will also be a children's musical and pageant. We skip the late Christmas eve service right now because the kids are too little (7,5,3) to stay up. At home we have a nativity advent calendar that they use to count down the days until Christmas.

We usually "adopt" a child for Christmas which means buying gifts for them (these are kids who wouldn't otherwise get anything). We try to split between clothes and toys, just as we do for our own kids.

That is the main things we do. The food is about the same-ham, various vegetables, and lots of dessert.

Thanks for all the posts-I would love to read more about what everyone else does (and also where you are in Canada).

 

[ChefAggi]

Treat from Newfoundland, Canada.

Hmmm...I've never hear of barley or chicken bone candy!
Do you guys have Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) off as a holiday too? Our Boxing Day is like your Black Friday. People camp out the night before to get a good spot in line for sales...that's not really about Christmas though...

It has been a long long long time since I posted anything on this site, as I had to put my PC business on the back burner to pursue to my quilt teaching/pattern design business, but I still love to come here from time to time to see what everyone is doing and how their PC businesses are going. Besides I"m always using my PC products every single day!

Okay, so here in Newfoundland, Canada, we have the chicken bone candy, although I am not a big fan of them. I believe Ganong Chocolate factory makes them. For the other Canadian gals out there, a week or so ago The Rick Mercer Report had him at the Ganong factory helping to make the chicken bone candy. They are basically hard candy. They can come in different colours, but the main colour is a pink colour.

I am trying to think of some food ideas from here ... hmmm. Christmas Steamed Raisin puddings are a big thing here. I love mine with a butter sauce.. YUM!! Its also been known as "Figgy Duff" and another name (I don't know WHO came up with this name), "Spotted Dick"!! LOL We are a very colourful crew of islanders here in Canada!

Here is another Christmas cookie from here.

CHOCOLATE RUM BALLS

What you will need:

1 125g. package of cream cheese, softened

1 cup ground almonds

1 cup icing sugar

1 tsp powdered instant coffee

1/4 cup dark rum

4 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted

COATINGS: chocolate sprinkles, shredded or toasted coconut, icing sugar, crushed almonds, cocoa powder, fancy colored sugars, or whatever your little heart desires.

Blend cream cheese, ground almonds, coffee, icing sugar and rum together with melted chocolate. Chill in fridge for twenty minutes or so, or until slightly firm. Shape into 1 inch balls.

Choose what you would like to coat the rum balls in, and place coatings on plates in front of you. Roll rumballs around in coatings fairly firmly, making sure you get nice full coverage on each rumball.

Hope these help!

Cheers

Andrea

 

[ChefAggi]

Hi Canadian Cheffers! My 2nd grade daugther is doing a report for her class on Christmas in Canada (the kids drew countries out of a hat) and now we are looking for anything that Canadians do differently than Americans for Christmas. So far, we have barley candy and chicken bones candy (according to the internet) and the fact that you all can probably expect a snowy Christmas while here in the south most children have never seen snow on the ground (we get a few flurries, but nothing that sticks).

If you can give us any more suggestions or confirm the chicken bones and barley candies, please post! Thanks!!!!

The snow came a month early this year. We had a crappy snow storm last Sunday night.. not much accumulation .. only 10 cm of snow, but the winds reached over 110km/hour. The power was knocked out for almost half of the island. (the island is quite large.. takes over 12-13 hours to travel from one end to the other). Here in the capital city of St. John's, we lost our power for about an hour. Some areas of the city didn't get it back for almost 12 hours later. Other parts of the province are still without power but the power crews are figuring they should have it fully restored by the weekend.
The weather people are predicting us to have a nasty winter with alot of snow!!

Cheers
Andrea

 

[ChefAggi]

Thanks for all the information. The chicken bone candy sounds strange but I did find it for sale at several online candy stores (although it looks kind of gross-pink cinnamon flavored hard candy with a chocolate center:yuck: ). The barley candy is so pretty we'll probably pretend that you all eat it and buy some for her class to enjoy. I'm sure someone in Canada likes it.

Boxing Day is a great suggestion-that's always printed on my calendars but it means nothing to us-we'll definately use that in her report.

Keep your ideas coming!!

I love Boxing Day... a day after the gifts and the turkey dinners. and a nice day off from work!!
Over the last few years Mum and I kept a gift to open on Boxing Day. We always found that Christmas morning can be so over climatic. everything is unwrapped and even though you love and appreciate everything you recieve, there is no more to unwrap til next Christmas morning. sooooooooo we keep one gift for Boxing Day morning. Makes Christmas a little more fun!! LOL

Cheers
Andrea

 

[ChefAggi]

Mummering in NEwfoundlandHere is something else I thought of. This originally started in Ireland, but where Newfoundland has so many Irish decents, it just became a Christmas tradition here too.

Check out this website.

mummers

I never partook in any Mummering events myself, but it is very popular in some of the smaller rural communities of the province. Looks like a good bit of fun though!

Cheers
Andrea

 

[ChefBeckyD]

I love Boxing Day... a day after the gifts and the turkey dinners. and a nice day off from work!!
Over the last few years Mum and I kept a gift to open on Boxing Day. We always found that Christmas morning can be so over climatic. everything is unwrapped and even though you love and appreciate everything you recieve, there is no more to unwrap til next Christmas morning. sooooooooo we keep one gift for Boxing Day morning. Makes Christmas a little more fun!! LOL

Cheers
Andrea

ChefAggi! Where have you been? It's been a long time since you've posted ~ glad to see your avatar back here!

 

[ChefAggi]

ChefAggi! Where have you been? It's been a long time since you've posted ~ glad to see your avatar back here!

Hi ChefBecky.. thanks so much for the warm welcome back. I have been a busy busy gal this year.
I had to put my PC apron on the hook for a bit as I wanted to pursue my quilt teaching/pattern business. My teaching has really been busy and I have added an extra night at the community centre and I teach privately from my home too. I still pull out my PC products and recipes. And now with a friend of mine I work with is into the Epicure Spice business, I have been buying lots of her spices to add to my recipes. I have been collecting recipes like a mad woman lately!!! I plan to make a scrapbook around my favourite recipes. That is one of many projects for the new year.
How have you been!! Still doing well with the PC business!!!

Cheers
Andrea

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Hi ChefBecky.. thanks so much for the warm welcome back. I have been a busy busy gal this year.
I had to put my PC apron on the hook for a bit as I wanted to pursue my quilt teaching/pattern business. My teaching has really been busy and I have added an extra night at the community centre and I teach privately from my home too. I still pull out my PC products and recipes. And now with a friend of mine I work with is into the Epicure Spice business, I have been buying lots of her spices to add to my recipes. I have been collecting recipes like a mad woman lately!!! I plan to make a scrapbook around my favourite recipes. That is one of many projects for the new year.
How have you been!! Still doing well with the PC business!!!Cheers
Andrea

And for me - my PC business has taken over the whole stove! I've made it a goal this year to really ramp up my business, and have been doing 9-12 shows a month - so I'm looking forward to Christmas Break!I remember you were beginning your Quilting Business - sounds like it is going very well for you! I'm glad it is a success! Sounds like you have found a niche with a passion area for you! It's great when your work feels like fun!

 

[ChefAggi]

And for me - my PC business has taken over the whole stove! I've made it a goal this year to really ramp up my business, and have been doing 9-12 shows a month - so I'm looking forward to Christmas Break!

I remember you were beginning your Quilting Business - sounds like it is going very well for you! I'm glad it is a success! Sounds like you have found a niche with a passion area for you! It's great when your work feels like fun!

Becky I tend to make up some desserts and other pc recipes for my students during special times such as Halloween, Christmas, or just cause. Next year I'm thinking of starting up a Christmas club where the same group of students meet once a month to work on one project Christmas related. I will make a new Christmas cookie or dessert for them to taste and share the recipe. I did this Christmas club a few years ago and it was a great success. Might be a good way to try out some more PC recipes and stuff
See I can still dabble in PC righ!! lol

Cheers
Andrea