FSU Christmas
This past Christmas was a trying and frustrating time for me. Earlier that year I had gone on a two-week mission's trip to Central America, so the idea of getting gifts seemed really weird to me. With the fresh image in my head of the oppressed people of Nicaragua in my head, I looked for a gift that would bring both help to the less fortunate, as well act as a reasonable present. I ended up getting gifts through World Vision, and decided to a goat, which would be sent to a poor village in Africa, and a piglet and vitamins, which were sent to a poor family in Asia. On Christmas day my parents were surprised to be receiving a goat of all things, but they completely understood and became grateful for the unusual present. The act of giving at Christmas time does not to be materialistic, as the gift which gives back helps not one, but many. —Adam Clemens
Every Christmas morning my Nana makes a breakfast casserole, which we only get on that morning out of the whole year. I'm going to share the recipe so that you can enjoy it with your family too.
18 Slices of bread (crusts removed)
8 Slices of ham
1 1/2 cups of grated cheddar cheese
6 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp of mustard
1/4 cup of chopped onion
1 — 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 cups of milk
Dash of Tabasco
1/2 Lb of butter (melted)
2 cups of lightly crushed corn flakes
Grease a 13”x 9” pan. Place 8 slices of bread plus extra to cover the bottom completely. The next layer is your sliced ham and then repeat the bread layer.
In another bowl mix; beat eggs, salt, pepper, mustard, onion, W.S, milk and Tabasco. And pour mixture over the pan.
Cover and refrigerate over night. Sleep tight, Santa's on his way!
In the morning pour melted butter over top and sprinkle with corn flakes.
Bake at 350 degrees uncovered for 1 hour. Let sit for 10 min before serving. (serves 6-8)
Bon appetite! — Melissa Smart
I like to collect vinyl recordings. Actually, 'collect' is an exaggeration; when I run across a box of old records at a sidewalk sale, I sometimes flip though them looking for a rare disc. Once, I came across a vinyl record sell-off at a library, which is where I found a copy of the Messiah by George Frederick Handel recorded in 1966 by Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra (available in 'monaural' and 'stereo'). His Messiah is a fantastic classical composition -- the 'abridged' recording is about 100 minutes -- telling the story of the birth of Christ, with both the Jewish background to the story and what follows, Christ's resurrection from the dead. I play it at home every Christmas. Though I like Dylan, Creed, U2, the Beatles and Audioslave, I think I'd rather have Handel's 300-year old Messiah if I were ever stuck on a desert island. Pick it up if you can. Even on a CD, it will sound great. — Michael Veenema
My favorite Christmas television show is the Family Ties episode where Alex doesn't buy his family presents, but is visited by 3 ghosts during the night, teaching him the meaning of Christmas. He then runs out Christmas morning to the only store open and buys his family stuff like TV Guide and toothpaste. — Allen Gaynor
When I was growing up we had a record - not a CD, tape or even an eight-track - but a record, of Alvin and the Chipmunks singing Christmas Carols. After a little investigation I found out that it was released in 1981 and called A Chipmunk Christmas. Still to this day, like 20 years later, I can hear Alvin's impossibly high alto voice screeching out “All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth”. Whoever thought that people would want to watch a cartoon, let alone buy a record, based on premise that a single, adult male could raise three chipmunks like humans, was either a total nut job, or a complete genius. Oh Dave Seville, I can still remember you screaming “ALVIN”!!! at the top of your lungs after the troublesome chipmunk broke a plate on that Christmas record. As it turns out the Chipmunks have released 38 albums, eight of the Christmas, and 30 singles. My favorites include “Alvin & the Chipmunks Greatest Hits: Still Squeaky After All These Years”, which was released in 1999 and ever popular “The Chipmunks a Go-Go”, which was released in 1965. The varmint trio has also won three Grammy's since 1959. — Diana McLay
I think Christmas has started to lose its magic. I remember being a kid and waking my older sister up at 3 am so we could scope out the presents under the tree while everyone else was still asleep, and then lay in bed, so excited we could throw up, until 6 when we just couldn't take it anymore, and had to wake everyone up. We never were the type of kids that could wait until we got dressed and had breakfast; all the childhood Christmas photos are of my sister an I, two little blonde girls in matching snowflake pajamas, hair all askew and posing with our new treasures with an ear-to-ear grin. Last year on Christmas morning we woke up at 9, sat around with the family chatting, talking about past Christmas mornings and waiting for the coffee to brew. Instead of the killer excitement, we behaved like self-controlled grown-ups for the first time, and it was sort of sad. I never thought there would be a day when I would choose coffee over presents.— Ruth Swanson
FATS is a child of the '80s. His must-see seasonal flick is National Lampoon's 'Christmas Vacation' and his favourite scenes are the terrifying squirrel chase and the Christmas tree fire in the Griswold household. (We hear he has a rare collection of Wally World moose eggnog cups too...) FATS makes his friends crazy during the holidays singing along to Bob and Doug Mackenzie's Juno award-winning 'Great White North' album. This 1981 classic features 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' in true Canadian Hoser style '5 golden toques, 4 pounds of back bacon, 3 French toasts, 2 turtlenecks, and (something) in a tree...' (He knows a lot about the college but we're not sure about his taste in music.) — FATS
Christmas has always been the same for this guy right here; spent with family and close relatives on Christmas Eve, devouring random food, watching movies and playing video games. But I'll never forget the one year of my life where I actually spent Christmas elsewhere. It was in Winnipeg with my Asian girlfriend of the time and her ENTIRE family. I'm sitting there at this big dinner table full of Chinese people and I have absolutely no clue on how to use the utensils and be civil in this sort of gig. In front of me is a bowl of rice with chop sticks as I sit with no strategy of how I'm going to manage. I look over and realize that my only hope is to get guidance from my girlfriend's sister's boyfriend who happens to be African-American rather then Chinese. I lean over to him and quietly whisper “Yo, can you help a brother out?”. He leans over to me and tells me “listen, the key to success is the following. First, pick up your sticks like you know how to roll.” I do as he orders and put on my game face like I'm running this Christmas dinner show. He then goes on to say “you see those bar-b-q wings down there, stab one now, but be smooth, Team China are watching”. So I pull a ‘sneaky sneaky' and mischievously spike a wing with my sticks. The brother finishes off his instructions by telling me “now, dip those sticks and saucy wing in your rice bowl and watch that rice stick to it like glue”. I do as he orders and notice my entire wing is now hidden and covered with rice within my chop sticks. My new baller friend then explains “you see my friend, now everyone thinks you're workin' that rice with those sticks, but really it's the saucy wing puttin' in all the hustle. When you've dealt with these Asian girls long enough you learn how to Front like no other. Stick aroun', you might learn a thing or two”. — Rick Melo
I love how every Christmas break starts with my family going off to Mount Tremblant to ski for a week. We always get back on Christmas Eve. That night, we go to church with my grandparents, and they do a ceremony where all the lights in the church go out and we are all holding lit red candles. After the service, we go back and watch Christmas specials until late when my parents tell us to go to bed. (Because they pretend they are about to be up all night wrapping the presents that they didn't wrap before we left for skiing.) Even though the whole family knows hockey sticks go under the couch, bikes, ski equipment, and other outdoor presents are always in the garage, “upwrappable” gifts go under Bugs Bunny beach towels, and chances are, the envelope in your stocking has something other than a Christmas card in it. Little do they know, we are wise to their tricks. Up the street, there is a red airport light, and when I was younger, it was that “Rudolph's nose” that got me straight into bed. Christmas in my family is about tradition, and it is one of the most special times of the year for us. I really appreciate us all being together for the holidays. — Christine Thomson
This is a story of a wonderful Christmas I had here at Fanshawe. When we first opened the Out Back Shack we had 11 days to interview, hire, train and open for the public. As a group we were dysfunctional but we had all been through this stress as a group and we were a great group of people. Not the best restaurant employees but good people nonetheless. We had a staff Christmas party here and it was a big stress relief for all and a well-deserved break. At the Christmas party the three full-time managers, Brian Harness and Brad Harwood and I were given presents. I had worked the previous six years for both Red Lobster and Kelsey's and had never received anything from the staff. For me this was a very special moment. It was an honour that I have come to appreciate but never take for granted. I was truly surprised and overwhelmed. — Steve “Lumpy” Sullivan
To me, Christmas is when you spend quiet times with the ones you love, over eat, take lots of naps (perhaps to avoid the noise of those newfangled noisy toys), play board games, put time and thought into the gifts you exchange (i.e. no rushing out on the 24th to get them SOMETHING that will do), writing the thank you cards like you were taught if you were brought up right, and being neighbourly --- seeing the people you have not seen in a long time as this is the time of year that perhaps they came from Ottawa to see their kids. The magic of Christmas is in the heart: your heart. It can be as bad, good or as crappy as you want it to be. Christmas is up to you: find it where you can and create what you want it to be. — Janet Pole
Every Christmas morning my Nana makes a breakfast casserole, which we only get on that morning out of the whole year. I'm going to share the recipe so that you can enjoy it with your family too.
18 Slices of bread (crusts removed)
8 Slices of ham
1 1/2 cups of grated cheddar cheese
6 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp of mustard
1/4 cup of chopped onion
1 — 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 cups of milk
Dash of Tabasco
1/2 Lb of butter (melted)
2 cups of lightly crushed corn flakes
Grease a 13”x 9” pan. Place 8 slices of bread plus extra to cover the bottom completely. The next layer is your sliced ham and then repeat the bread layer.
In another bowl mix; beat eggs, salt, pepper, mustard, onion, W.S, milk and Tabasco. And pour mixture over the pan.
Cover and refrigerate over night. Sleep tight, Santa's on his way!
In the morning pour melted butter over top and sprinkle with corn flakes.
Bake at 350 degrees uncovered for 1 hour. Let sit for 10 min before serving. (serves 6-8)
Bon appetite! — Melissa Smart
I like to collect vinyl recordings. Actually, 'collect' is an exaggeration; when I run across a box of old records at a sidewalk sale, I sometimes flip though them looking for a rare disc. Once, I came across a vinyl record sell-off at a library, which is where I found a copy of the Messiah by George Frederick Handel recorded in 1966 by Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra (available in 'monaural' and 'stereo'). His Messiah is a fantastic classical composition -- the 'abridged' recording is about 100 minutes -- telling the story of the birth of Christ, with both the Jewish background to the story and what follows, Christ's resurrection from the dead. I play it at home every Christmas. Though I like Dylan, Creed, U2, the Beatles and Audioslave, I think I'd rather have Handel's 300-year old Messiah if I were ever stuck on a desert island. Pick it up if you can. Even on a CD, it will sound great. — Michael Veenema
My favorite Christmas television show is the Family Ties episode where Alex doesn't buy his family presents, but is visited by 3 ghosts during the night, teaching him the meaning of Christmas. He then runs out Christmas morning to the only store open and buys his family stuff like TV Guide and toothpaste. — Allen Gaynor
When I was growing up we had a record - not a CD, tape or even an eight-track - but a record, of Alvin and the Chipmunks singing Christmas Carols. After a little investigation I found out that it was released in 1981 and called A Chipmunk Christmas. Still to this day, like 20 years later, I can hear Alvin's impossibly high alto voice screeching out “All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth”. Whoever thought that people would want to watch a cartoon, let alone buy a record, based on premise that a single, adult male could raise three chipmunks like humans, was either a total nut job, or a complete genius. Oh Dave Seville, I can still remember you screaming “ALVIN”!!! at the top of your lungs after the troublesome chipmunk broke a plate on that Christmas record. As it turns out the Chipmunks have released 38 albums, eight of the Christmas, and 30 singles. My favorites include “Alvin & the Chipmunks Greatest Hits: Still Squeaky After All These Years”, which was released in 1999 and ever popular “The Chipmunks a Go-Go”, which was released in 1965. The varmint trio has also won three Grammy's since 1959. — Diana McLay
I think Christmas has started to lose its magic. I remember being a kid and waking my older sister up at 3 am so we could scope out the presents under the tree while everyone else was still asleep, and then lay in bed, so excited we could throw up, until 6 when we just couldn't take it anymore, and had to wake everyone up. We never were the type of kids that could wait until we got dressed and had breakfast; all the childhood Christmas photos are of my sister an I, two little blonde girls in matching snowflake pajamas, hair all askew and posing with our new treasures with an ear-to-ear grin. Last year on Christmas morning we woke up at 9, sat around with the family chatting, talking about past Christmas mornings and waiting for the coffee to brew. Instead of the killer excitement, we behaved like self-controlled grown-ups for the first time, and it was sort of sad. I never thought there would be a day when I would choose coffee over presents.— Ruth Swanson
FATS is a child of the '80s. His must-see seasonal flick is National Lampoon's 'Christmas Vacation' and his favourite scenes are the terrifying squirrel chase and the Christmas tree fire in the Griswold household. (We hear he has a rare collection of Wally World moose eggnog cups too...) FATS makes his friends crazy during the holidays singing along to Bob and Doug Mackenzie's Juno award-winning 'Great White North' album. This 1981 classic features 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' in true Canadian Hoser style '5 golden toques, 4 pounds of back bacon, 3 French toasts, 2 turtlenecks, and (something) in a tree...' (He knows a lot about the college but we're not sure about his taste in music.) — FATS
Christmas has always been the same for this guy right here; spent with family and close relatives on Christmas Eve, devouring random food, watching movies and playing video games. But I'll never forget the one year of my life where I actually spent Christmas elsewhere. It was in Winnipeg with my Asian girlfriend of the time and her ENTIRE family. I'm sitting there at this big dinner table full of Chinese people and I have absolutely no clue on how to use the utensils and be civil in this sort of gig. In front of me is a bowl of rice with chop sticks as I sit with no strategy of how I'm going to manage. I look over and realize that my only hope is to get guidance from my girlfriend's sister's boyfriend who happens to be African-American rather then Chinese. I lean over to him and quietly whisper “Yo, can you help a brother out?”. He leans over to me and tells me “listen, the key to success is the following. First, pick up your sticks like you know how to roll.” I do as he orders and put on my game face like I'm running this Christmas dinner show. He then goes on to say “you see those bar-b-q wings down there, stab one now, but be smooth, Team China are watching”. So I pull a ‘sneaky sneaky' and mischievously spike a wing with my sticks. The brother finishes off his instructions by telling me “now, dip those sticks and saucy wing in your rice bowl and watch that rice stick to it like glue”. I do as he orders and notice my entire wing is now hidden and covered with rice within my chop sticks. My new baller friend then explains “you see my friend, now everyone thinks you're workin' that rice with those sticks, but really it's the saucy wing puttin' in all the hustle. When you've dealt with these Asian girls long enough you learn how to Front like no other. Stick aroun', you might learn a thing or two”. — Rick Melo
I love how every Christmas break starts with my family going off to Mount Tremblant to ski for a week. We always get back on Christmas Eve. That night, we go to church with my grandparents, and they do a ceremony where all the lights in the church go out and we are all holding lit red candles. After the service, we go back and watch Christmas specials until late when my parents tell us to go to bed. (Because they pretend they are about to be up all night wrapping the presents that they didn't wrap before we left for skiing.) Even though the whole family knows hockey sticks go under the couch, bikes, ski equipment, and other outdoor presents are always in the garage, “upwrappable” gifts go under Bugs Bunny beach towels, and chances are, the envelope in your stocking has something other than a Christmas card in it. Little do they know, we are wise to their tricks. Up the street, there is a red airport light, and when I was younger, it was that “Rudolph's nose” that got me straight into bed. Christmas in my family is about tradition, and it is one of the most special times of the year for us. I really appreciate us all being together for the holidays. — Christine Thomson
This is a story of a wonderful Christmas I had here at Fanshawe. When we first opened the Out Back Shack we had 11 days to interview, hire, train and open for the public. As a group we were dysfunctional but we had all been through this stress as a group and we were a great group of people. Not the best restaurant employees but good people nonetheless. We had a staff Christmas party here and it was a big stress relief for all and a well-deserved break. At the Christmas party the three full-time managers, Brian Harness and Brad Harwood and I were given presents. I had worked the previous six years for both Red Lobster and Kelsey's and had never received anything from the staff. For me this was a very special moment. It was an honour that I have come to appreciate but never take for granted. I was truly surprised and overwhelmed. — Steve “Lumpy” Sullivan
To me, Christmas is when you spend quiet times with the ones you love, over eat, take lots of naps (perhaps to avoid the noise of those newfangled noisy toys), play board games, put time and thought into the gifts you exchange (i.e. no rushing out on the 24th to get them SOMETHING that will do), writing the thank you cards like you were taught if you were brought up right, and being neighbourly --- seeing the people you have not seen in a long time as this is the time of year that perhaps they came from Ottawa to see their kids. The magic of Christmas is in the heart: your heart. It can be as bad, good or as crappy as you want it to be. Christmas is up to you: find it where you can and create what you want it to be. — Janet Pole
