Christmas Is All About Love

Christmas is just around the corner and everyone is getting into the spirit of the holidays with music, decorations, department store shopping and stocking up on food for big family feasts. Decorations are happening everywhere and this year, we had an early supply of cold and snow, so we in the north, will definitely have a picture post card Christmas filled with mounds of white, frost and crystalline snow.

This is also a bittersweet time for myself and many other people. We lost people during the holidays and there are tragic memories or commemorations that are inextricably tied to this time of year. We also have to deal with rampant consumerism where we are constantly badgered, bothered or encouraged to buy, spend and consume as much as possible whether we have the money or not. As the world grows more and more financially difficult for all of us, it is getting harder and harder every year to fulfill that promise of achieving the Hollywood, Hallmark, all American white Christmas we’ve all grown up to see in movies and TV shows.

For those of us who are older, Christmas is also a double edged sword of happiness and nostalgia. Many of us celebrate these holidays without those same people we always had in our lives. I’ll always remember my childhood Christmases with my parents in Attawapiskat. My mom Susan would conduct her annual tradition of making her own homemade Christmas fruit cake. When we were young, she only had time and resources to make one mid sized cake and that treat would be cut up into blocks that would be handed out to aunts, uncles and grand parents that we would visit during this time of year. Mom would take time to see her Paulmartin/Rose family and my dad Marius would lead us to visit as much of the Kataquapit family as possible. By the time I was a teenager and my older siblings had started their families, mom produced five or more large Christmas cakes during the holidays.

The bright side to Christmas is in seeing children who are experiencing their first life long memories of this holiday. It’s exciting to see young people being excited, thrilled and happy to look forward to the delivery of presents by Santa on Christmas morning.

Santa Claus was always an unusual image for us in the 1980s. Mom and dad didn’t fully understand it and all we ever saw was a commercial image of a jolly old man in a red suit that was everywhere in pictures, videos, movies and decorations. To me, he was always just another decoration that came with European ideas of Christmas and the images of the Christmas tree, tinsel, colour lights and Christmas cards. Santa to me had more to do with Coca Cola advertising than anything else.

Like everyone else in North America, my family participated in the tradition of buying and giving gifts, even though we were considered poor, mom and dad always found a way to find a gift for all nine children. We participated as best we could but it was a surreal time for me. It was also a very chaotic period as there was still a great deal of alcohol abuse in the 1980s and it created many terrorizing and traumatic situations for our family and community members.

I am a great believer in going along with anything that makes people happy and that includes Christmas. Anything that brings a smile and sparkle to a child’s face, even if it is as fleeting as gifts or images that is something good. These days things are better in many ways back in my home community with my family, friends, relations and community members making a good living in the areas of health, education, transport and business opportunities.

Although alcohol abuse has lessened, it has been replaced by an epidemic of drug abuse with all kinds of newer modern drugs like opioids and Fentanyl. These drugs are small items that are easily hidden and transported and due to their easily hidden nature and toxicity, they are causing a huge problem for remote First Nations as well as every other Indigenous and non-Indigenous community across Canada. The combination of alcohol or drug abuse this time of year in freezing temperatures is also a major concern as people can become incapacitated at the wrong time, in the wrong place and put themselves in danger of hypothermia.

Our First Nation leadership is aware of all this and they are doing their best to direct funding towards experienced First Nation drug and alcohol addiction counsellors and support workers. My hope this year is for everyone to have a safe, happy and meaningful Christmas. This is a time for kindness and being good to each other and making sure that children feel loved, supported and cared for. If you need help, then reach out to First Nation alcohol and drug abuse counsellors, traditional healing circles or a support worker in your area. There are also Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings, or even traditional teachers and elders you can reach out to for support.

Sometimes the best gift you can give to your children is to make sure that you are taken care of, so that you can provide them with the best loving care possible.

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