It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year December is here and it means that Christmas holidays are just around the corner so let's talk about how Canadians celebrate their most beloved holiday in this video we're gonna talk about everything that makes us holidays so joyful or should I say Mary we'll talk about all these funky rituals of Christmas the questionable food choices as well as the little annoyances that the Christmas brings to us thank you foreign first let's get terminology right so when we talk about winter holidays or Christmas holidays we're likely referring to December
25th and oftentimes the New Year celebrations along with it December 25th and 26th are statutory holidays days off it's not uncommon for majority of Canadians to take the time between Christmas and New Year's off and some Canadian companies are even forcing workers into taking the time off and closing their offices until the beginning of January so where does this holiday come from like many other holidays on this planet Christmas has a religious significance it marks the day that Jesus the spiritual leader of Catholics was born [Music] anyways regardless of your religion or lack of thereof
Christmas has been one of the most commercialized holidays and has pretty much taken over the entire world it has its own set of traditions like exchanging gifts to decorating Christmas trees attending the midnight mass attending the Christmas Market having and sharing meals with friends and family and most importantly waiting for the Santa Claus to bring the gifts so when talking about Christmas we have to start with everyone's favorite food first off you can build technically an entire restaurant menu on just Christmas food Christmas dinner is probably the most Central and sacred family get-together for Canadians
families typically get together on the Christmas Eve to spend time with their families and loved ones it's not pretty much of a party holiday not for the most part but rather a very tame and tight-knit get-together if a Canadian ever invites you for their Christmas dinner that actually is a sign that you're special to them that is not to be taken lightly when guests gather for the Christmas dinner it's common to bring some food for the table or cook together so when you come for the Canadian Christmas dinner you will eat the most traditional Christmas
meals like roast turkey seasonal vegetables mashed potatoes meat pies gravy lots of it mostly pretty much very warm and Hearty food and since Canada is such a mishmash of different cultures depending on which family you're celebrating written with French or French Canadian British or Ukrainian there will be a special flavor to your Christmas dinner table if there is any special dishes that we've missed let us know in the comments below if you want to have a drink you can have some eggnog a mix of cream and eggs which is considered a holiday drink if you're
not into eggy gooey things mulled wine is another wonderful alternative it's also known as spiced wine it's an alcoholic drink usually made with red wine along with various spices like cinnamon cardamom and sometimes fruits almost like warm Christmas sangria coffee shops have also coined themselves on the market of Christmas business and offer coffees with flavors traditionally associated with Christmas like burnt caramel peppermint and Chestnut Christmas dinner also has desserts like Plum Pudding a fruitcake and ton of cookies not just any cookies but the cute gingerbread men like cookies us families would actually often get together
before Christmas for a cookie making session together where you can bake cookies socialize and mess around isn't that a wonderful tradition gingerbread cookies is actually one of the oldest symbols of Christmas dating back to 1500s in the 17th century there were many superstitions about gingerbread which is supposedly made gingerbread figures ate them and thereby caused the death of their enemies as a result there was a period of time when bacon and eaten modeled cookies was illegal and then thanks to Queen Victoria Gingerbread Man became holiday icons in the 19th century the queen popularized German Traditions
from her husband's Homeland along with evergreen trees decorated with sweets and cookies nowadays these gingerbread cookies actually make a great small Christmas gift so let's talk about gifts and decorations more [Music] gifting is an important part of Christmas holidays and that's what the entire Christmas industry is built on holiday gift shopping mainly most responsible citizens start their Christmas shopping late November or early December the Spree informally starts with a Black Friday event the big shopping events that follows the American Thanksgiving Day that's when almost all retailers provide huge discounts of up to 80 percent on
all sorts of items from books and electronics to cars flights and so on if there is a good time to go shopping for everything you've been wanting to buy it's this holiday period That's the hot tip number one for you here if you want to make any significant purchase and when we say significant it's a hundred dollars or more always wait till December or November you will save a couple hundred of dollars if not thousands of dollars but be aware that some sellers take advantage of holiday sales and they artificially inflate original prices to make
it look like the normal price is actually discounted so presenting gifts is another important Christmas tradition gift giving happens on the Christmas Eve but opening of the gifts usually happens past midnight or on the morning of Christmas December 25th [Music] however if you want to do the Christmas right you've got to write a letter to Santa Claus telling him about your wonderful days throughout the year and asking him for a gift you then go to bed on the Christmas Eve and by the time you wake up in the morning the Santa Claus will have delivered
the gifts you've asked him for who is the Santa Claus it's an old bearded man that lives somewhere cold and far and delivers gifts to the good girls and the boys if you've been a bad boy or a girl this year you'll receive a lump of coal a lamp of coal in a stocking is the universal sign for a child being punished if you ask me write in a letter to Santa Claus is the way to do it because Christmas time is filled with Joys and miracles and honestly is the only holiday that really preserved
this magic and warmth even to this day [Music] [Applause] [Music] my favorite type of Santa is actually secret santa it's a game played by adults and there are multiple variations of it but the basic premise of it is for each guest to buy a gift usually you define the budget of the gift together to make sure that all gifts have the similar value everyone packs their gifts up and leaves under the Christmas tree the goal is not to know what's the gift and who is it from that way everyone gets a wonderful surprise for Christmas
by the way did you know that Canada is actually a proud home of Santa Claus although something tells us that some of the Finnish viewers might disagree on that one Canada is also home to the world's oldest and largest Santa Claus parade that happens in Toronto every year talking about Santa Claus Parade there are many more events happening associated with Christmas celebrations foreign is looking for every year apart from Christmas dinner there are a lot of other things to look for during this period Christmas Market is a street market that runs during the entire month
of December as dedicated to selling all sorts of different holiday things decorations gifts foods and so on Christmas markets are always filled with Happy People joyful music and the holiday spirit Santa parade usually happens in big cities like Montreal or Toronto and sometimes in smaller cities as well at a smaller scale but don't miss it it happens very early in the holiday season usually around November 20th light festivals are also very common Niagara Light Festival for instance entails lighting up the entire waterfall with Christmasy Holiday Lights this year Toronto Light Festival happens in Distillery District
and it exhibits Local Light artists and artwork to warm our hearts Inspire us and put a smile on our faces so make sure to check it out [Music] who doesn't love a happy romantic holiday movie there is no chance of getting away from the holiday Christmas tunes like Mariah Carey song All I want for Christmas is you you will hear it playing out of every speaker in the city along with some other classical Christmas tunes like Jingle Bells silent night and so on there are also many movies made dedicated to the magical Miracle time of
Christmas so it is a tradition to re-watch those during the holiday period or if you are tired of the old classics there are dozens of new Christmas movies that come out every year so you will never have a lack of Christmas miracles on the screen what's your favorite Christmas movie let me know in the comments below for me personally I think it's Harry Potter how did it become a Christmas movie I have no idea it's probably the magical Vibes and all that the most important part of every Christmas is the Christmas tree worldwide it signifies
life longevity light in the darkest time and magical powers during the deepest winter Germany typically gets the credit with starting the Christmas Tree tradition as we know it and it started in the 16th century but long before Christmas became a thing plants and trees that remained a green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter ancient peoples hung Evergreen plants over doors and windows and in many countries it was believed that Evergreens would keep away witches ghosts evil spirits and illness most families in Canada will set up a Christmas tree during the
month of December at home and decorated with various ornaments baubles garlands tinsel and candy canes an angel or a star are placed on top of the tree and gifts are put under the tree you can typically get a real fur or pine tree in many places in Canada like grocery stores or special Christmas tree markets that are set up just to sell the trees and if you're all into sustainability you can purchase a plastic tree from Amazon for instance it's that kind that you can stow away every winter and reuse it all over again and
that's it guys thank you for watching and happy holidays and if you really enjoyed this video and find it informative or useful make sure to tap that like button or should I say uh gently jingle that like button below and subscribe to our Channel not to miss any of our upcoming videos stay warm and we'll see you in the next one take care Merry Christmas
