DIY Holidays (World Blog Surf Day Post)

Posted on 31. Oct, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Life, Musings & Inspiration
9 comments

This post is part of World Blog Surf Day, an online event where expat bloggers from all over the world post about a specific theme (this time around, Holidays & Celebrations), and form a worldwide blog chain by linking to the next blogger in the chain.

Today, our Twitter reporter is Karen of Empty Nest Expat. Karen is an American expat blogger last seen in Prague. The Wall Street Journal said, “Her blog makes a fun read for anyone looking for reassurance that change can be a wonderful thing–and also for anyone interested in visiting the Czech Republic.”

If this is your first time here, hi! And if you took part in the previous WBSD, welcome back! It’s good to see you again.

My name is Emmanuelle, and I am a French expat living in Canada.

DIY holidays

Flashback to the winter of 2001, my first holiday season in Canada. Sitting in my still half-empty and sparsely-decorated apartment, the cat and I had a house meeting. We decided that, due to our total lack of family and (at that point) friends in Vancouver, we weren’t really going to do anything special for Christmas. Or New Year’s, for that matter.

The holidays came and went. I didn’t really feel like I was missing out, partly thanks to my kind-hearted neighbours who invited me over for Christmas dinner, and partly because, well, these celebrations just aren’t the same anyway when your loved ones are thousands of miles away.

There was only one problem: I love celebrating. I love parties. I love having people over. The “Bah, humbug!” approach could easily lead to not celebrating anything anymore – and there was no way my fun-loving side would ever sign off on that!

Trying on Canadian holidays for size

So I tried my hand at celebrating Vancouver-style. I celebrated Victoria Day, Canada Day, BC Day, and the Canadian Thanksgiving. I went to barbecues, parades, firework displays, and potluck dinners. Hallowe’en became one of my favourite times of the year – give me an excuse to wear silly costumes and a wig, and I’m there!* *Speaking of which, check back on Monday for pictures of this year’s silly costume…

However, as much fun as it all was, something was missing.

Personal significance. That’s what was missing.

Now don’t get me wrong, these are all great traditions, and I appreciate their meanings. I am always happy to celebrate the history and the values of my adopted country.

But I wasn’t born here, and I didn’t grow up celebrating these holidays. No matter how welcoming Canada is as a country, the fact remains that we expats have no childhood memories, no family traditions associated with Thanksgiving or Canada Day.

Without this emotional resonance, we often feel more like spectators than participants. We attend the celebrations, but do we really celebrate?

Taking matters into my own hands

Since the traditional holidays weren’t quite hitting the spot, I decided to go the DIY route. I invented my own holidays.

Taking the elements that make holidays so important to me (namely: memories, connection, ritual, food and friends), I used them as a guide to create celebrations that feel deeply meaningful to me.

By now, my friends are used to receiving invitations for occasions as goofy idiosyncratic as:

- Arrival Day (November 1): day I landed as a permanent resident in Vancouver, BC.

Consists mainly of sleeping in – because it’s the day after Hallowe’en and everyone stayed out late; giving thanks to the powers on high for having found my dream place; and getting together for good food and wine with others who aren’t originally from BC, and who love it here.

- Citizenship Day (February 12): day I became a Canadian citizen.

Mostly an excuse to get together with fellow “new Canadians” for yet more good food and wine, and to make really bad puns all day about being a true French-Canadian – or is that Canadian-French?

- Change of Season Brunch (first day of each season, or the Sunday closest to it): celebration of  a new cycle, and of the fact that Canada has true seasons – as opposed to my native South of France, where seasons go from hot and sunny to less hot and partly cloudy, and then back to hot and sunny again.

Consists of an open house and giant potluck brunch, followed (after the guests have left) by a reorganisation of my closet, and finally an energetic house-cleaning session. The festivities conclude with a review of my personal and business goals, a bubble bath and an early night because frankly, Change of Season Brunch Day is always exhausting.

But hey, it’s only four times a year!

If you enjoyed this post, subscribe to the blog to get more expat tips and resources, three times a week!

Now it’s time for me to send you on your way to the next blog, Expatriate Life, whose talented owner is the lovely Judy (@wifeinasuitcase on Twitter). Happy surfing!

Emmanuelle

WBSD art by Beka. Other images by (from top to bottom) Sarah …, vtgard, and TrevinC, all via Flickr Creative Commons