Country vs City Christmas

December 14, 2011

I have lived in a small town, a big city and an acreage in the middle of nowhere. Each location had its own unique advantages and disadvantages. And depending on where I was in my life, each experience offered me the chance to explore a different way of being and in turn deepened my understanding of myself and what I value.

I am now living in a bedroom community nestled between the larger urban centres of Abbotsford, Maple Ridge and Coquitlam. For now, this smallish town suits my needs. It has all the conveniences of modern living but with the countryside and nature only a ten minute walk away.

On a recent trip to the local shopping district, I couldn't help but notice a peculiar sight in the asphalt sea of a parking lot. Several vehicles had antlers sprouting from their roofs and big red Rudolph noses bedecked the front grills.  I had heard of people dressing up their pets as reindeer, elves and even Christmas trees but I'd never heard of doing the same to your mode of transportation. Apparently, I was witnessing the latest trend in Christmas weirdness.



I remarked to my city sister, that in the Kootenay's if someones vehicle was sporting a pair of deer antlers it wasn't a good thing for either the driver or the hapless deer.  She didn't get the joke.

People's penchant for going a bit overboard with the Christmas Cheer aside, the site of gas-powered Rudolph's zipping around town turned my thoughts to the differences between Christmas in the Country and the same Holiday in Suburbia. Here is what I came up with.

In the city - I picked up my Christmas tree at the same grocery store chain where I  bought a jumbo pack of toilet paper. The tree came from a tree farm and it is perfectly shaped and lush. I have to admit it is a beautiful tree. To decorate the house I could buy a five dollar bag of pine cones at the very same grocery store or I could pop into the florists and spend an inordinate amount of money on cedar swags and a fresh wreath.

In the country - Cari and I would hike out to the back of our property armed with our axe. We'd pick out the scrawniest Charlie Brown tree we could find and drag it back through the woods to our house. To deck the halls, we would step outside the door again, this time with pruning shears in hand, and cut armfuls of cedar and white pine boughs.  We'd bring in buckets full of pine cones collected in the fall. Each room in our house with be redolent with the smell of Christmas and all of the decorations were free.

In the city - I pull eggs out of a Styrofoam container to bake my Christmas cookies. Each egg is perfectly formed, an exact duplicate of its mate in the carton.

In the Country - I'd go out to the chicken coop and gather the requisite eggs from our happy, healthy free range and incredibly spoiled chickens. Depending on which hen contributed her eggs, each one was a slightly different colour ranging from white, to ecru, to the warmest shade of coco. Even their size and shape varied from extra-large and round to the smallest of the small and oval in form.

In the City - Candles are light to provide ambiance. And in most houses when the fire is glowing in the hearth it was because someone flipped a switch on the gas fireplace.

In the Country - if Cari and I light candles it meant we had been plunged into the dark because of yet another power outage. They inevitably happened after dark and just when we were putting together dinner. Usually the outage was due to heavy winds or snow or sometimes because some idiot decided to cut down a tree to close to the hydro lines.

We'd also pull out the battery powered lanterns and our flashlights that were always kept on the ready.  Even with the power on, we would have a fire burning in the wood stove to push back the cold seeping in around the windows. To get a fire going required, splitting and stacking (these chores done months before the first snow), hauling it into the house, starting the fire and constantly feeding the flames which means heading back outside to bring in yet another load.

In the City - to many people, Boxing Day is about heading out to the mall or big box stores to get deals on things they didn't get for Christmas. And now, it seems, you don't even have to wait until after Christmas as many retailers start their Boxing Day sales the week leading up to Christmas.

In the Country - depending on the amount of snow that had fallen over Christmas, Cari and I would spend the day shoveling the driveway so we could get the gate open at the front of the property. Once that was done, we would stroll down the lane usually meeting up with our neighbours who had taken the opportunity to work off some of calories from their Christmas feast.

Up the road, our friend and her husband would strap on their snowshoes and after traipsing through the forest they would head up to the local hot springs for a soak.

In the City - The evening is sparkling with the many coloured lights on the houses. Some displays are so artistic they take your breath away.

In the Country - We would walk down our driveway and look up at the stars. Without the ambient lights from a city and no street lights on our road even the milky way could be seen in all its glory. It would take your breath away.

No matter where I live, when the darkest, longest nights of the year are upon me I am reminded the holiday season is about celebrating the coming of the light, to rekindling hope and most importantly expressing gratitude for the love and support of the people in my life.


So whether you are sitting around the glow of electric lights strung on a perfectly manicured tree or around the crackle and pop of a real fire burning on the grate the one constant during the season is not the environment you call home but the amazing, loving and generous people you find gathered there.

Merry Christmas Everyone.