SANTA'S BAG

 

When I was a child Christmas was spent at Nannie Levy's. Every year Mom & Dad would load up the car and we'd make the two-hour drive to Liverpool, Nova Scotia, to spend Christmas with Mom's family.   

Back then, that drive seemed to take forever, but I always looked forward to that trip and the anticipation of Santa's visit. I enjoyed all the family coming and going over the days we were there, and all the laughter. It was a special time, and I often revisit those memories this time of year. After Christmas dinner Nannie would pull out a big red bag full of gifts for everyone. I think she wanted it to be known as Mrs. Santa's Bag, but it never stuck and has been Santa's Bag in my mind forever.

Some of these gifts were strange to me as a child, boxes of Tide, dish detergent, toothpaste and other household items. The children usually got a $2 bill which would buy a lot of candy back then. This yearly tradition became something we looked forward to every year. It was always more about the fun involved during the the gifts being passed out then the gift itself. 

Santa's Bag, 1987- My cousin, Pam, receiving her gift. 

I didn't know it at the time, but the above picture was the last Santa's Bag with Nannie Levy  I'd be a part of while she was alive. I was 18 years old, had graduated high school that June, and was taking a course in college. A few months after gradating the college course in 1988 I was in a bad car accident and we couldn't make the trip. I moved to Toronto in March the following year.

My Aunt Charlotte took over Santa's Bag after my Nannie passed. One Christmas when I was home visiting from Toronto we took a trip to Liverpool for a Christmas dinner, and sure enough, there was a gift in Santa's Bag for me, even though no one knew I was coming until a couple hours before. I even remember what I received, a new measuring cup! How had Santa known I had broke mine recently and was in need of new one!? Oh, the magic of Christmas.   

I haven't experienced Santa's Bag in many years, but unknowingly may of started a new tradition for another generation of Levy's, the Xmas Box. 

Years ago, when I was getting the Xmas parcel ready to mail to my brother and his family in Alberta, I put something else in the box for them to share, unwrapped. The next year I added a couple more things and these extras continued over the years.  

A couple of years ago, when I friend was here over the holiday season, she said I should wrap these "extras", as they were really gifts. She wrapped them that year, and I have continued to.

The box usually contains a variety of seasonal goodies, and something for them to do, like a cookie decorating kit or something similar. I have fun looking for new things to put in the box every year. The only thing that I have asked, is that they wait and open the Xmas Box together as a family. The gifts go under the tree, and the untagged extras are to be opened and enjoyed right away.

My oldest niece, Ashlee, went to British Columbia to attend University in 2018. I've always mailed the Xmas Box by the end of November so it would arrive a couple weeks before Christmas. That year I received a text from Ashlee's younger sister, Tayler, when the box arrived. "Do we have to wait until Ashlee is home before we open the Xmas Box?"  And it was in that moment that I knew that this yearly box mattered, that it was something they looked forward to, and had become a yearly tradition.

This year Tayler is living away from home to attend University in Calgary and Ashlee is working in British Columbia. The Xmas Box arrived before both girls landed home for the holidays! I was getting a little worried with the Purolator back-log of packages. But, the Xmas Box has been opened and I have received thank yous and a group photo of them with some treats from within it.

It makes me happy to add a little extra Christmas enjoyment to them this time of year, and it all started because a seed was planted in my mind when my Grandmother handed out funny little gifts from a big red bag when I was child over forty years ago. 

A pic of Nannie and I, Xmas morning many years ago.

There was nothing like those big family Christmas's as a child.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!