Ahhh, Christmas. Sparkling trees and
gay little presents. Frosty cheeks and frosted fruitcake. Or maybe a barbecue
and a bottle of beer.
From the
Nutcracker
to the cracked nuts, no matter how each family celebrates
it, that’s Christmas. For if nothing else, this seasonal celebration stands as
a string of traditions and memories, each a single bead starting with the first
Christmas we remember.
But for the hundreds of young
dishwashers, “sales associates”, bartenders, lifties, chambermaids, servers,
snow crews and cab drivers who keep Whistler running throughout the season,
what happens when you’re spending Christmas — maybe your first — away from
home?
TURKEY AND MATSUTAKE GOHAN
Pauline Wiebe can’t stand the thought
of international students sitting alone in their dorm rooms, far from home at
Christmas.
So every Christmas day for the past
dozen years, she and hubby Ray have shuffled the furniture in their cozy home
in White Gold to host a traditional Canadian turkey dinner for Japanese
students and friends. It means their family of four plus their three home-stay
students instantly triples.
“I try to keep it to about 20. But
visiting Japanese students don’t experience this, and some of them are now
staying for more than a year, so it’s growing,” says Pauline.
The food, centred around roast turkey
and ham with all the veggies and trimmings, is presented on a beautifully
decorated table, with the chairs set round the room. Everyone helps themselves
after all standing in a circle, holding hands and singing grace.
So what’s the one-must have Christmas
dish for Pauline? Her dad’s stuffing — he was the traditional turkey cooker in
her family. This means patiently cooking onions and celery until they’re
translucent, adding apple, pork sausage, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper, of
course, and tons of cubed whole wheat bread. (“Everybody loves stuffing and
it’s a really good way to feed big hungry guys.”) The other must-have: really
good pumpkin pie.
The only Japanese touch Pauline adds
is
matsutake gohan
— pine mushroom
rice, made with wild pine mushrooms she picks herself. And friend Fumie Kashino
brings her to-die-for dinner buns.
“Everyone loves it — they all have a really
good time,” she says. “And I love it, too. Every year I say it’s the last, but
it keep’s me going.”
GO FANCY ON THE BEER
You know those people you see on the
mountains, skiing around with bundles of gates or banners on their shoulders,
setting up races? Event worker Tom Graham is one of them.
Originally from Cambridge, Ontario,
this year marks Tom’s second stint on the mountains. He first came out at age
19, and it was potluck for Christmas dinner that year.
This season, he’s living in Whistler
Blackcomb staff housing, which means having his own bedroom in a three-bedroom
apartment with a full kitchen. Which means it has an oven.
This is a critical distinction, as
it’s the only staff building out of seven on the mountains with a full kitchen
for each apartment. In the others, the only oven in the entire building is in
the main floor lounge (more on this later).
Events staff have already enjoyed a
Christmas dinner at Merlin’s, but Tom will still partake in some kind of
Christmas festivities on the 25th. This will include at the very least his
three roommates, and the first part of the planning is “the purchasing of fancy
beers instead of your regular, cheap bottom-of the barrel beers, to dress it up
for Christmas.” Good start.
As for the rest, it’s still pretty
much up in the air, but the important part is the doors will be open and
festivities will reign.
“Because everyone lives in the same
area, it doesn’t take too much,” he says. “The night before, maybe a bunch of
people will go down to the village, grab what they need and come back up. It’s
pretty laid back when it comes to planning.”
Now there’s a lesson in that.
ROAST MEAT CAN’T BE BEAT
Picture Christmas dinner on the deck
overlooking the Pacific Ocean. But instead of snow-laden cedars you’re surrounded
by bottlebrush trees and lorikeets chirping away on a 35-degree day.
That was a traditional Christmas for
Greg Wiltshire, also a Whistler Blackcomb event worker. Greg grew up in Coffs
Harbour, New South Wales, Australia, and this is his first “international”
Christmas.
Unlike Tom, Greg’s apartment has no
oven, “which makes Christmas interesting,” especially given that his must-have
Christmas food is some kind of roast meat and a good Christmas pudding.
“We’ve always had a Christmas lunch
and a dinner because three families were involved,” he says. “Since it’s a
summer Christmas, lunch would be a cold lunch, with prawns, salad, fresh bread,
and shaved ham from a leg roasted the day before.”
Afternoon is spent at the beach, then
everyone pitches in for dinner, drinking his dad’s homemade IPA or Cascade beer
from Tasmania while roasting a leg of lamb and veggies, served with all the
accompaniments. Dessert would be his mom’s Christmas pudding flashed with a bit
of brandy.
As for Christmas dinner this year,
Greg and his girlfriend might join the family of his roommate from last year
for a dinner out.
“Our other option is shouldering out
the competition for the oven and get our Christmas dinner in there,” he says.
Either way, it will be fun.
IT’S THE PEOPLE THAT COUNT
In Karen McCormick’s family back home
in Halifax, it was also her dad who was in charge of the turkey and stuffing.
But the whole family, including all
five kids, would pitch in, making roasted veggies, cranberry sauce from scratch
and all kinds of baking the day before. Maybe that’s how Karen earned her
stripes to become executive chef for Quinny’s Café and Behind the Grind.
This is her first Christmas at
Whistler, and only her second away from home. She’ll be spending it with her
fellow chef and “adopted little brother,” Michael Fudge, and the 10 other
people in the staff house, plus as many co-workers as can come.
It promises to be a feast: “We’re all
going to pitch in for groceries and go down the day before and get everything
we want, then we’re all going to cook it together. It’s more fun that way,” she
says.
With a UN mix of people and a few
vegetarians to boot, it will be lamb, turkey, and a few specialties including
sweet potato pie and trifle from Aussies, Clare Luckhurst and Bianca Groves.
Karin Asklund, from Sweden, will be making a special mulled wine.
For Karen, it will be great, but
she’ll still be a little homesick for her mom and dad.
“I talk to them every Sunday, but
it’s not the same as wrapping your arms around them on Christmas morning.”
Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning
freelance writer who wishes you and yours a very Merry Christmas and the best
of the holiday season.
