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MY EINSTEIN CHRISTMAS

By: Katia Sist

In my family, the Christmas season hasn’t truly begun until we’ve decorated. When we bring the tree and all the boxes up from the basement, put some Christmas music on, our home transforms into a winter wonderland. Dad places the tree in the corner of the room ready to be trimmed. Each ornament that the family owns has a special meaning behind it. My mom is a teacher and over the years, many students have given her cute little ornaments as Christmas presents. A smile grows on her face when she gently picks them up out of the box, remembering the student. My brother, Adam and I have many ornaments that we put on the tree. He places Spiderman on the tree and I put Cinderella. My dad never really helps us decorate the house. His job mainly consists of bringing up our MANY boxes of decorations and then sitting on the living room couch. He watches us trim the tree, set up our nativity and Christmas scene on the table and put the Christmas bear in its place.

The first Saturday of Christmas break is the day we celebrate pre-Christmas with my dad’s brothers and their families. We’ve done this ever since I can remember. When my cousins, brother and I were younger, we would go out and do something fun like bowling or going on the Santa Train. Don’t be mistaken, we went on an actual train not one of those little toy rides you see in the mall. However, now that we’re all older, we stopped the childish things and just go over to each other’s homes to celebrate. We all receive presents and the parents exchange Secret Santa gifts.

Something just isn’t right about the Secret Santa gift exchange amongst the adults. There is quite the controversy in this fun little game. Is Secret Santa really a secret? For five years in a row, my Zio Johnny has received gifts from my mom. I think someone might be dealing the cards in an unfair fashion, knowing that my mom gives great gifts and wraps them beautifully. I’m not gonna say any names but, I think we all know who’s responsible. *cough* Zio Johnny *cough.

In the last two years we had themes for our pre-Christmas parties. First was the pajama party where we had breakfast for dinner. To take the pajama theme to the next level, onesies were worn by my brother, cousins and I. The second year, we had an ugly Christmas sweater party at my house. My cousin Steven won a basket of chocolate and an ugly sweater ornament for having the ugliest sweater. These parties are a fun tradition that we have and we plan on continuing for many years to come.

In most families, December 24th and 25th are simple, understated and resemble a Charles Dickens Christmas. However, it’s not like that in my family, that’s for sure. We have more of an Einstein kind of Christmas because they are very complex to understand. Some might say that you would even require a P.H.D in math just to understand how it works. Every other year we have Christmas Eve with my mom’s side of the family. Each year, we rotate between my mom and her two sisters. On the even years we have Christmas Day with my dad’s side of the family at my dad’s mother’s house. The odd years we have Christmas Day with my mom’s side of the family at my mom’s parents’ house and my dad’s mother comes over to our house on Christmas Eve. I told you it was complicated.

One of my favourite traditions with my mom’s side of the family takes place after dinner. Every year, all of the cousins get scratch cards and there is a silence that comes over the room while we scratch away hoping to win some money. Sometimes, if we all win enough money to get a few more scratchers, two of my cousins will go out and buy more and continue our winning streak. We do have more “traditional” traditions too. When the family is at my house, we open Christmas Crackers and wear the crowns during dinner. On Christmas Eve, no matter whose house we’re at, we have a big fish dinner. When my brother and I were younger we would hang our stockings by the fireplace and leave milk, cookies and carrots while we waited for Santa. We would get so excited to open the presents under the tree that Santa had left for us. Now that we are in our late teens, we see Christmas with different eyes. We still look forward to Christmas day, just maybe not in the same way as when we were kids. We want to spend more time with our family instead of waiting for Santa. Merry Christmas, from my family to yours.

IS IT THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR?

By: Katia Sist

The weeks that lead up to the big day, December 25th are…. awful. What? Did you seriously think I was going to lie and say something cheesy like Jolly? Yes, Christmas day is one of the best days of the year, you get to be surrounded by your whole family and exchange presents! But this isn’t about Christmas day. This is about the craziness that leads up to the magical day. There’s the endless shopping list, the cramped malls and we lose the true meaning of Christmas from the hustle and bustle.

Malls during the Christmas season are the absolute worst. It’s like full contact shopping with all the pushing and shoving. The experience will ruin any shopaholic. There are hundreds of people trying to find parking spots, which leads to lots of honking, fist shaking and constantly yelling, “Hey, that’s my spot!”, or “Get out of the way!” It’s a nightmare out there. Once you finally get inside the mall, there are an abundant amount of decorations that insult the eyes. There’s always an unnecessary ginormous tree decorated very tacky multicoloured lights. The tree is surrounded by “Santa’s Village” and completely takes over a huge portion of the mall. Plus you’ve got that endless shopping list and I’m sure that there are some people on it you don’t even want to buy gifts for! Here’s a very easy way to quickly check these people off your list. Just go into your basement before you go to the mall and shop through all of the bad gifts you’ve gotten throughout the years! Re-gifting is usually frowned upon, but hey, there are more important people on your list that deserve new gifts. So, spend your time and money in that mall of madness on those who deserve it during the Christmas season.

The true meaning of Christmas becomes lost through the parking lot of stress, people trying to get into the malls, and all of the pushing and shoving. Everyone is running around buying gifts (or re-gifting), to put presents under the Christmas tree oops my bad, should I say “Holiday Tree”? So many people forget that Christmas is the day we celebrate Jesus’ birth, this is what we should be focusing on. On Christmas morning what are you looking forward to the most? Opening presents from Santa or going to Christmas mass? I’m guessing majority of people can’t wait for their gifts under the tree. Even though it’s not right, everyone loves to open their presents, it’s undeniable.

When you go Christmas shopping you really have to be in a certain mindset. You have to begin your day with lots of caffeine to give you enough energy to tolerate the long day ahead. There are people everywhere and bodies that form lines that seem to be a mile long at the cashiers. But worst of all, most of the full contact shoppers aren’t in good moods. They will push you and everyone else out of the way to get that last toy for their kid that’s on their list.

So, yes I do love Christmas day, it’s just the time leading up to it is crazy! The crazy shoppers and the endless list of presents to buy. The true meaning is lost which just ruins the so-called “most wonderful time of the year”. Merry Christmas. No wait, Seasons Greetings or was it Happy Holidays? No, have yourself a very Merry Christmas!

HALLOWEEN IS JUST NOT THE SAME

By: Katia Sist

Don’t you just hate those people that hand out healthy foods on Halloween? Kids look up into the white of an adult’s eyes and think to themselves: “Is this a joke?”, as they see a fruit being tossed into their bag. When you look into your white pillowcase, after walking through the entire neighborhood, you want to see a mound of candy and chips; not apples and raisins. The whole point of going Trick-or-Treating is to get all of the treats that your parents don’t normally buy for you! So why get all dressed up and walk to all of those houses if all you’ll be getting is the healthy food that’s already in your kitchen? Most people have been sticking with the traditional candy or chips to give to the kids that come to their doorstep. However, there are still those annoying people that believe that little boxes of raisins or Royal Gala apples are what they should be giving out. These are the houses and people kids learn to avoid after their many years of Trick-or-Treating. This isn’t the only thing that’s terribly wrong with Trick-or-Treating, the costumes for children have changed completely as well. When you dress your kids for Halloween they should look cute, like a little pumpkin or a princess. However, parents haven’t exactly been going for the cute look lately. They are dressing their kids extremely inappropriately for Halloween. There are now costumes available in children and baby sizes that mimic the cast from Jersey Shore, gangsters, cigarette packs and pimps. It is truly disturbing that adults would ever dress their children as any of those things but it is the truth.

I have to say it’s really disappointing but not as disappointing as finding healthy food in a pillowcase after hours of Trick-or-Treating. Halloween is just not the same.

JOEL BROWN: Basketball Star

By: Katia Sist

This past season has been a very successful one for fourteen-year-old basketball star Joel Brown. He was the point guard of the senior boys basketball team, played for CIA Bounce, scored approximately 500 points overall and won OFSAA silver with his team at Campion.

Joel’s passion for basketball began at the age of three. He would watch the Toronto Raptors, wear a Vince Carter jersey and decorate his room with various posters and jerseys of basketball players. Since then, Joel’s talent has developed immensely. To prepare himself for a successful basketball game, Joel always listens to hip hop and gospel music and turns his phone off in order to help him focus allowing him to have no distractions. Joel as well as many other athletes his age dream of becoming professionals. However, with Joel’s talent, dedication and experience on the court, Joel has the potential to fulfill his goals of earning a division one scholarship for sports and academics and playing for the Toronto Raptors in the NBA.

On the court Joel considers himself a good leader and a team player just like his idol and favourite basketball player Lebron James. Joel demonstrates this by passing the ball to his teammates, playing defence and grabbing rebounds. Although Brown has great strengths on the court, he is humble enough to admit his weaknesses as we all have them. Joel feels that to improve as a player, he should be shooting the ball more consistently. Joel appreciates how much his talent has been recognized by so many people and will continue to work hard to improve his skills. This state of mind will allow him to fulfil his dream of being in the NBA and playing for the Raptors. With all of these things in mind, Joel sincerely appreciates the talent he has been blessed with and does not take any of it for granted.

Over the summer break, Joel has continued to train and work hard at invitational camps and competed in basketball tournaments in order to prepare himself for the 2015-2016 season with his team CIA Bounce and the senior boys team at Campion. We all look forward to the day when Joel enters the ACC, ready to play his first game as a member of the Toronto Raptors.

MY FAMILY PIE

By: Katia Sist

When you think of thanksgiving, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? I hope it’s not your annoying younger cousins running around or that uncle that’s always burping and grandpa who’s always farting after dinner. Hopefully you always have nice memories like I do. The big dinner, the family time and the pie. My family and a pie are very similar. Pies have many ingredients that all contribute to make it delicious. In my family, there are so many people that make it so special. In a family gathering, each person there makes the day special and not always perfect, just like when you bake a pie. But in order to make that family gathering so special, everyone has to be there. Similarly, a single piece of pie is not enough, the whole pie is what’s special.

In my family, we celebrate Thanksgiving on two days. Both days are very special because we get to spend lots of time with both sides of the family. On Sunday, we always have a late lunch at my Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Around 1:00, we leave to go to their house. As soon as we open the doors, the smell of a golden turkey in the oven and a freshly baked apple pie mixed with every other dish either cooked or being cooked it is all overwhelming and amazing at the same time. We can never wait until it’s time to eat all that food.

My cousins are not very close in age with my brother Adam and I, we range from 30-17, leaving Adam and I much younger than them. However we are still very close and love to spend time with each other whenever we can. I remember when we were all much younger, there was always so much violence between us. We used to play this violent game of war every time we were at my Grandparents’ house. We would split into two teams, make couch barriers to block the enemies. While we would viciously throw stuffed animals at each other, with the goal of getting the Garfield back to your team to win. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that violent. But when you’re eight and you have teenagers and twenty year olds throwing animals at you, at what seemed like a thousand miles an hour, it gets kinda scary.

Once everybody has arrived, we all take our usual seats at the long table in the basement and begin our meal; and because we are Italian, there is much more on our Thanksgiving menu than turkey. The first serving are cabbage rolls, then of course comes the turkey and stuffing. Then Fish, a pot roast, lamb chops, salad, vegetables, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce and potatoes. My Grandma makes the most amazing food and always makes the house smell phenomenal when she cooks. For dessert we have pie, an array of homemade Italian cookies, ice cream, chestnuts and fruit. Once everyone has had their dessert, most of the guys go upstairs and probably burp and fart while they watch TV, while the rest of us stay at the table and talk until we go home.

Monday is spent at my Nonna’s house with my dad’s side of the family. As soon as the whole family is there, we sit down to eat, the parents in the dining room and all the cousins sit in the kitchen with Nonna. My Nonna likes to sit with us because as she tells us at every family gathering, “it makes her feel young”. For dinner we have a more uninteresting and “traditional” thanksgiving meal (compared to Sunday’s lunch); Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, beets and salad. After we have finished eating, and we are waiting for the coffee and dessert, us cousins sit in the family room and talk while we wait.

When we were kids, after dinner we’d go straight down to the basement and play an epic game of charades (finally a non-violent game!). This game was always the highlight of the Sist family gatherings for me. After a few rounds, the adults would come down with the pie and we would eat on the couches. But now, that we’re all “older” and my cousins think we’re “too cool” to play games, we just stay upstairs and eat our pie. Then bring our chairs into the dining room so we all can be together. After we talk for a little while and pick our Secret Santas (a game that I think someone is cheating on…) for Pre-Christmas then say our goodbyes and head home.

My extended family and yours are very much like a pie. A family gathering and a pie with many layers resemble each other as well. The bottom layer of crust is wherever the family is. It’s the base that will hold the family together. The filling is the family, some fillings have many ingredients mixed together resembling large families, like mine. While some fillings are more simple and only take a few ingredients or people to make it special. The top layer is the first thing that you see when you look at a pie. It comes in many different forms: a simple crust, meringue, no crust, lattice crust or a crumble. Each crust is different and you are generally able to tell what pie it is, just from looking at the top. For example, a lemon meringue pie and a pecan pie look completely different. Just like how my family and yours probably look very different too.

Spending quality time with my big family is extremely important to me. We don’t always get to see each other as a whole group because we all are so busy. That’s why holidays like Thanksgiving are a perfect opportunity to get caught up with everyone. Whenever all of us are mixed together like ingredients and squished together in our piecrust it’s always a great time. I am forever thankful for my amazing family, the time we spend together, the amazing memories (even the violent ones) that I have and all of the after dinner burps, memories, and pies to come.