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Every family is unique, and every family that celebrates Christmas does so with at least one twist that makes it their own. Reel People asked four of Vancouverās shining film and television stars ā John Cassini, Rukiya Bernard, Aliyah OāBrien and Lisa Durupt ā to share the distinctive Christmas traditions and memories that warm their hearts and homes each year.
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John Cassini (Blackstone)
An Italian Christmas in āthe Sixā:ĢżJohn Cassiniās holiday memories begin with a wide shot of a Toronto street blanketed with snow, and zoom in on a family room filled with Cassiniās relatives engaging in all manner of Christmas Eve merriment.
Theyād begin convening around 4pm to drink cognacs and whisky and coffee, place heaps of presents under the glittering fake tree ā including panettone (Italian Christmas bread), bottles of booze (āBecause thatās what Italians give each otherā), and wrapped-up cartons of cigarettes ā and feast until midnight. āTheyād do their rounds, and come and go,ā says Cassini.
Cassini and his brothers would open their gifts that night, with December 25 reserved for sleeping in, playing hockey, and taking in a movie at Imperial 6 Cinemas on Torontoās iconic Yonge Street. āThe biggest Christmas Day opening I remember had this huge, huge, huge poster in the middle of the lobby: King Kong,ā recalls Cassini. āThat one rocked me.ā
Many of Cassiniās Christmas rituals have changed since he moved to Ā鶹“«Ć½Ó³»and became a dad ā his kids open their gifts on Christmas morning, and there arenāt cartons of smokes under the tree ā but he still loves a festive film, a fake fir, and kicking back with his loved ones. āFor me, Christmas is very much food and movies and coziness and family,ā he says.
Favourite Christmas songs: Frank Sinatraās version of āHave Yourself a Merry Little Christmasā and āWhite Christmasā by Bing Crosby ("'White Christmasā has more value to me now because we never have them.ā)
Favourite Christmas movies: āBack home, it was all of those religious movies. My mom would want to watch The 10 Commandments, so I have an affinity towards all of that stuff. Now, with the kids, Elf is a big hit. Weāve knocked off Christmas with the Kranks a couple of times, because heās trying to get out of Christmas, and thatās kind of funny. I would love to say the standard Itās a Wonderful Life, but Iāll be honest: if I see another frame of Itās a Wonderful Lifeā¦ I canāt do it, man.ā
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Rukiya Bernard (Van Helsing)
Stonewashed dreams:ĢżAs any fan of 1983ās cult classic A Christmas Story can tell you, some of the most poignant Christmas memories involve many weeks of yearning for something special ā like a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time ā to materialize under the tree.
For Rukiya Bernard, that āsomething specialā ā when she was six years old and growing up in 1980s Toronto ā was a pair of stonewashed jeans.
āStonewashed jeans were the ish,ā chuckles Bernard. āI wanted them badlyā ā so badly, in fact, that on that particular Christmas morning, she awoke before her entire family, crept to the tree, and broke one of the householdās cardinal Christmas rules: Thou shalt not open presents until everyone is awake.
āI saw the box that I thought might be the box of clothes, and I was just āTo hell with it,ā which is against character for me, because Iām a goody-two-shoes,ā says Bernard. She opened the box ā carefully, so that she could re-tape it with no one the wiser ā and, in a cinematic moment that would delight any A Christmas Story fan, gleefully beheld the highly coveted stonewashed jeans. They were, according to Bernard, absolutely glorious.
Bernard recalls hightailing it to the bathroom to try on her new jeans before she had to pack them back up. By the time she returned to the tree, her parents were awake, and she was busted. āBut it was worth it, because I was so, so happy,ā says Bernard.Ģż
Favourite Christmas foods: āI grew up in a very mixed West Indian and East African family. On Christmas, we would eat the typical turkey and ham dishes, but then thereād be Jamaican escovitch fish, which is a king fish made with a lot of vinegar and scotch bonnet and onions. Itās amazing. My mother would cook traditional Kenyan food, too; collard greens, potato mixed with peas and corn, and roasted goat. Sheād cook for a whole week.ā
Favourite way to start the season: āI love eggnog, and Iām happy to say Iām the only person in my household who actually likes it, so I get to drink it all by myself. That becomes part of the grocery list. The eggnog is the signal that itās Christmas.ā
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Aliyah OāBrien (Insomnia)
All in the 'Framily': For Aliyah OāBrien, Christmas has always been about her āframilyā: the family she was born into and her neighbours from when she was growing up on Ā鶹“«Ć½Ó³»Island who decades ago combined to become one big happy family of friends.
OāBrienās framily celebrates Christmas with a turkey dinner, carolling, and zero presents. āWe did away with presents years ago,ā says OāBrien. āWe just wanted it to be about getting together and connecting. Itās a big love-fest.ā
OāBrien traces this emphasis on family, friends, feasts, and fun back to her late grandfather. āHe was instrumental in getting us all connected and heās the reason that weāre so family oriented,ā she says. Her grandfather figures prominently in one of her most treasured holiday memories: Christmas Day 2013, when OāBrien (aided by boyfriend Aleks Paunovic of The 100 and Van Helsing) snuck her then-ailing grandfather out of the hospital so that he could partake in the framily feast.Ģż
āHe wasnāt supposed to leave the hospital, but we wheeled him into the back of the house and he ate the most amazing dinner with us, and he laughed so much, and then we snuck him back into the hospital and they were like, āWe knew you broke him out,ā but he had the best Christmas ever. It was wonderful. It was amazing. And then he passed away a few days later.ā
In recent years, the framily has found a special way to honour OāBrienās grandfather at the festive feast. āWe always make him a little plate of food, because he loved Christmas, and he loved family,ā she says.
Favourite Christmas-y role: āWhen I was a kid, me and my friends in the neighborhood would put on a Christmas play in my basement. Weād write a whole Christmas story and play a bunch of characters and invite the neighbours. That was when I started acting, actually.ā
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Lisa Durupt (Murder, She Baked)
As seen on TV: For many Vancouverites, the Christmas season begins December 1, when we break out our advent calendars and ugly sweaters. For Lisa Durupt, the Christmas season often begins in the summer.
Over the last several years, Durupt has appeared in a string of holiday movies produced by and for the Hallmark Channel ā which, in order to hit TV screens in time for Christmas, must be filmed months in advance, often in downright un-Christmasy conditions.
āOne we filmed in May in Squamish in the middle of a heat wave,āā says Durupt, who has two festive films on Hallmark this season: Operation Christmas and A Dream of Christmas. āYouāre bundled up, and youāre just sweating, and all the director can say to you is, āPlay the cold.ā Youāre trying to pretend that youāre so cold, but really youāre trying not to melt in your own skin.ā
Growing up in Winnipeg, Duruptās Christmases were about PJs, sleeping late, and hockey; these days, they involve taking her grandparents to church on Christmas Eve, making sure she has enough Baileys to pour into her coffee tumbler for when she walks her dog on Christmas morning (āThereās nothing betterā), and watching the World Junior Hockey Championships on Boxing Day.
Favourite Christmas song: āI love Boney Mās version of āFeliz Navidad.ā No one really knows the words, but everyone tries to sing it every Christmas.ā
Favourite Christmas season activity: āI love to do Christmas baking. But my thing is I have to bag it and give it away right away because Iāll just want to eat it. For me, white chocolate almond bark is Christmas one hundred times over.ā
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Sabrina Furminger, Reel People columnist
Have Yourself a Merry Little Birthday:ĢżI have one vivid Christmas memory that stands out from all of the others. It was November 27, 2010, shortly after 10:30am. I had just given birth to my daughter after 38 agonizing hours in labour ā and for the bulk of those 38 hours, I (and my birth team) had listened to the same Christmas music mega-playlist on constant repeat: selections from Vince Guaraldiās A Charlie Brown Christmas; Christmas with the Rat Pack; and a Christmas classics album that included the iconic Judy Garland rendition of āHave Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.ā
Iād selected that playlist as my birthing soundtrack because Christmas music had always lifted my spirits, but I hadnāt intended to listen to it for 38 hours straight; once the waves of pain began, we were all too distracted to change it to anything else.
So by the time the nurse handed me this tiny, swaddled, foreign being that had only moments before emerged from my birth canal, I was so drained and so emotional and so out of my depth that I didnāt know what to say, to the baby or to anyone ā and so I mustered the last of my strength and croaked out to the child in my arms, āHave yourself a merry little Christmasā¦ā, and started to weep. I count it among the most beautiful and pure moments of my life.
Now, whenever that song plays (which is does frequently during the Christmas season), I think of the moment when everything changed, and I remind my now six-year-old daughter that, before I said anything to her at all, I sang her a special Christmas wish.
Favourite Christmas movies: Scrooged, Die Hard, A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and A Christmas Story. Boxing Day is reserved for my annual Star Wars binge: Episodes 4, 5, and 6 ā and this year weāll add The Force Awakens to the line-up. No Lucas prequels allowed, although next year, weāll probably begin with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Favourite Christmas tradition: Stockings. I love the fact that each member of my extended family tiptoes down to the fireplace in the middle of the night to fill the stockings ā even though (with the exception of my daughter) weāre all grown-ups and we all know what the others are doing. We still try to fill those stockings in secret. Itās kind of adorable.
