100 Years of Christmas in Alberta - The Ibsen Story

By David Ibsen

In 1905 my grandmother (age 9) spent her first Christmas in Alberta. Although she did not write about Christmas, we can imagine what it was like. She was on a homestead in a log cabin about 15 miles southwest of the present day Village of Keephills. Her father might not have even made it home for Christmas as he worked in a logging camp. She records that her and her sister sawed all the wood to heat the cabin that winter with a two handled saw. Christmas day, they may have gone to Bennett’s stopping house about four miles away. See my grandmother’s story in the Hills of Hope history book.
 
My father states that my grandfather was likely living on a homestead about 15 miles southwest of Stony Plain, with his first wife. As this district was a little more settled, he likely attended Rosenthal Lutheran church that Christmas.
 
Christmas for my father centered around Rose Valley School. For two years I also went to Rose Valley School, about all I remember is the candy bags and decorations. We also went to Mewassin Free Methodist Church about a mile away from our farm (the church is still there much the same as it was when I was young).
 
When we moved to Stony Plain and later to Spruce Grove the most memorable celebrations of Christmas were at church. One year I played the part of an old farmer. I remember wearing floppy overshoes (which I would not be caught dead with on the street). Another year, a new church was being built and we had candlelight service in it using construction heaters and lighting.
 
After I went to college and got married, coming home to Spruce Grove Alberta for Christmas was a highlight of the year. As a family we would often rent the lodge at Camp Nakamun for the holidays and have a day to invite our extended family friends to join us.  One of these friends was a university colleague of my brother’s and he liked to go “skidoodling”. After our family went to different parts of world, we had a Christmas family reunion at the camp, at which we had all the spouses and nephews and nieces (31 in total). 
 
In 1994 we came back to live in Alberta and raise our daughter, now we carry on the family Christmas traditions in the same home I did as a child, enjoying our Alberta heritage. One of things she enjoyed was to go the Catholic Church to visit their nativity scene. She waited all December for Baby Jesus to arrive on Christmas Eve, only to find out that he was stolen on Boxing Day. This year will be our first Christmas without my parents as my mother passed away a few years ago and my father in September of this year. Things have changed but there is nothing like Christmas in Alberta. I hope our family has another 100 years to celebrate Christmas in Alberta.