Merry Christmas from Megan

The following message from Megan Wigmore in Denmark is one of many special greetings that SooToday.com will be publishing over the holidays from expatriate Saultites.

If you're a former resident now living 200 or more kilometres away, SooToday.com would be delighted to post your message and photo.

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******************** Dear Sootoday.com,

I’m writing about your International Most-Wanted List, but I really don’t know if I qualify… former Saultite?

Well I was a Saultite 4½ months ago.

More than 200 kiloemtres away?

How about six time zones!

Maybe I should explain a little more so you can understand my situation…

My name is Megan Wigmore and I am 16 years old.

I lived in the Soo all my life… well, until July 31st, when my parents drove me down to Toronto to board my first flight ever - to Denmark!

I am an exchange student, and I am living in Roskilde, Denmark (approximately 30 kilometres from Copenhagen, the capital city) for a year.

The Danish celebrate Christmas in a very different way. Everything is a countdown on how many days are left.

There is a daily TV program for both children and adults.

Candles with the dates marked on them (each day you burn a little more of the candle), as well as candy/chocolate calendars, lottery calendars, gift calendars… the list goes on!

As well as that, they celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve.

They have their family over and eat from afternoon to evening.

When they are finished they dance and sing around the Christmas tree and open presents.

They do not celebrate so much on Christmas Day - only if it is (like in my family) the second set of grandparent’s turn to have the grandchildren over.

On Boxing Day they have their friends over, and play games with presents, and eat more.

They eat and eat and eat at Christmas time!

They have told me about all of these traditions and I am looking forward to them all!

Although there are many things I look forward to with a Danish Christmas, there are also things I miss…

In Europe, electricity is expensive, so most people don’t have Christmas lights outside their houses.

My family took out the newspaper and pointed out a picture of a house decorated with Christmas lights and said "Look! Isn’t it beautiful? People from all over Denmark come to see this house!," and I thought, "Every house in my neighbourhood at home looks like that at this time of year!" As well as that, we do not have snow here.

As far as I can remember, in all 16 years of my life, I have never had a Christmas without snow.

Now, don’t mistake me - it's pretty cold here right now (the wind is the worst)- and we are more North than the Soo…

Just no snow!

To me Christmas isn’t really Christmas without snow falling softly just outside the window (or pouring down in buckets… ha ha).

This is obviously the longest I’ve ever been away from home, and the first holiday season I haven’t spent with my family.

I look forward to next year when I can be back together with them in the Soo.

Uou hear it a million times from those who left, but you never really know it yourself until you experience it firsthand - the Soo is a special place.

Then again, you never know what you’ve had until you’ve lost it!

Although I am able to talk to many people back home through the wonders of the Internet, there are still those who I have lost contact with.

To everyone back home, at my high school (GO COLTS!), in my neighbourhood, or just in the Soo - a very Merry Christmas, and of course a Happy New Year!

OR, as we say in Denmark… GLÆDELIG JUL OG GODT NYT ÅR!

Megan Wigmore (Birchwood St.)

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