Christmas 2025: Campbell prioritizes family around the holidays

BY SCOTT STEPHENSON

For Belgrave correspondent Linda Campbell, Christmas means getting together with family - although maybe not all of them at once! “We usually rent the Belgrave Community Centre (BCC), and we have it on the last Sunday in November,” she explained to The Citizen. “It’s a big, big deal. My husband’s family had 10 kids, so if all their families came, there could be over 100 people there!” Santa himself is even known to make an appearance every year, with a sack full of small gifts for all the little children in attendance. It would be an absolute feat to feed a festive feast to that many folks, which is why the extended Campbell clan rocks their bells potluck style - everybody brings something special they want to share. Unfortunately, this year’s Campbell family fête at the BCC was cancelled due to late November’s blizzard-like conditions in Belgrave.

 

Her own side of the family likes to get together in Grand Bend, normally in early December. When she’s not taking part in big family get-togethers, Campbell reserves her Christmas Eve for the special service at Belgrave’s Knox United Church (KUC). On Christmas Day, Campbell and her husband John like to be flexible when getting together with close family. When their children were young, Linda and John would usually have the grandparents come to their house to eat dinner and open gifts. Now a grandmother herself, Linda gets to experience Christmas through the excited eyes of her oldest son’s children, who are four and seven. “They want to stay home Christmas Day and just play with whatever they got!” she pointed out. 

 

With such big celebrations to prepare for each year, Linda always feels like she should get just a little more organized every year. “I should start making my Christmas cookies and cake and whatever I’m going to make earlier, instead of leaving it to the last minute,” she mused. “The same with gift wrapping. A lot of the time, I don’t even wrap everything!”

 

One of Linda’s favourite childhood Christmas memories is making the sort of traditional desserts that once held a prized position on the dinner table, like fruitcake, Christmas pudding and gumdrop cakes. “But now, kids don’t like that stuff, do they?” she mused. While these sticky brown baked goods may have fallen out of fashion with the TikTok generation, Linda still likes digging into a nice Christmas pudding every now and then. “My grandparents always made Christmas pudding, and then Mom made it, and now we have her recipes,” she said. “I like all the fruit in it. I just do the sauce with the brown sugar and that in it, but other people do a lemon sauce.” 

 

Linda likes to keep her Christmas decor modest, but rooted in memory. “I don’t really go in for decorating a whole lot. My sister was really good at doing crafts, so I’ll put up some of the things my sister made,” she explained. They still put up a tree, although they switched over to an artificial version a while back. “We used to get a real tree years and years ago, and I can remember paying $3 for a tree. Now, it can be over $100! And it’s such a short time that you have them, too!” 

 

There are many people who pass through Belgrave during the holidays on their way to somewhere else, and most of them don’t give this North Huron hamlet a second thought. But, over the years, the Christmas activities of Belgrave and its people have been lovingly chronicled by The Citizen’s local correspondent. 

 

No merry moment has ever been too small for Linda to include in her column. Each moment is crystallized, like a snowflake. Together, each one of these unique moments creates a flurry of festive memories that transcend time. Here is a small sampling of those moments.

 

At the Christmas Eve service at KUC, Student Minister Brian Hymers welcomes the congregation and wishes everyone a Merry Christmas. (Jan. 8, 2015)

 

Over 50 Campbell relatives gather at St. John’s Anglican Church in Brussels for a potluck buffet - John Campbell welcomes everyone, Nancy Jardin leads the prayer. (Dec. 22, 2005)

 

About 50 members of the Belgrave branch of the Women’s Institute gather at their meeting hall for their annual Christmas dinner. Wilma Higgins and Alice Nicholson are the program convenors, and the KUC Women’s Group serve a bountiful turkey feast that all in attendance enjoy. (Dec. 17, 1997)

 

Ashley Irwin of Ashfield Township spends a few days during Christmas with her grandmother, Betty Irwin. (Jan. 7, 1998)
Youth and Kids 4 Christ present “The Not-So-Silent Night” on the afternoon of White Gift Sunday, followed by an evening show by the Mennonite Youth Choir  (Dec. 9, 2010)

 

In the Christmas nativity, the senior Sunday school students play donkeys, cows, cats, dogs and doves, while the junior students dress as Mary, Joseph, stars and sheep. They sing “The Friendly Beasts,” while Joanne Robinson accompanies them on piano. (Dec. 11, 1996)

 

Approximately 60 Edgar relatives gather at the United Church in Blyth for their annual Christmas get-together. Special guests are Helen Stonehouse, Irmla Edgar, and Mait and Mary Edgar. Everyone enjoyed the dinner, catered by Deb and Fred Hakkers. (Dec. 23, 2010)

 

Worship Leader Colin Snyder welcomes the congregation of KUC on the first Sunday of Advent. (Dec. 5, 2025)

 

The Belgrave United Church Women purchase three bed-kits for children in India as part of the Sleeping Children Around the World campaign. (Dec. 2, 2010)

 

Brooklyn Grace, daughter of Matthew and Ashley Bromley, is baptized at KUC on the second Sunday of Advent. (Dec. 9, 2010)
Vera Humphrey, Sarah Cook, Connie Kuc, Kyle Love, Tiffany Lamont, Aden Long and Betty Darling all win turkeys at the annual Belgrave Kinsmen turkey bingo. (Dec. 8, 2016)

 

As one of its first acts after receiving its charter, the brand new Belgrave Optimist Club enters a float in the Wingham Christmas parade. (Dec. 4, 1996)

 

The Belgrave Seniors Community Club meets for their annual Christmas dinner, and President Muriel Coultes reads “T’was the Night Before Christmas” to the group. (Dec. 16, 2010)

 

Over 70 Campbell relatives hold their Christmas at the BCC - the Bondis, Brommers and Cloakleys are in charge of organizing the event this year. They look at old photos all afternoon. (Dec. 2, 2010)

 

Just a few days after New Year’s, Bob and Jane Grasby see a robin in a tree in their backyard, just in time for Epiphany. (Jan. 6, 2002)

 

Linda’s list of Belgrave’s Christmas memories might just stretch on forever. Winter weather conditions may have kept the Campbell clan from gathering at the BCC this November, but Linda can take comfort in the knowledge that, in immortalizing her community’s holiday stories for so many years, she has given them a precious gift; a place where all their sweetest memories of Christmases past still feel as fresh as the driven snow. 

 

For Linda, the secret to an extra-special Christmas is to love every moment, whatever it may be. Because Christmas in Belgrave is good just the way it is, year after year.