Lights, lovers and fried chicken: What Christmas means to P.E.I. newcomers

As a Muslim, Christmas is not part of the holiday traditions for 12-year-old Shayma Aldos, but she knows what's involved: "It's about starting a new year and parties and Santa and presents."

This will be the second Christmas on P.E.I. for Shayma and her family, who moved to the Island from Syria.

They were among hundreds of newcomers at the annual Christmas Open House held recently at the Confederation Centre of the Arts.

They ate cookies, enjoyed live music and, of course, visited with Santa.

"I'm trying to be an Islander," Vinay Upreti said with a laugh. He and his family have only been on the Island for two months. They're from New Delhi, India Christmas is not new for them.

"It's on the same scale in India," Upreti said. "It's a diverse, multicultural country with many Christmas festivals. Last year a friend in Delhi even took usto midnight mass."

Turkey dinner at church

He's embracing it on P.E.I. this year.

His wife, Kiran, said she's hoping for a white Christmas. And since turkey isn't available in India, the family of four islooking forward to turkey dinner at their church.

Momoka Tsuruta, an exchange student from Japan studying at UPEI, smiled when she was asked about Christmas.

"Ahh, it's so romantic," she said."Very beautiful lights in the streets, the songs, everyone is smiling.

"Japanese people spend Christmas with their lover, but I am sad, I am single."

'Corn soup and chicken'

As for her Christmas menu? "It's corn soup and chicken," she said with a laugh, noting it's not so unusual in Japan, where one of the most popular foods at Christmas is Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Christmas is also familiar to Kanyinsolami Onikoyi Deckon, a 15-year-old Nigerian student at Grace Christian School in Charlottetown.

"We don't do gifts, but we have Santa Claus and we cook food," she said.

The menu is jollofrice a one-pot dish with rice and tomato puree or broth and chicken.

Deckon added she likes to keep the traditions from Nigeria but she also likes P.E.I. touches "the colours, the events, the lights and dressing up."

A time for gratitude

Jimmy Chen, munching on cookies and admiring the decorative wreaths at the Confed Centre, said this will be his first Christmas on P.E.I. after moving from Taiwan.

For him, Christmas is a time to "be thankful about the whole year."

His friend Nancy Lin, also from Taiwan, has lived on P.E.I. for three years. She said Christmas is "time to remember the friendships and to bring families and friends and anyone, even if you don't know them, to bring warmth."

This year, she's been invited to a neighbour's house, and she's also thinking of having neighbours and friends in for a pot luck.

Christmas is not a Taiwanese tradition, she said, but more and more people are celebrating it.

"I have a lot of Christmas decorations," Lin said. "And even have a tree a plastic one."