Canadiens Christmas traditions

MONTREAL – There are many Christmas fans on the Canadiens. And all you have to do is ask the guys about their holiday traditions to see how different they are from one continent to the next.

Curious, we decided to investigate. So, from family traditions to local customs, find out how some of your favorite players celebrate Christmas. Enjoy!

Christmas in Europe

Juraj Slafkovsky and Emil Heineman have this in common: to follow their dream, they had to leave their native Europe and move to North America. “What’s Christmas like in Europe?” you ask. Well, for the former, in Slovakia, the festivities begin on December 6 with a visit from St. Nicholas.

“It’s called Mikuláš (St. Nicholas). On the fifth, at night, you leave your shoes in the window. You wake up the next day, and it’s usually full of candies and stuff. That’s the first celebration.”

Hard to imagine for a player of his size, but as the Slovak tradition goes, on the 24th, Slafkovsky must fast until dinnertime.

“You shouldn’t eat the whole day on [the 24th], you should starve, cause there are sayings that you will see a golden pig. If you don’t eat, it brings you good luck.”

Don’t worry, the 20-year-old can get his calories in the evening. On the menu in his family: cabbage soup, chicken schnitzel, and potato salad with mayonnaise, followed by desserts prepared by grandma.

And, obviously, Santa Claus makes a stop in Slovakia to drop gifts off under the tree.

Donald Duck fans will be happy to know that a few hundred kilometers away, in Sweden, the fictional character has become part of a December 24 custom:

“Every Christmas at 3 o’clock, pretty much the whole country just sits down in front of the TV and watches Donald Duck for, like, an hour. It’s the same show that goes on for an hour that everybody’s watching. It’s a tradition that nothing happens around that time.”

Far from his hometown this year, the forward will be able to count on his family, a few hours in the kitchen, and IKEA (yes, IKEA) to reproduce a Christmas meal typical of his country of origin.

"My family is bringing over some stuff, so that’ll be fun. We have this thing called glögg that we drink. We can buy that from IKEA, so that’s good. And you make your own meatballs.”

Family time

Arber Xhekaj, Samuel Montembeault, and Lane Hutson are also big fans of Christmastime.

“In our family, it’s our favorite holiday of the year,” said Xhekaj. “When we were younger, we’d always pick a real tree and cut it down, and brought it home and it was kind of a special day for us.”

At the Xhekaj household, Christmas is also a chance to reunite.

“We spend the day together, and just have some family time, because nobody’s really home during the year. It’s nice to get together.”

The Hutson family sees it much the same way.

“Every year on Christmas Eve, we have my whole family over. We just hang out and exchange gifts,” recounted the Habs rookie.

For his part, Montembeault likes to look back at the Christmas magic his parents created for him.

“When we still believed in Santa Claus, my parents put a lot of effort into it, on the night of the 24th, to bring gifts from Santa Claus. We also always had Christmas stockings, which they hung up on our door.”

Papa Christmas

Now a dad himself, Mike Matheson is looking to test out some new traditions with his young family. After leaving some snacks near the tree intended for Santa Claus in the past, the blue-liner plans on trying The Elf on the Shelf this time around.

One thing’s for sure, the Matheson home is already full of holiday spirit; the Christmas tree has been lighting up their living room since mid-November.

Lastly, though no one asked, Christmas is also one our favorite holidays. We’d like to take a moment to share one of our favorite traditions: celebrating Christmas with our fans at the Bell Centre. The invite has now been sent, and we hope to see many of you on December 21.

Happy holidays!