The holiday season is just around the corner. I know, hard to believe with the warm temperatures right now. But, soon enough, the days will shorten and the nights will cool and before we know it, there will be big, beautiful, Canadian snow flurries outside our windows. I CAN. NOT. WAIT.

If you’re like me and you count down the days until Christmas (or Hanukah or Kwanza), you are probably also nostalgic and sentimental, taking daily walks down Memory Lane. My memories include warm sugar cookies and glittery trees; Christmas carols and evening church services; icicles and snowmen… But you know what my favorite memory is? Decorating the patio door with Mom’s cling-ons. Seriously—it was and still is the best time.

I remember each year vividly: Daddy would go downstairs to the crawl space closet and retrieve the (many) totes of Christmas decorations. I would gleefully sit in the center of the living room while he stacked each at the top of the stairs. Mom’s delicate hands would open each box until she found my very first task in the home holiday makeover: the Christmas cling-ons.

They were always my job. Even when my little sister was old enough, I was still in charge of the window clings. In my memory, I would stand in anticipation of my task from Mom—as though it were a new thought of hers to bestow upon me each winter: “darling, here are the window clings; make them look nice.” It never bothered me that she always reminded me to make them look nice. She would smile and I would collect the pile of stuck-together shapes and begin right away. Half of the nativity set would be cramped between the frame of the sliding patio door and the wise men and some of the animals would fit on the stationary pane. Daddy would move a chair over for me each year (I never did grow very tall) so I could spread out the snowflakes and the distant city of Israel and the star.

The colours were my favourite. Crystal blues and silvery accents with alternating white flakes… I remember when my parents decided to upgrade the patio door during a small renovation project they had been dreaming about since they built the house. That following Christmas time stands out the most to me. Mom and Dad went to Brock Doors and Windows and customized these incredible, wide sliding glass doors in our Brampton, ON home for the walk-out off of the kitchen. When it came time, I had all the space I needed to place my window nativity set just the way I always wanted. The cling-on scene looked magical.

Today, we still practice this little family tradition. Daddy still hauls the totes upstairs for us girls and we all descend on them with our specific tasks in mind. Mom still reminds me to make the scene on the patio door look nice. Her delicate hands still delegate which ornaments to adorn in strategic spots on the tree.

I love the holidays. I love that Brock Doors and Windows enhanced my parents’ space to make room for the traditions in my family. And, I love the twinkling view each December.

Brock Doors and Windows Inc | 278 Orenda Road | Brampton, ON, L6T 4X6 | (905) 791-2850