P.E.I. lieutenant governor happy to be home in Tignish to play organ on Christmas Eve

Prince Edward Island Lt.-Gov. Antoinette Perry says she is "delighted" to be home in Tignish for Christmas, where she will play the pipe organ at Christmas Eve mass as she has done for decades.   

Perry, who was the organist and choir director at St. Simon and St. Jude Catholic church in Tignish before becoming lieutenant-governor, wasn't sure the Christmas Eve tradition would continue.

"I didn't think I would be able to play the pipe organ, which I've been doing for I don't know how many years now, and it's just great to be able to know that you can play the organ and sort of celebrate with the whole community. That's my big thing," Perry told host Mitch Cormier on CBC Radio's Island Morning. 

She was relieved circuit-breaker regulations were eased on P.E.I., allowing cohorts of 50 people to attend religious services again. 

Perry's favourite Christmas carol is Silent Night, but that's not the piece of music she enjoys playing the most on the organ on Christmas Eve. 

"When I cut into Il est né le divin enfant at the end of the mass, the French Christmas Eve mass, that's the one. Because that's one of the first ones I learned, you see, in French," said Perry. 

100 people will attend Christmas Eve mass in Tignish, with two cohorts of 50 people each. 

When I walk the sidewalks of Tignish here, I always see somebody that's always waving.— Lt.-Gov. Antoinette Perry 

Along with music, another important part of Perry's Christmas celebrations is traditional Acadian food. 

"I made my third batch of meat pie, pâté Acadien, with my sister, and we were passing on the tradition to her daughter, so her daughter got in on the act, and it was a fun day," said Perry. 

There is always debate over which meats should be included in an Acadian pâté. Perry uses pork, chicken, beef, and also a little turkey, with a biscuit dough crust. 

"The best meat pie has the old laying hens there, the fowl, the stewing hens. And there's a certain flavour with them I find is really good and we don't get that with chicken as much, so we add a turkey drumstick in there," she said. 

Rabbit can 'stay in their pens' 

Some traditional meat pie recipes use rabbit, which Perry said her mother tried to sneak into the pie a few times when Perry was growing up. 

"Mum fooled as when we were kids, but not too many times, now, and so we could smell that little rabbit coming or we'd look," she said. 

"No, the rabbit can stay, they can stay on the land or they can stay in their pens, whatever, not on my plate," Perry said. 

Happy to have personal connections back home 

Perry said as an extrovert, she's found the pandemic difficult since she can't get together with as many people, but that's another reason she's happy to be home for Christmas. 

"When I walk the sidewalks of Tignish here, I always see somebody that's always waving," she said. 

"I see in church they'll wave up to me, they see me up in the gallery. And it's that connection, that personal connection that you can't get with the virtual, right?" 

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