Our family's long journey to Canada has given us a shot at a 'real' Christmas in a new home
The wonders of snow and the stars in the night sky are gifts
This First Person column is written by Shantanu Datta, a father who recently immigrated to Saskatoon with his family in November 2023. For more information about First Person stories, see the FAQ.
It was just past midnight as we stepped out of the luggage area with seven bags in tow. It was a small, cozy airport — almost like a bus station back home in India.
Welcome to Saskatoon. It was love at first sight.
As we waited for my sister and her husband to pick us up, the three of us — our daughter Shahana, my wife and I — stepped out for some fresh air after 32 hours of being cooped up in airports and airplanes.
"Look Baba, snow," Shahana said, and rushed toward the side of the road to check the bits of white flakes on their way to turning into ice — leftovers from what looked like a light snowfall the day before.
The excitement was writ large on her 11-year-old face.
"Snow, real snow," she said. "I can mark a real Christmas this time."
Sure you can, young lady.
A journey to Canada
My wife and I started this journey nearly a year and a half ago. Our sights were set on Canada. We wanted to graduate from the harried and hurried daily grind, the late-night work schedules and the big-city pollution of New Delhi that was taking a toll on us both physically and mentally.
We knew it would be anything but a walk in the park to pack up our life of a few decades into those seven bags.
We gave my daughter hints about the big move, but held back from giving the whole story, knowing how much confusion it would create in her little mind.
We broke the news to her on a muggy July evening — we would soon be moving to Canada.
She jumped up from her spot on the floor to her mother's lap on the couch, equal parts exhilarated and disbelieving, excited yet apprehensive about the change that was to come.
"Can we go in January?" she finally asked, sobering after realizing that we were serious. "My friend's birthday is in November, and then Diwali, and Christmas ... I want to spend those with my friends here."
But, we asked, "You can celebrate a real Christmas amid snow in Canada, can you not?"
"Oh, yes." She sounded half-convinced. She was still not ready mentally.
Canada, for her, was a vast country on the map, and Saskatoon just a dot within it. The whole exercise of moving forever — not just a trip to meet her aunt, uncle and cousin in Saskatoon — was too much for a child to comprehend. She was also apprehensive about leaving her friends, schoolmates, and cricket and tennis lessons.
A new colour of sky
A day or two after our arrival in Saskatoon, we navigated the city and saw our child appreciate the blue sky.
"Look, Baba, it's real blue," she said to me, her face full of wonder. The sky was a marked contrast to the grey horizon back in Delhi, where smog has forced people indoors to the point of schools moving classes online.
She was equally wondrous at night, seeing the stars from the backyard deck of my sister's house, and about building the base of a snowman on the deck from the little snow that fell over the next few days.
Each time we see and hear these moments, my wife and I are reassured about our big decision to make a leap, as we all get ready for what my daughter calls a "real Christmas."
We, too, are like our wide-eyed 11-year-old, finding new joys in the fresh air and free space. We call our friends and family at home to tell them about our new discoveries — however inane and seemingly trivial.
But that's not quite right. Home is no longer Delhi or India. It is now here, in Saskatoon.
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