Welcome to day thirteen of my advent calendar of ornaments. Cheesy Christmas (2020 & 2021) is out, and instead I’m giving you a tour of our hodge-podge of a Christmas tree – one ornament at a time until Christmas Day.

Today’s ornament IS on our tree and is DEF-initely a star of Canadiana…

Tim Hortons…

If you’re from Canada… you know!

• Americans… it’s right up there with Krispy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks.
• French… it’s like La Mie Caline, La Brioche Dorée or Paul.
• Brits… it would be a bakery / coffee shop version of Harrods.

I recently read a meme that online gamers will understand… “When a Canadian dies, they respawn in the last Tim Hortons they visited.” … and that about sums it up. Tim Hortons is as much a part of Canada as they come!

When the kids were younger and we were still in Canada, we were about a 4-5min walk from the nearest Tim’s and so among their earliest tastes of freedom was their ability to, from time to time, and after asking permission, walk to Tim Hortons on their own… unaccompanied.

By that time Soph & Dominic were already older and we could trust them to keep an eye out for Timo. But we’d hand them a little fist-full of change and send them on their way. They thought they’d died & went to heaven… the sheer grown-up-ness of it all… the independence!

So at one point, when Tims came out with a series of Christmas ornaments… one found their way into each of the kids’ stockings. We have this one, a little yellow box of Timbits and a chocolate-glazed timbit on a toboggan.

I don’t remember if we got them before leaving Canada or on one of our trips back… (sometimes the years they blend together), I just know that the kids are always gleeful when they open up these ornaments and hang them on the tree.

… and that’s today’s Christmas ornament.

Give the gift of Parisian strolls this Christmas.
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