Aamer Haleem’s Pink Christmas Tree

The Haleem family had a pink Christmas tree. This holiday oddity was not merely the result of some long-ago episode of last-minute retail desperation. “I am pretty sure it wasn't a case of 'Oh, we got what we got,'” says Aamer Haleem. “It was intentional.”

Haleem, the former CBC Radio, VH1 and CTV Vancouver Breakfast Television host, was raised in Ottawa. His Muslim parents had moved from Karachi, Pakistan to London, England, where Aamer and his sister were born, and finally to our nation's capital. There was a lot to sort out in their new home. Aside from developing a new standard for what constituted “cold,” there was the familiar immigrant dilemma of dealing with the dominant Canadian holiday culture. Muslim or not, Christmas could not be ignored by a new Canadian family with young kids. A middle way had to be found. The pink tree was part of it.

The Haleems wanted to strike a balance between what they grew up with and this new world they had arrived in. “Obviously they told us about Ramadan and Eid,” he says, “but they didn't want my sister and me to feel left out.”

The pink Christmas tree was key. “It's a Christmas tree to acknowledge that we are participating in Christmas,” he says, “but it's pink to suggest that we're doing it our way.”

Even before the arrival of the pink tree Aamer's parents had developed a family version of western tradition. “The very first Christmas I recall, I remember waking up and seeing two giant gift boxes, wrapped in simple brown paper. We woke up and said 'Oh, Santa Claus arrived.' My sister got a doll and I got a Hot Wheels set.”

“We would hang stockings on our door and next morning they would be stuffed with so much candy and stuff that the tape couldn't hold them and they'd be laying on the floor.”

Not every family takes that approach. Award-winning Globe reporter Andrea Woo grew up in a family that basically just shrugged off the whole business. “My parents were complete duds when it came to Christmas,” she recalls. “We had a tree for a bit, but really nothing else at all. No huge dinners. Pretty underwhelming.”

“I remember when I was really little,” she says, “and my friends would talk about Santa. I was pretty sure that wasn't a real thing, but wasn't certain. I asked my mother and she laughed and said, 'No.' And I never dreamed again.”

Thus are young reporters shaped and nurtured.

Vancouver writer Lindsay Wong, author of The Woo Woo and My Summer of Love and Misfortune, had similar experiences as a Coquitlam kid. “We didn’t do Christmas at my place,” she says. “It was just a regular day. No gifts or anything. Lunar New Year was where the money was.”

And the jolly fat man? In the Wong household, just a costumed dud. “We did the Tooth Fairy,” she recalls, “but Santa was kind of useless because he did not bring any money.”

While Haleem's immediate family gathered 'round the pink tannenbaum, his extended family did not do much on Dec. 25, although they too found a distinct way to mark the statutory holiday. “My older cousin's family would hand out candy to the kids,” he says.

There was cross-pollination in the other direction as well. “We carried it over to Eid,” Haleem recalls.

“At Eid, at least in the Pakistani tradition, you give money to those who are younger than you. But we developed our own 'Secret Santa' tradition, although we didn't call it that. But that's essentially what it was. We'd pool our names and draw them and then do a gift exchange while we ate.”

“One of the things that my parents stressed over and over was to love and respect other religions,” Haleem says, “to acknowledge that they have the same pursuits as a Muslim family would, that they want to live peacefully and embrace their neighbours.”

Sounds downright Christmasy. Don’t tell Fox News and others who decry a “War on Christmas” supposedly waged by non-believers. Haleem has no time for the culture war shock troops. “It's bullshit,” he says. “They're a group of people who despite having control of the wheel, cry 'Woe is me.' It's an amazing strategy. 'You're offending us, you're attacking us!' Wait a minute — you're saying this to the repressed? You're saying this to the people who just want a seat at the table?”

These days the 54-year-old broadcaster and his wife celebrate the holidays in Los Angeles. “As soon as Thanksgiving is over, the tree goes up, decorated with ornaments from around the world,” he says, “including a Vancouver Canucks ornament, hoping for some luck. Trimming the tree, having a meal with friends who are in town — it's a big deal.”

Dogma aside, L.A. has its own issues with traditional Christmas iconography. Even secular holiday songs like “Winter Wonderland” don't really work down there. Not a problem, according to Haleem. “I actually discovered my favourite Christmas song after coming down here — Augie Rios and 'Donde Esta Santa Claus?' And generally speaking, the weather here does get cool to the point where light sweaters and jackets are part of our wardrobe.”

Thoughts and prayers, Aamer. And happy holidays.

Tomorrow: Steve Burgess seeks to understand how Colonel Sanders became Santa in Japan.