Morrisons tell their travel tales through tree ornaments

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

Justin Morrison, the 19-year-old Brussels resident who was just acclaimed to Huron East Council for the 2022-2026 term, says that, for him, the holidays are really all about family.

Morrison, a Brussels Lions Club member and former Leo Club member, put his name forward, just weeks after turning 18, to fill John Lowe’s vacated council seat in late 2021. Council chose Morrison over two other candidates in early 2022 and he served the remainder of Lowe’s term. Then, earlier this year, he put his name forward to represent the Brussels Ward for the next four years and was acclaimed to return to the position. 

In addition to his municipal council position and his volunteerism, Morrison has also served as a long-time weather reporter for the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority, beginning when he was just a child.

The holidays, he said in an interview with The Citizen, begin at the Morrison house around mid-November, when the family gathers to decorate the house, inside and out. That’s when the bins are dusted off, the ladders go up and the Christmas lights go on the house. 

With his sister Amanda now in university, there’s no guarantee that everyone will be home for the weekend, but Justin says they always do their best to co-ordinate.

That weekend, for the Morrisons, always marks the official beginning of the holiday season.

When decorating, Justin says the Morrisons always have a bit of a trip down Memory Lane when they trim the tree. As a family that has travelled a lot over the years, they will often try and snap up an ornament at every destination. So, over the years, they have established quite a collection of tree ornaments from cities like Amsterdam and many destinations within the United States, such as Nashville, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Florida and more.

As for the holidays themselves, Justin says the family is always together on Christmas Eve to take in a church service. His mother, Glenda, is a musician who performs at many of the village’s churches year-round, so where the Morrison family goes for the holidays that year depends entirely on Glenda’s schedule for the night.

When they return home, they have some snacks and spend time together and, in the early years, used to open presents on Christmas Eve as well. When the family was gone to church, Santa Claus would always pay them a visit, meaning that there were gifts under the tree waiting for them when they got home, which Justin says was always a thrill in his younger years.
That proposal usually gave Justin’s parents a bit of a break on Christmas morning, allowing them to sleep in. The rest of the day was always spent at home. The family was together and there was nothing on the agenda, other than playing with their new toys, which, for Justin, often meant LEGO.

On Christmas Day, the Morrisons would have their big holiday meal, which Justin says has always been pretty traditional, with turkey, stuffing and all the fixings.

He says there isn’t a lot of Christmas baking at their house, although they do make a lot of shortbread cookies over the holidays. The Christmas baking, he says, is best left to his grandparents, who do a great job year-in and year-out.

While Justin says he was always happy to see some LEGO under the tree, his family is a big board game family, a tradition that is still alive to this day, so there was usually a new game or two under the tree that would see some use over the holidays for a family game night.