My fondest childhood memories are of Christmas.  My love for the Holiday Season has only grown as I have aged and created a family of my own. In fact, my family nicknamed me the CEO of Christmas when I was younger, the nickname has since stuck.  

I grew up in a household where all our holiday decorations were Black (race).  What started out as a surprising find about 30 years ago while shopping with my mother, turned into a lifelong collection and family tradition.  Once I moved out on my own my mom started giving me pieces of her Black Santa collection to jumpstart my collection. As the years went on my collection flourished.  This love of an inclusive Christmas is the origin of my business; Colour Me Christmas.  

The way Colour Me Christmas actually started is nothing short of a miracle.  While I have had this business idea for years, I really thought it would be something that I would start when my children were older.  My leap into this space started small by hosting holiday photos with a Black Santa in 2021 and 2022.

At the start of December 2022, I held an event called The Black Santa Experience, which gave families the opportunity to visit and take photographs with a Black Santa.  Meeting all the families that came to our event was truly life changing.  I learnt so much about what this meant to families of colour, mixed race families and even adoptive families.  

Right after the Black Santa Experience, our newborn fell gravely ill with RSV and the Flu. He was hospitalized at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario for 19 days.  He spent 12 of those days in the ICU, intubated and breathing on a ventilator.  He would spend his first Christmas at the hospital.

While I spent hours at my son’s bedside, I had quiet and a slower pace than I had experienced in years.  This led my mind to churn with ideas.  It was Christmas time after all, my favorite time of the year (normally).  Bored at his bedside, I started to research how and where to source products, starting with the idea of a Black Santa plush that I had been unable to find for my daughter in the previous months.  After much success in my research, I felt called to register Colour Me Christmas and get started.  Many of those days in the ICU with my son served as the early days of the business.  I started to research product sourcing, I started designing products, I even got my logo designed.  I had finally found something to take my mind off the endless monitor beeping and the constant worry for my son.  Starting Colour Me Christmas in those days truly saved me.  It distracted me from the torment of watching my infant fight for his life