A New Year Begins

 

It is difficult to believe that 2014 is here and that 2013 is history! The year went by so fast – have we really lived through four seasons already? I remember as a child hearing my parents and other adults comment on how quickly each year passes by.  Now I know what they were talking about.

 No doubt, 2013 will be remembered as a year of extreme weather and of breath-taking natural disasters. From the devastation of earthquakes in Pakistan and China to flooding, fires and heat waves through-out the world, record snowfalls, and to both an earthquake and Hurricane Haiyan in the Philippines, it seemed that each day brought more bad news. However as each new tragedy occurred, kindness and compassion grew and people reached out to help each other.

 

In the aftermath of each disaster, our television screens and internet showed people doing everything they could to help.  Whether it was people digging through rubble to rescue survivors, or people fighting fires or donating goods and money, we witnessed bravery and compassion and determination to survive.  As each tragedy hit the world this year, people in unaffected areas sent money, supplies, materials and workers – everyone wanted to help.  Thousands of people and dozens of countries sent their resources to help people in need.  This was a year of thinking less about ourselves and our needs, and thinking of how we could help our neighbors – those close by and those thousands of miles away. 

This year we witnessed the strength of the human spirit in the survivors of these calamities.  As well, we saw determination and unselfish heroism in those who worked to rescue others.  We also saw compassion and generosity in those who were far away, but still wanted to help. If anyone had any doubts of man’s survival instinct or the compassion humans have for each other, the events of 2013 surely erased those doubts.  Out of the ashes of bad events arose human compassion and resourcefulness.

I hope people continue to help each other long after the disasters have come and gone.  People who have lost their homes, their families and hope will continue to need the help of others.  Let us not forget to continue extend the hand of friendship and helpfulness to those who struggle to rebuild their lives after a natural disaster. 

Hopefully, 2014 will have fewer natural disasters, and the lives of those affected by the disasters of 2013 will return to normal. I hope this year will be good to you and your loved ones, and that when you look back on your year, it will be with filled with good memories. 

Looking forward to a brand new year . . . it’s a good thing!

 

A New Page

As much as I love Christmas, once it is over I am anxious to have things return to normal.  Our tree is hauled away and all the ornaments and decorations are packed and put away before New Year`s Day.  It seems that once Christmas day is over, the things that were so beautiful the day before are now in the way and cluttering up the house. I carefully place each treasured ornament and decoration in its storage container, knowing I will enjoy them all over again next Christmas. Perhaps it is because New Year`s Day is all about a fresh start, new hopes and plans for the incoming year,  that I feel the need to clear the house of Christmas reminders.  Somehow it seems you shouldn`t start the new year by putting away last year`s decorations.  Maybe by doing this, it feels like two separate special holidays.  I guess I`m not really sure why I do this, but by the time we ring in the new year at our house, all evidence of Christmas is gone (other than pine needles which seem to find new places to hide each year). 

 I enjoy spending New Year`s Eve and day with family and friends.  There is no better way to welcome the new year than by spending it with people you love. Together, you say good-bye to the old year and share hope for the new year.  

2014 stretches out in front of us, a blank page not yet filled, full of promise and hope.  We make resolutions – some we keep, some are forgotten by the next day.  Each year we think this will be the perfect year.  And while each year may not be perfect after all, we need to reflect on and remind ourselves of all the good things in our lives.  We live in a country where we enjoy incredible freedoms and social programs, everyone has access to education and employment. We live in a society which, for the most part, values family and children.  We have relatively quick and easy access to medical help when we need it. We have time for leisure and to enjoy ourselves. We are so fortunate and rich in ways that people in many other countries can only dream about. 

 No matter how 2014 turns out, we should enjoy our good fortune and appreciate the many blessings we have. Be sure to make time to spend with family and friends.  Volunteer to help someone in need.  Make time for yourself.  Do the things you love to do. Sometimes we need to make our own happiness to have the perfect year.

 I hope you have a wonderful start to the new year with people you love and that 2014 brings you joy, happiness and health.   Starting a new page . . . it’s a good thing!            

Christmas

I love Christmas!  I love the hustle and bustle, the shopping, deciding on that perfect gift, and the excitement in the air no matter where you are.  I enjoy gift wrapping, decorating the house, putting up the trees (yes, trees, one real and one artificial) and Christmas baking.  However, my favorite part of Christmas is getting together with friends over the holiday season and spending Christmas Day with family.  Celebrating with them has always been something I truly enjoy and it is what makes this season so special to me. 

As children, our family tradition was to gather at our parents’ home for Christmas Day.  After Mom moved into an apartment and could no longer fit our ever-growing family into her small quarters, my home became the gathering place for our Christmas feast.  I love the large, noisy family who comes into our home each year. Our house rings with laughter and the comfort that comes from being with people you love. We enjoy that comfortable and peaceful feeling of being with family who know each other better than anyone else ever could – and still like each other!  My husband’s family gathers at his sister’s home each Christmas Eve and the love and the joy of being together is evident there too.

It seems that each year we gain a new little person into our clan and over the years have welcomed new family members in the form of boyfriends and girlfriends, who later become husbands and wives.  Of course, there have been years in which a loved one is no longer with us and his or her presence is missed.  Such is the circle of life that we welcome new life in our circle and we say goodbye to those who life’s work is completed. 

I always marvel at the inter-generational exchanges and how age doesn't matter at a family gathering. We all have something in common: each other.  It is always amazing to see young people deep in discussion with much older relatives, and older relatives taking interest in the lives and gossip of younger people. Young and old, we are all related and we learn from each other.  I am often struck by how diverse we are. We are all so alike and yet so different from each other. We bask in unconditional love and know that each of us is an important part of our family.  That is the magic of family, and it becomes even more magical at Christmas.

Over the years, our group as grown as we married and had children, and now those children are married with babies of their own.  I believe the best gift we can give our children is the security of family.  I hope my children have benefited from being a part of a close extended family and that they and their cousins will carry on the tradition of the big family gatherings.

To each and every one of you, best wishes for a very Merry Christmas.  May your Christmas celebration be perfect and leave with wonderful memories to cherish through-out the year.

Enjoying a safe and happy holiday season . . .  it's a good thing! 

The Village

Last week-end I set up my Christmas village.  Every Christmas, when I line up the houses, make sure the lights are all working and arrange the people and accessories so they are just perfect, my thoughts never fail to go back to when I was a very young girl and to the woman who instilled in me the joy of having a little Christmas village, Mrs. Richard.

Frank and Henriette Richard were friends with my parents.  They spent a lot of time together, visiting back and forth a great deal.  The Richards were wonderful people and were a part of many of our family events.

 One of my most vivid memories of Mrs. Richard is of a holiday supper she invited my family to. In my child’s mind, she had a wonderful sense of style and I loved everything in her home.  She had many beautiful ornaments and objects on display for the Christmas season.  But what caught my eye the most that night was her Christmas village. The ceramic houses were beautiful, each one beaming brightly through the darkness of Mrs. Richard’s dimly-lit living room. The colourful lights shining through stained-glass windows captivated me and I kept returning to the display time and time again over the evening.  I could not get enough of Mrs. Richard’s colourful display.  With each house lit up, I could see each detail of the little village. Through the windows, I could see the interior of the church, of restaurants and of homes. I loved how the tiny town glowed and twinkled.  I had never in my short life seen anything like it. I loved Mrs. Richard's village and I decided that I would have one too when I grew up. A few short years after that Christmas meal, Mr. and Mrs. Richard moved away to British Columbia and I never saw them again.

I kept that I promise to myself.  I purchased a little plastic village the first Christmas after I left home.  Each year, I took it out of its box, plugged it in, admiring its beauty.  Eventually, the plastic village gave way to a beautiful set of ceramic houses, just like the ones I remember Mrs. Richard having.  My village has grown over the years.  Most of the pieces were gifts given to me by my family.  I write the name of the person who gave me each building and accessory so that I will never forget who gave me each piece.  Every Christmas season, one of the first things I do is to set up my beautiful village. I love each house, store, restaurant and the people who inhabit the village.  As I plug in each house and place each character, my mind wanders back to that little girl who gazed so lovingly and longingly at Mrs. Richard's creation. She is long gone now, and never knew how her winter scene would stay with me and that someday I would have my own village, just as I had promised myself so many years ago. She would never guess that, after all these years, I think of her each Christmas as I set up my own village, inspired by hers.  This year is no different.  As I set my display again, I silently thanked Mrs. Richard for her inspiration and wished her a very Merry Christmas. 

 Keeping holidays traditions alive . . . it’s a good thing!

The Season For Sharing

I have never outgrown my excitement and love for Christmas.   I enjoy the frantic cleaning, baking and shopping that lead up to the holidays.  I think I am more excited when I am wrapping gifts than the people who receive the gifts are when unwrapping them.  Most of all, I love getting together with family and friends. The best Christmas gift for me is to have a house full of people I love to help me celebrate the season, especially on Christmas Day itself.  For me, there is no other time of year like this one. I can’t help but be a little sad on Christmas Day if my house is not full of people.  The aroma of food cooking and laughter ringing throughout the house and decorations and lights sparkling is what makes my Christmas special.  

I never really stopped to appreciate how fortunate I am to have that love and support until a chance conversation with a lady in my doctor’s waiting room.  We began to discuss the fact that the holidays were coming upon us very quickly and she sighed and quietly said “I used to love Christmas, now I dread it.  It’s the loneliest time of the year for me”.   She then continued to tell how her children all live far away and have busy lives of their own.  Whereas her friends normally fill in the void most of the year, they are all busy during the holidays entertaining their own families and don’t seem to have time for her.

Her comments made me more aware of the loneliness of some people at Christmas time. Sometimes we become so wrapped up in our lives that we take our good fortune for granted and we forget that others are not so fortunate.  As wonderful as this time of year is for those who enjoy the love and support of family and friends, it is that lonely for those who are alone. There are people who remember this and do their share to help everyone enjoy the season.  In our city, the Friendship Centre and the Bernice Sayese Centre both offer a holiday meal to those who otherwise might not have good food and friendship at this time of year.  At my workplace last year, one of my colleagues arranged for us to provide gifts and food for a local couple and their four children.  Many service clubs ensure that families in Prince Albert and area have food for their holiday meal and that the children have gifts to open. Some organizations or individuals make it their mission to visit those who are alone.  There is opportunity to brighten someone’s festive season everywhere, such as in our schools, senior homes and hospitals. 

There are so many people who are overwhelmed with loneliness during this time of year.  We can’t change the world and make everyone happy, but we can try to bring joy to one person or one family.  Those of us who have family and friends, a roof over our heads and good food need to remember those who don’t.   I like the concept of “adopting” a family.  It is my hope that, not only providing joy to a family in need today, the children will in turn remember the less fortunate when they are adults and will pay it forward.  In that way, this is truly a gift that “keeps on giving”. 

The holiday season is a wonderful time of the year. Remembering that the greatest gift is the gift of sharing,. .  . it’s a good thing!

Saskatchewan Pride

I was there.  I was at the game last week.  Yes, THAT game.  I was fortunate to be sitting at Mosaic Stadium to watch the Grey Cup championship, for what turned out to be a once-in-a-lifetime game.  To be there, with over 40,000 Rider fans, and watch the Riders win the Grey Cup at home was the best fairy-tale ending any Rider fan could ask for.  And while there is much to be said about Darian Durant’s great game, Geroy Simon’s first Grey Cup touchdown, Kory Sheets’ perfect catch when Darian fumbled the foot ball, and just how well the entire team played that game, and how our green hearts filled with pride watching them play, there was something else that happened at the game that I have never experienced before and may never again experience.  There was a special energy which filled the stadium and you just had to be there to feel it.  The energy that filled the stadium was so intense, you would almost think it would have had a green glow to it.

When it became clear that we were going to win the game, emotion and pride showed in the faces and actions of the fans throughout the stadium.  Some people broke down and cried, others cheered until their voices gave out and others just stood and watched,  almost unable to believe that our collective dream had been realized – and at home, to boot.   After it was all over, I didn’t want to leave.  I wanted to stay there until the last player had left the field.  As I looked around, I realized that many other fans felt the same way.  Few were leaving the stands, savouring the moment, making it last just a little longer.  If my husband hadn’t insisted on leaving because he was cold, I’m sure I would have been one of the last fans to leave.  It was such a special moment.  And that energy – I wanted to bask in it as long as I could and I know that most Rider fans felt the same.

I think part of the feeling in the stadium that night came not only from the win, but from years of cheering on a team who rarely won the championship, and of growing up in Saskatchewan where you were a fan of the Roughriders, whether or not you watched football. When I was a child, my Dad came home with new truck.  The truck was green and white, and across the side of the box were the words “Big Green Machine”.  I remember asking him what those words meant and he replied that the words referred to our football team, and this was part of a promotion the automobile company was doing.  He said a small portion of the money for the vehicle went to the Riders. I asked him why he had bought that truck because he never watched football and he was a huge hockey fan.  He replied, “I know.  I don’t even understand the game, and I don’t understand how the scoring works. But it’s our team, and we have to support them”.  That, I think, says it all.  It explains how every person who is born and raised in Saskatchewan feels. Whether you follow football or not, everyone knows where the Riders are in the standings and whether they won or lost their last game.  That is why Rider fans are found everywhere across the country, they take that part with them when they leave the province.   If you ever lived in Saskatchewan, chances are great that you are a Saskatchewan Roughrider fan.

 I think it was that which created that incredible energy last Sunday, that thing that is almost a birthright to us.  It was Rider pride bursting at the seams, filling every inch of Mosaic Stadium.  It is something I will never forget and am so glad I was there for the 2013 Grey Cup game in Regina. Go Riders!

Loving our Riders . . .  it's a good thing!

Marathon of Hope

In this blog, I often urge readers to strive to make a difference, and I often comment on how one person can cause change.  I really believe this, but sometimes I need a little reminder.  One a recent trip to Vancouver, I was given such a reminder and I was once again amazed at the difference one person can make.  This realization came in the form of the Terry Fox Memorial Plaza at BC Place.  We always hear about, and many of us take part in, annual Terry Fox runs which are held all over the world.  And while we all know the story about Terry’s determination to raise money for cancer research and his attempt to cross Canada on foot in an effort to do so, we tend to forget how it all started.  I think we often forget that the millions of dollars raised and the awareness of cancer and cancer research which seem so common place now was not true when Terry began his Marathon of Hope. 

The memorial to Terry Fox was created by visual artist and author, Douglas Coupland.  Coupland wrote a book about Terry and then was commissioned to create the artistic tribute.  The memorial consists of a series of four bronze statues of Terry, each one bigger than the other to create the illusion of Terry running.  The poignant inscription explains that the statues face Stanley Park, which was where Terry intended to end his marathon by dipping his foot in the Pacific Ocean, having begun by dipping his foot in the Atlantic Ocean. 

But it was the long inscription on a plague by the artist which reminded me  how one person can make a difference in the world – in this case, a very young man who decided to take on the mission of creating cancer awareness and raising money for cancer research.  According to Coupland, when Terry was diagnosed with cancer it was mostly a “taboo” topic, people simply did not talk about it.  Also at that time, very little money was being raised for research, especially in Canada.  Terry decided he would attempt to change that by walking across Canada, even though one of his legs had been amputated.  But even more incredibly, he decided he would run the equivalent of one marathon a day.  As we all know, in September, 1980 after running 143 days and 5,373 kilometers, Fox was forced to stop his Marathon of Hope because his cancer had returned.  In June, 1981 Terry Fox passed away, but his dream did not die.  It lives on in the millions of people who have taken part in Terry Fox runs all over the world in the thirty-two years since he died and in the millions of dollars raised for cancer research.  All of this, because one person decided to make a difference. 

What struck me the most was a line in Coupland’s plague which ponders that had Terry Fox not attempted the Marathon of Hope, had he taken better care of himself and not devoted so much to the run, his cancer might not have returned.  He might have gone on to live a long life and have a successful career, and he might have married and had children.  Not only did this one person change the way the world sees cancer and cancer research, he made the ultimate sacrifice in doing so. 

Terry Fox inspired fellow British Columbian’s Steven Fonyo and Rick Hansen to create their own marathons, as well as millions of people who run in his memory every year.  Remembering that one person can make a difference and change the world.. . . it’s a good thing!