Our Christmas traditions:   Tree goes up Christmas week, each year one child  places the angel on the tree and their name and date are written on the bottom of the angel to avoid future fights. Church on Christmas Eve or in the morning. Santa puts the tinsel on the tree while delivering the presents.…

Hoping the true meaning of Christmas brings you peace and comfort despite the current condition of our world. I have an ongoing beef about “traditional” Christmas family newsletters. I made a commitment to myself a number of years ago that I would only send them if I could come up with a unique design that…

I wanted to share with you a neat knitting story that appeared in my comments on Tuesday. I made a scarf for my friend, Rosie, for her 50th birthday. It was made from Anny Blatt Honeymoon, now discontinued. Rosie wrote: “I wore your scarf when I subbed in the autistic program at Westover School in…

Chuck used to work at the Health Department in Community Health Promotion. The staff were quite the team and despite the fact that the department was abolished years ago, they still have staff parties at least twice a year. This year the Christmas party was at our house. It wasn’t a huge department, maybe ten…

I have asked my three kids for an indication what they might want for Christmas given the late date: the youngest, age 14, male says "I had that all figured out in September and you told me it was too early and now I have forgotten everything;" The middle, age 19, female has made a…

…on the banister with care. We haven’t gotten around to building the mantle over our fireplace so the stockings line the stairway. These are the stockings I made for Chuck as an anniversary gift just after Mari was born. The items on the stocking represent something important in each person’s life at the time. When…

Have you seen these? I am not a cookie eater and I’ve never liked Oreos unless frozen. These are the limited edition holiday Oreo – covered in white chocolate or chocolate mint. There is an exception to every rule. I will eat these cookies; perfect with chicken milk (see Monday). When items like these appear…

The Christmas catalogues seem to arrive daily. LL Bean has spent an inordinate amount of money trying to get my business. I’m sure I’ve had eight catalogues in two months. When Mari was two she liked to look through the Sears Wish Book. She would find toys she liked and say "Mawie want dat," in…

How about this? Every other year we celebrate the gift buying, tree lighting Christmas and every other year we let those who believe have the holiday to celebrate the true meaning. Half the money spent and half the stress. I guess as I get older and time goes by more quickly Christmas seems to come…

Vancouver is known for its natural beauty combined with a colourful mixture of cultures. There are many English language schools that attract young people from all over the world and there is a large market for international home stay families. We have hosted over fifty students in ten years. Vancouver as a cultural mecca was…