Tag Archives: holidays

winter solstice (or let’s skate, toronto)

20 Tuesday Dec 2011

Posted by in art, crafts, outdoors, sports

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

My first skate of the season! OK, so I'm not actually in this pic, as I was behind the cam, but I was having just as much fun as those people gliding across the ice, trying not to fall.

Sadly, I’m spending the holidays here in Toronto. No, no, it’s not so bad. Spending the holidays last year in Costa Rica was divine, but as I’ve said before, I missed all the fun and family time in the Great White North while I was hiking great wild jungles in the south. But this year, we’re sorely lacking in snow here in T.O. Though it has been unseasonably warm (Toronto’s warmer than Texas and L.A.!), that hasn’t stopped peeps from having winter fun. Witness the families speeding around the rink at Nathan Phillips Square this past weekend. Somewhere in that crowd is the lovely lady who nearly gave me a black eye and bloody nose when she suddenly threw her arms out, whacking me in the face as she tried to catch her balance. And, yes, I was laughing along with her, cracking a joke that I don’t really need these glasses to see….

My goal for the holidays, aside from spending as much time with my family as possible, is to hit the rink every day. By no means am I a good skater, mind you. On Saturday, I had to ask a kind gentleman to hold my hand so I could step down onto the ice! And I had a few near collisions too – as the collidee, not the collider. But it’s always a hoot to try not to fall while feigning graceful glides (in my mind, I resemble a speed skater), and watching others fall funny or make every attempt not to fall is def good for a giggle.

So a-skating I will go before I head over to Kensington Market on Wednesday, Dec. 21, with my lantern in hand, ready to join the annual winter solstice parade. Winter solstice, symbolic of rebirth, marks the shortest day and longest night of the year, when the sun’s maximum elevation is at its lowest. Organized by Red Pepper Spectacle Arts, the parade in Kensington is a tradition, and many participants come prepared with a lantern made at Red Pepper’s PWYC lantern-making workshop the weekend before winter solstice. Be warned, this isn’t a parade that you watch from the sidelines – the route is usually so packed and the parade moves so slow, there’s really no room for folks to merely watch. And unless you’ve snagged yourself a prime rooftop perch, it’s ever more fun to join in the parade and light up the night!

__________________________________________________________

What: Kensington Market Winter Solstice parade
Where: Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The parade starts at the corner of Oxford Street and Augusta Avenue, proceeding through the market and ending in Alexandra Park at 8 p.m.
When: Wednesday, December 21, 2012, 6:30 p.m.
Bonus: Bring your lanterns and noisemakers.
Dress in colourful costume. Go with the flow!

__________________________________________________________

Ohh! Fire! Take a look at
how vibrant the parade
was in person…
Winter Solstice Parade
Explodes with Excitement

Check out Nathan Phillips Square
at night…
Skating in the Rain

all i want for christmas

04 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by in travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

So I was listening to CBC’s Radio One on Friday, and they were talking about Canada Post’s annual Letters to Santa program. In its 26th year, the program is praised for keeping childhood innocence alive and introducing children to old-fashioned letter writing: more than one million kids worldwide write letters to Santa, with over 11,000 Postal Elves (current and retired Canada Post employee volunteers!) ensuring that every letter gets a reply in the language in which the letter was written. That’s over one million replies in 30 different languages, including Braille (only letters that include a return address will receive a reply; emails are answered in English or French). I love the spirit of the program, and though I’ve never written to Santa and or realized he actually replies, I’ve always thought Santa’s addy was cute (it’s the jolly postal code):

Santa Claus
North Pole HOH OHO
Canada

Now, what piqued my interest in Letters to Santa this year was the letter read on that CBC program. It was from a little girl whose only wish for Christmas is to spend more time with her dad (because he works so much). I actually started crying while listening to the letter. Granted, I’m a sap for anything sentimental, but the idea of wanting more time with someone is something we all can relate to. This child didn’t ask for the latest trendy toy – all she wants for Christmas is more time with her family.

I second that. This time last year, instead of spending December with my family, I jetted off to Costa Rica for the month. After arriving in Drake Bay in a private 9-seater plane, I was ready to chill in a hammock in my own beachside bungalow in the jungle. I spent a week and a bit at Pirate Cove, which is situated beside the Drake River and on an isolated 2 km stretch of beach, far from “downtown” Drake Bay to the north (which consists of the airstrip, a school, a church and a soda stand) and the overrun-with-accommodations village of Agujitas to the south. I loved the solitude and also the adventures of the area, mainly hiking Corcovado National Park, as well as snorkelling, birdwatching, horseback riding, kayaking, and mucking about the mangroves on a night tour (all of which I essentially did solo or accompanied by a private guide, because that’s how off the tourist map Drake Bay is).

But as much as I loved exploring Drake Bay and making my way up to Fortuna for whitewater rafting, hiking and spa time, and then settling in Santa Elena to do a home stay while volunteering at the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve, I missed the whole lead-in to the holidays. The only Christmas carols I heard last year were played by the marching school bands performing in a parade one night in Fortuna. I didn’t get to decorate the tree with my mom or bake shortbread for my dad. No fighting with my brother over watching It’s a Wonderful Life and The Sound of Music. No Christmas shopping, even (except for the hammocks I bought at an arts co-op in Monteverde and the 12 bags of coffee I stocked up on in Santa Elena).

In fact, not only did I miss the holiday preamble, I nearly missed Christmas altogether. Finding out my flight was cancelled and waiting 7 hours standby for the next flight from Atlanta to Toronto was not how I’d envisioned spending Christmas Eve. Neither was arriving at the Atlanta Sheraton at midnight with a bunch of fellow passengers grateful for the comfy comp’d bed but desperate to wake up at 6 a.m. Christmas Day to guarantee themselves a seat on the first flight out. (Consider us fortunate, as almost every other flight was cancelled due to a freak snowstorm that hit the southwest that morning. Had I missed that flight, I would have been stranded in Atlanta for 4 more days!)

It’s not that I’ve never spent the holidays away from home, but “home” is with my family, and I’d never spent Christmas away from them. Booking my return flight for Christmas Eve was a no-brainer because it shaved $600 off my flight, but I’d chosen that flight specifically because it was cheaper and I’d be home in time for Christmas Eve with my loved ones. Spending time with strangers at an airport instead of with my family really sent home the message that more than anything my family is the most important thing in my life.

And even though we’re only a few days into December and people are already starting to stress about the season, I want to wish everyone an early happy holidays with loved ones. Don’t forget to pause and cherish the time you have with those close to you. That’s all I want this Christmas.

xoxo
jen