David Bromstad, HGTV host of “My Lottery Dream Home” celebrates Christmas in a big way. He has 65 trees in his main living room. That’s a lot of trees! Now go look at your living room and see how you can improve, if you don’t have 65 trees, ok maybe 60, you need to improve. Don’t send me to my living room, being at the tail end of a renovation and having just dug my living room out of the chaos, Christmas decorations was the last thing on my mind. Plus, with a young Bengal cat, Christmas decorations are just too shiny and attractive to Nico. And so I’ve not been able to decorate for the last couple of years. Sigh!

In Flanders Fields
BY JOHN MCCRAE

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

From Canadian Heritage: September 30, 2021 marks the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The day honours the lost children and Survivors of residential schools, their families and communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process. The creation of this federal statutory holiday was through legislative amendments made by Parliament. On June 3, 2021, Bill C-5, An Act to amend the Bills of Exchange Act, the Interpretation Act and the Canada Labour Code (National Day for Truth and Reconciliation) received Royal Assent.

To learn what non-indigenous people can do to observe the National Day for Truth and Reconconciliation, read this CTV post with Cindy Blackstock, director of the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society.

Additional information can be found on the Canadian Heritage site.

Sometime ago I watched this very moving documentary Canada’s Dark Secret produced by Al Jazeera

Happy Colonel By Day! Hum that sounds odd! Well nevertheless, we in Ottawa appreciate Colonel By’s supervision of the construction of the Rideau Canal, a National Historic Site of Canada and a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well as playground for all seasons.

As today is not a statutory holiday much remains open. Click here to see what is, and what is not open.