Thought of the Day - December 4 - 'tis the Season

Radio stations are now playing Christmas songs, online ads encourage holiday largess, Christmas movies fill your Netflix suggestion window, and even our home-town boy, Michael, invited us into his home earlier this week, but let's take a look at some of the ways this Holiday Season will be a little different:

• The Queen, for example, will be christmassing at Windsor Castle instead of Sandringham and so the setting for our HRH's Christmas Day address may change this year;

• Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced this Wednesday that Moscow, as with other cities, will not hold its traditional Christmas celebrations;

• Midnight Mass in Bethlehem, usually attended by religious leaders, local VIPs and hundreds of pilgrims from around the world, will be scaled back; the event will be closed to the general public, broadcast live instead;

• Meanwhile in the Big Apple, after 87 years the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular annual show is cancelled.

Closer to home, first and foremost is the cancellation of in-person venues such as:

• The Santa Clause parade along with Santa breakfast event at Fairmont will not be held;

• Christmas at Canada Place has been cancelled;

• Heritage Christmas at Burnaby Village Museum, cancelled;

• Canadian Pacific will not be running its Holiday Train this year;

• The Surrey Parade of Lights has been cancelled for 2020;

• The Timberline Country Christmas festival in Maple Ridge, will not be held this year;

• The Carol Ships ‘Parade of Lights’ will not set sail;

• Holiday Hi-Light Festival at North Vancouver’s Park & Tilford Gardens, will not be held this year;

• The Twilight Drive-In Theatre and a number of other movie theatres (including Science World's IMAX) have also had to close down temporarily;

• The Vancouver Christmas Market is cancelled for 2020;

• The City of Coquitlam popular Lights at Lafarge Lake is cancelled this year;

• Holiday Heights at Bloedel Christmas event has been cancelled for 2020.

• In-person worship is verboten;

• As are usual luncheons and libations with colleagues.

But there are still a significant number of scheduled venues:

• WinterLights: The PNE is operating their drive-through holiday experience;

• FlyOver Canada at Christmas: An exception to the specialty theatre closures. Fly across the country with a stop at the North Pole;

• Lights of Hope: St. Paul’s Foundation has illuminated the streets for charity;

• Bright Nights: The Stanley Park Plaza and Christmas Train will be operational;

• Glow Langley: Still on, it just moved venues at the last minute from the Greater Vancouver Zoo to the Milner Village Garden Centre (I understand this was more due to concern for the animals that anything to do with human plight);

• Canyon Lights: Capilano Suspension bridge is open with a festival of lights;

• Festival of Lights: VanDusen Garden’s display;

• Grouse Mountain: Blue Grouse Lake light walk;

• Festival of Trees: Steveston’s annual festival;

• Robson Square: Still poised for skating, but you will need to register for a time-slot;

• Festive Lights: On Granville Island;

• Most remarkably, shopping centres are still setting up photo ops with Santa and your kids (remember that Santa, being magical like your kids, cannot spread COVID).

And last but not least, in our own neighbourhood, the DuPlessis family display on Burnlake Drive to raise money for charity is all lit up. After a discussion with the city they decided not to set up the inner courtyard and the outdoor speakers, as both encourage congregating, but the display is bigger and better than ever! Go see them now while the evenings are deep and crisp and even, and dry.

Cheers

Cliff