Favourite Moments

My favourite moments or memories from 2022. It was a hard year in many ways and yet, it was also wonderful. I guess life is like that. I have a separate blog post about a lot of these, but I wanted to mention them here again as I reflect on the year. I'll try to go in the order of the pictures somewhat...

my job: I am so blessed to love teaching, to love my class, to work in a great school close to my house and to have some really lovely co-workers

Bible study: I did a lot of Bible study with a friend as well as at my church. I even attended an all-day workshop which was fantastic. What could be more important than getting to know God?

overnight in Fort Langley: we stayed in an adorable bed and breakfast called The Princess and the Pea. It was one of my favourite places to stay at ever.

Joonas' ball hockey season which ended in provincial gold. It was so amazing and not just because we won, although that certainly didn't hurt. The icing on the cake was Joonas scoring a goal during the gold medal provincial game!!

Two weeks on the east coast. The architecture, the weather, the company, the lighthouses, the beaches, the escape....it was so, so wonderful. Celebrating my birthday there was amazing and included my first gondola ride!

Our 23rd anniversary. It was a good day.

Celebrating the 50th birthday of two of my childhood friends. Too bad one of them got cut off from the picture. 

Emmi and her bff Ellie. They have known each other for 7 years, but only really became close this past year. I am so happy for my little girl who is shy and introverted and used to say she had no friends.

The family reunion in Lumby at my brother's house. What a perfect weekend!

Two sunflower festivals. They were very different, but I loved looking at all the flowers, which included more than just sunflowers.

The Canyon Lights. So magical.

Time with Henry and Ruut, which included going to Frankie's jazz club and so much more. Any year that we meet up with them, they will be included on my list of favourites, that's just a given.

Other things that make the list, but not the collage of pictures were church, community group, 6 concerts, Van Dusen and countless times at the beach, going for walks and coffees with friends.

Delicious

My life became a lot more delicious when I met my friend Serene. She is an amazing cook. Yesterday when I went over, she made me asparagus, crispy-skinned salmon and mashed potatoes with bacon and cheese on top. I have had countless delicious meals at her house and I am very, very lucky.

Christmas Events

 

This year I was determined to do some of the Christmas things I haven't done for a long time, or have always wanted to do, but haven't. One such event was the Canyon Lights at Capilano. I've always thought the tickets are ridiculously expensive and then not gone. This year I decided I was going to finally do it and boy was it worth it! It felt magical and other-worldly. 

I went to the Singing Christmas tree for the first time in years. I attended 2 Christmas concerts. I wandered around the light displays at the PNE winter festival drinking hot apple cider. I looked at the gingerbread house competition at the Hyatt. I wandered around downtown admiring all the Christmas lights and displays. All in all it has been a wonderful Christmas season. I already blogged yesterday about how lovely Christmas Eve was this year. Wouldn't you know it, today the Christmas dinner at my sisters got cancelled. And I suddenly developed a terrible pain in my back. But whatever. I am still grateful and wondering what events I might get to next year...

Christmas Eve

I love Christmas Eve. I especially love the candlelight service at my church. It is hopeful and beautiful and glowing. This year we went to the 6:30pm service and it was perfect. It made me cry.

This year, we also went back to celebrating Christmas (with the kids) on Christmas Eve. The kids are older, stay up later and like to sleep longer in the mornings. So, early Christmas morning in our pajamas appealed to exactly no one, lol. Finnish people, along with all Scandinavians and a lot of others, celebrate on Christmas Eve, in their fancy clothes, not pajamas. Back in the day when someone in the family would dress up as Santa, we celebrated on Christmas Eve. In Finland, Santa is very civilized and knocks on the door on Christmas Eve instead of that chimney business. But then we switched to Christmas morning because of the kids. But this year we went back to Christmas Eve. I loved it.

We went to church. Then we came home and had dinner. Then the kids opened their presents. In the morning, we will get up late and have our traditional french toast with bacon and orange juice and coffee!!

Snow

Snow brings with it a quietness that I love. Sitting on my couch, with the Christmas lights twinkling on the tree, the fireplace going, I can see the piles of snow outside and it brings a quiet to my soul. It's like a deep sigh of relief that I didn't know that I needed.

I actually had concert tickets for tonight, to a concert that I really wanted to attend. But, the roads are treacherous and the risk is too great. I decided not to go. And I felt the peace of cancelled plans and a warm cozy house. 

I am determined be still this Christmas season. I want to experience again the wonder of the Christmas story. I was reading one of my favourite writers today and she said, "you can't keep Advent if you can't be a listener. You can't really keep faith at all, because to love God means to be one who waits on the Word made flesh, spoken into our darkness with the first words of a story whose telling remakes the world." I have also been listening to a Christmas album by the Rend Collective. There is an extra refrain added to Silent Night that says, "Be still my heart, be still my mind, May I still see the magic of that silent night. Fill me with wonder, keep mystery alive, may peace on earth be my song tonight". That is my hope this Christmas 2022. 

Church Family

Yesterday was a super packed day. Somehow I ended up with three social events in one day. Some days, especially around Christmas, are like that. As an introvert who finds social interaction draining, I was exhausted by the end of the night, but also so, so grateful.

All of the events were with friends from church. There are some really lovely people who attend my church and I feel privileged to spend time with them, but my favourite was afternoon tea at The Secret Garden. There were only four of us. We all attend the same community group and so our friendships are built around much more than just Sunday morning fairweather conversations. We do life together. Yesterday, we happened to be celebrating Ruth's birthday. 

The venue was lovely and relaxing even though it was full of people. There was SO MUCH laughter, I actually wonder whether we bothered the other guests, lol. There were yummy treats. There was copious amounts of tea. It was perfect.