Traditions

Christmas traditions don't seem to be a big thing in my family. At least not compared to others. Every Boxing day we gather at my aunts house to exchange presents, eat good food, play cards and generally catch up with family members we don't necessarily see all the time, but this is about as far as yearly Christmas traditions go for me.

Here it is a completely different story altogether. Christmas for my host family is a BIG thing. The family I'm staying with are originally from Germany so for us Christmas actually started way back on December 6th. I went up to the main house to have breakfast only to open the door and find my boot filled with chocolate and presents. Having no idea what this was about I stared for a few minutes with a mixture of joy and confusion on my face that I can only assume looked quite silly from the laughter I heard in front of me. It was later explained that on December 6th each year Saint Nicholas visits houses and leaves presents in your boot if you've been good and coal if you've been bad. Needless to say I was very grateful to receive presents!

While at home Christmas Day and Boxing Day are the main days of celebration, here Christmas Eve is actually the main day. I've been told that the living room is shut off all day while Peter decorates the tree. No one is allowed to peek so the room is off limits to everyone. In the evening we will all get dressed up to have a big dinner and afterwards the tree is unveiled. This is very different to back at home where for me the tree would have been up since early December and Christmas Eve would have usually been spent frantically looking for or making last minute gifts.

I am very excited to spend Christmas here, by the sounds of it, it will be something completely different to what i'm used to at home. I will however be calling home on December 26th keeping up with the one tradition I do have of speaking to and spending time with my family on Boxing Day.

Dawson's Lights

Fundraising is extremely important here at the shelter. The whole organisation is run off the donations of generous people and companies, and without them it is likely that NLWS wouldn't exist and the animals that we care for wouldn't have a place to go when they needed help.

As I have mentioned in a previous post, this has been a very slow year for the shelter. We didn't get our first bear until September and the lack of  animals sadly means that donations have been at an all time low. Despite having fewer animals than in previous years, costs are still high as general maintenance of the site and enclosures as well as the feeding and caring of the animals we do have and the permanent residents is not cheap.

Every year, in December, NLWS holds a special fundraiser called Dawson's Lights. We have a large Christmas tree in town and we sell coloured light bulbs for CAN$25 each. The idea is to light up the Christmas tree by December 24th, Christmas Eve, through the sales of bulbs. However this year something truly incredible has happened. An anonymous donor has pledged that if we can raise CAN$10,000 through selling light bulbs, they will match it meaning we have the potential to raise CAN$20,000 in one month. There are no words to describe just how much this money would mean to everyone at the shelter. So much can be done with this amount, and we are all incredibly thankful to this donor and to everyone who buys bulbs.

If anyone reading this would like to buy a light bulb you can donate here https://www.canadahelps.org/dn/10649. If you can't buy a bulb, which I completely understand as most people reading this are students after all, you could always share it and tell others. Every bulb counts.

Thank you!