Canada – Page 23 – Just An East Coast Girl

It’s Christmas…My Heart is FULL

It’s Christmas!

I Love this special day with my family.

The kids are all home.

Craziness My parents and my sister and her family here. It is our family tradition and It has been a wonderful day celebrating together.

A beautiful afternoon meant family pics outside, a few minutes on my rocker ( a Christmas gift made by my Daddy), a motorbike ride and enjoying a beautiful sunset.

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And this year…December 25th, there is a Full moon in the night sky. A beautiful conclusion to a wonderful day.

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Christmas is a day of reflection, gratitude, togetherness, cheer, warmth, giving, and goodness. It’s unique for many reasons, one of them being that it happens one day a year. When a full moon occurs, there’s an overwhelming energy that arises. The sun and the moon are in opposite Zodiac signs. And while it proves to be a time of utter charge, it also brings about balance. The solar yang and the lunar yin are congruous.

It makes it even more intriguing that the last full moon we’ll see in 2015 happens to be on one of the most celebratory days of the year. People are enthralled with this idea, perhaps because it’s so spectacular that two big things are coming together. Bizarre and beautiful occurrences take place during full moons. Wonderful things happen on Christmas. The combination of the two is like a treat you never knew you needed until you’re informed of its presence, and suddenly the excitement consumes you.

The December full moon is special because it rises near sunset and then sets close to sunrise. This means that it is the only night in the entire month that the moon stays in the sky for the whole night. And even better is that a full moon on Christmas day hasn’t occurred for 38 years (1977)and the next one won’t appear until 2034.

As I gaze up at the moon tonight my heart is full, I’m so thankful and I’m thinking about family and friends all over the world that are seeing the same moon, and wishing them a wonderful Christmas and may all their dreams and wishes come true in 2016.

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I am so blessed!

Merry Christmas From Nova Scotia ~ East Coast Style!

Nothing says East Coast and Christmas more than a great feed of lobster. After all, it’s Lobster season here along the East Coast and it’s time to enjoy our annual Christmas time tradition of Lobster ( a little extra seafood too)

It’s Winter time again…

the most FAVOURITE season of all Canadians…NOT! Well ok…for some it’s the favourite!

It is known as the longest night and shortest day. It is the Winter Solstice!

The winter solstice happens every year when the Sun reaches its most southerly declination of -23.5 degrees. In other words, when the North Pole is tilted furthest – 23.5 degrees – away from the Sun, delivering the fewest hours of sunlight of the year.

The Sun is directly overhead of the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere during the December solstice and is closer to the horizon than at any other time in the year, meaning shorter days and longer nights.

The day after the winter solstice marks the beginning of lengthening days, leading up to the summer solstice in June.

Happy 1st Day of Winter!

Ps. ( No snow in the forecast until maybe next week)

To Inspire Others…

…with the Spirit of Giving!

Because that’s what Christmas is all about!

Who doesn’t love the West Jet commercials at Christmas? West Jet is a Canadian low cost airline that does amazing things at Christmas to give back to the community and to people in need. In case you haven’t seen it or you’re not in the Christmas Spirit yet…just watch this year’s miracle!

Thank you once again West Jet and may we all be inspired to do something nice…something wonderful for someone who needs it this Christmas!

WestJet-Christmas

Yes B’y

Christmas shopping is so much fun! Yes B’y she sure is!! lol I especially love finding different and unique gifts. An trip to some of Halifax’s Malls and shops and there are all kinds of interesting possibilities.

We stopped in to one very interesting shop to browse…who doesn’t love chocolate? And this here shop is Newfoundland Chocolate.

It started as little more than a hobby for Christina and Brent, both graduate students at Memorial University of Newfoundland and is now a famous Artisian Crafted Chocolate Company.

A bit of “Their story” From the Newfoundland Chocolate company’s website...Boxes weren’t just boxes of chocolates; they proudly displayed iconic scenes of the company’s namesake on the covers and instead of just descriptions of the chocolates inside the box, there were maps of Newfoundland and Labrador. For example, a chocolate wouldn’t just be a chocolate with blueberries, it would be a chocolate featuring incredible Newfoundland blueberries and would be named after, where else, but the blueberry capital of Newfoundland – Brigus.

The bars would feature those iconic jellybean houses that dot the streets of St. John’s with their colour and character. The pan rolled beads of chocolate would be Newfoundland Chocolate Beach Pebbles and when it came time to name the Easter Bunnies, well they just had to be Joey, Danny and Clyde after some of Newfoundland’s most famous or infamous Premiers. And, when terms of endearment were chosen for the valentine’s day bars, they wouldn’t say, ‘be mine’, they’d say ‘Me Duckie’ and ‘Some Sweet’.

Everything about the Newfoundland Chocolate Company would be a celebration of not only delicious artisan crafted chocolate but of the culture, beauty and charm of Newfoundland. Brent and Christina’s vision was to bring Newfoundland and Labrador to the world by making the best, most delicious, most artistically crafted and beautiful chocolates around.

Such a cool store! So if you haven’t found the perfect gift or stocking stuffer for someone…maybe treat them to some nice chocolate…Yum, it’s delicious and FUN even for a Saturday mid morning treat this time of year!

Yes B’y!!

Beautiful Windows

I love a nice evening walk. And this time of year it’s so much fun especially to walk along city streets…oh how I miss that!! So, in my case it’s small town.

My small town stores have beautiful window displays for Christmas!

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So pretty!! I may have to try to get to the city to window shop.

The Official Food Of Halifax

That’s right it has been made official!

The donair is the food of Halifax!

For years people have been coming to Nova Scotia, Halifax in particular to try the sweet and savoury meat-lovers treat that is closely related to the Greek gyro.

Well, in a close tie, the donair has been elevated to official food status in Halifax. Mayor Mike Savage broke a 7-7 tie yesterday, December 8 at Tuesday’s Halifax regional council meeting that declares the donair “Halifax’s Official Food”

It is suggested that the donair is to Halifax what the Smoked Meat sandwich is to Montreal, or the Beaver Tail is to Ottawa, as well as British Columbia’s Nanaimo bars and Quebec’s poutine and Saskatchewan’s Saskatoon Berry pie. If you are Canadian you recognize all these.

Yum! I love it! Soon time for a donair…

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Christmas Wish

Do you remember growing up waiting for the day when the Sears Christmas Wish Book would arrive? I sure do. Back when I was little my Mom did a lot of her Christmas shopping from Sears…for the bigger items. She was always busy working and found it hard to be out shopping.

My sister and I would anxiously wait for the “Wish Book” to arrive in the mail and then we would each have our turn to look. Mom always told us we could put a little mark beside a few items we really liked and she would choose what to get us for Christmas. It was so much fun and such a special memory from my childhood.

These days I rarely see a “Wish Book”. Mom still gets it. I stopped at Mom’s today for a visit, for coffee and for a quick peak at the Wish Book, for old times sake. Mom said, “What would like for Christmas this year?” My choices have changed a bit over the years…

What would I really like?

I would like PEACE and LOVE. No more world violence and catastrophes, no racism, and hate. Oh so many things…I could compile a long list…but that is not our world these days…it makes me sad.

1Corinthians 13:13~ Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.(NLT)

That is my Christmas Wish!

Just hanging out in the kitchen

Today seemed like a good day just to be hanging out in the kitchen. It’s Saturday and it’s the first Saturday in December which means that Christmas Daddies is on television. ( Normally it’s on the first Sunday but this year is the first year for the new day Saturday) I REALLY enjoy watching this telethon. BUT, to be honest sitting all day…during the daytime in front of the TV doesn’t thrill me so I had an idea…

I can just hang out in my kitchen all day with the TV on and I can do my Christmas baking. Why not? It’s PERFECT!

And to start, well before I started Christmas baking…a new baked treat for Abby girl.

She was thrilled and VERY polite when I gave her the whole plate. One at a time was fine with her, no need to devour them all at one.

And then it was on to the really fun stuff. Cranberry Bliss Bars, Peppermint Bark, Almond Bark, Pecan Bark, Peppermint Patties and Peanut Butter balls. And poor David is not here to sample…he’s off exploring Charleston, SC today before he heads home on Monday.

Poor David…he’s missing out… haha

And…6 hours or so later…my table looks like The Land of Sweets…Who doesn’t love tasty treats at Christmas. These are the special ones, reserved only for Christmas time.

And the plus to all day baking in my kitchen, I saw the whole Christmas Daddies program with the grand total of over $410,000. pledged to go to make Christmas special for children in the Maritimes!!!

I have a bone to pick with you…

On June 5th 1873, two brothers James and Gilbert (G.W) Ganong founded Ganong Bros., Limited in St. Stephen New Brunswick.

In 1885, Ganong candy maker Frank Sparhawk invented the “Chicken Bones”, a pink,spicy cinnamon flavoured hard candy shell filled with bittersweet chocolate. Do you remember these?

Ganong Original Chicken Bones is a Canadian Holiday treat, passed down through family traditions and Holiday memories. This year celebrates 130 years of tradition. A Canadian tradition!

Yum! I just had to pick some up.