My Christmas hatchet
Christmas morning 2007

It’s the time of year that makes me excited for brisk walks where you need to cover your nose with your scarf to help it thaw and cozying up with hot chocolate and a blanket on the couch while watching Peter Billingsley shoot his eye out. In local malls, castles with thrones and digital cameras on tripods are being setup and trees are trimmed with lights aglow. Ah, November.

I admit I am getting slightly excited after seeing an ad for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It’s what I equate to being the start of the holiday season, and that’s probably thanks to Miracle on 34th Street. Here in Vancouver we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in November, nor do we have a Macy’s but we do have other special events that just might get us in the holiday spirit soon enough.

The Burnaby Village Museum present their Christmas Village starting November 22nd, and Bright Nights return to Stanley Park, November 28th.

The Hyack Festival Association in New Westminster is putting on a Christmas parade this year.

The parade starts at 4:00 pm SHARP & travels along Columbia St. between 4th & 8th St., ending up at Hyack Square (Beside the Keg).

When I was little my family would attend the Hyack Parade each spring. I knew to watch for the clowns with shovels following the RCMP horses, when the Shriners would come by on their mini motorcycles, and when the May Queen would cruise by. I’m not sure what the Christmas parade entails but I’m certain it will be as much fun.

In Vancouver, and on the same weekend, there’s the fifth annual Rogers Santa Claus Parade Sunday, December 7th at 1:00pm.

With a longer parade route, there will be great viewing all along the route but especially: On both sides of Georgia Street on the slope between Bute and Broughton, at the Vancouver Art Gallery, or at Robson Square on Howe Street

The new route goes from Broughton at Georgia, then right on Howe until Davie. Parades are always a good time (except for the part when the clowns come out) but make sure to dress appropriately for the weather… and save me a candy cane. More events and holiday fun times will be posted in the coming weeks.

For city-by-city results, please scroll down

Aside from watching the hockey game tonight, I’ll also be keeping an eye on the civic election results for all cities in the Greater Vancouver region. Actually, my focus will be on Vancouver and Surrey as they’re the municipalities to which I am most closely tied (and I voted in Vancouver). My source for information tonight is the CBC online and hopefully after the polls close at 8:00pm I’ll have some good news to report (*cough* go Paul! *cough*)

Update: Gregor Robertson is being called the new mayor of the city of Vancouver [CBC] with 123 of 133 polls reporting. More results can be found on the CivicBC site although it seems to be up and down this evening (probably due to high traffic).

Photo credit: Raul on Flickr (Sept 2008)
Sheila and Me with the (now) new mayor of Vancouver Gregor Robertson

Update: You can follow chatter and results on Twitter – #civicvote2008.

Update: Above is a map of how neighbourhoods in Vancouver voted. Green is for Robertson of Vision Vancouver and red is for Ladner of the NPA.

Update: Dianne Watts has been re-elected as the mayor of Surrey, but our friend Paul just didn’t quite make the cut for City Council and School Trustee [Surrey Results].

Update: News1130 has basic results listed here, click on a city name to see more results:

– Derek Corrigan re-elected Burnaby.
– Dianne Watts re-elected Surrey.
– Lois Jackson mayor Delta.
– Richard Stewart new mayor Coquitlam.
– Pamela Goldsmith-Jones re-elected West Vancouver.

– Greg Moore mayor Port Coquitlam.
– Peter Fassbender re-elected City of Langley.
– Malcolm Brodie re-elected Richmond.
– Wayne Wright re-elected New Westminster.
– Don Mclean mayor – Pitt Meadows.
– Joe Trasolini re-elected Port Moody.

– Ralph Drew mayor Belcarra Village.
– Richard Walton mayor District of North Vancouver.
– Darrell Mussatto mayor City of North Vancouver.
– James Atebe re-elected Mission.
– Ernie Daykin mayor Maple Ridge.
– Rick Green mayor Langley Township.
– George Peary mayor Abbotsford.
– Catherine Ferguson mayor White Rock [PDF]

– Branching outside of the Lower Mainland: New mayors elected in most Northern-BC communities [CBC] & Kelowna mayor has been re-elected [CBC].

Update: #civicvote2008 is now the second most talked about topic on Twitter today. With almost a million people on Twitter, it’s pretty cool to see British Columbians having active discussions about the process online.

Millions of dollars have been poured into reshaping Stanley Park after windstorms in 2006 devastated the park, money has been spent on everything from solidifying the cliffs that hang above the seawall to making trails safe. However, $9 million later and the seawall closed today due to a mudslide. Continue reading this post ⟩⟩

When I worked for some big companies my wrist would often get sore and cramped personally signing my name on 300-500 holiday cards for clients at the beginning of December. Now that my client list is somewhat smaller, sending seasonal greetings is a much more pleasant task especially since we’re pretty much a paper-free office.

However, if you are looking for some meaningful cards to share with friends, family, peers, and contacts, I suggest looking at Notes to Nourish.

Notes to Nourish is a grassroots project featuring original art by Lower Mainland artists and designers. The contributing artists are: Chris Allen, Sarah Cavanaugh, Nova Hopkins, Luke Krienke, Jean Lee, Anne Pearce, Robyn Sommerville and Kathryn Wright.

There are two limited-edition sets of four cards and proceeds raised will go to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society and the BC SPCA.

The cards present a unique way to give back during the holidays; you are supporting two non-profit organizations, local arts and culture, and presenting sustainable greetings to your friends and family.

You can purchase the cards online for $15 (or one set for $10). I think these cards are a great option, however I was wondering if people still send greetings such as these (in this age of emails and e-cards).

[poll id=”20″]

When the cab driver dropped me off at 581 Cordova he thought I was making up the fact that there was a theatre inside. The PAL (Performing Arts Lodge), located in Coal Harbour is, “a B.C. not-for-profit charitable society, created to provide quality affordable housing and support for seniors in the performing arts and allied professions.”

Photo by Wendy D.
© Lyric Stage Project 2008

I was there to see, The 21st Floor. I was soon whisked up to the 8th floor, handed a glass of wine, and given the chance to check out the space that was more than fitting for this performance.

The theatre portion has tall windows, looking West, where you can see cars file onto the Stanley Park causeway, and also the solariums, patios and living rooms of neighbours in nearby glass towers.

The 21st Floor features characters across the entire floor of an apartment in Coal Harbour (hence the added eeriness, since that’s kind of where we were). All of the personalities are compartmentalized, solitary, yet they mix, mingle and are intertwined – however obvious (to them) or not.

Eleven characters make up this performance where you can catch yourself looking in apartment 2104, spotting something shift in 2107, then gazing back over to 2109; it was really a living space, full of movement. It’s also dark. Aside from being rated PG-13 (for language, nudity) it’s grey, rainy, and catches several humans at their lowest of lows – even though they all have such lovely living space there on the 21st floor.

One of the characters, Craig, has a blog called Soggy City (which has been live for a while now) and throughout the performance he makes video entries. His sarcastic, cynical, yet compassionate spirit was actually inspired by a real Vancouver blogger… (check out the show to see if you can guess who).

The use of space, the setting, dialogue and the sound of raindrops falling even though no water streaked the windowed backdrop last night, all made this dark performance shine.

The 21st Floor runs until November 22nd and all shows start at 8:00pm. There is a $12 industry rate performance Sunday Nov. 16 with post-show party and also a pay what you can performance Tuesday Nov. 18.