Hello and Happy New Year to all of our dear friends at Tesfa’s shelter! I am wishing you a happy and healthy year and want you to know that there are so many of us thinking about you all and wishing you much love and happiness.
Here in Canada, we celebrated Christmas on December 25 and New Year’s Day on January 1.
Many people put up a Christmas tree in their house for a few weeks around Christmas. Many people buy a real tree that has been cut down – or go to what is called a Christmas tree farm where they can choose the tree they want and cut it down themselves. Many other people, like my family, have an artificial plastic tree which is stored in a box in the basement and brought upstairs every December. We put lots of decorations on the tree, and there are strings of small electric lights on the tree which glow at night and look so pretty. I am sharing a picture of our Christmas tree which we had in our living room in front of the window. We put wrapped Christmas presents for our relatives and friends under the tree so that when they come to visit us, we can give them their presents to unwrap. Even though it is artificial, the tree looks real.
New Years is traditionally a time for people to think back on the past year, all the good things that have happened, all the challenges they have faced, and all the friends and family who have helped and supported them. It is a time to be grateful. We think ahead to the new year, and set goals for what we would like to accomplish and things we would like to do. Many people celebrate the new year with friends and family. Some people go to parties on New Year’s Eve, and many cities have parties with big displays of fireworks. People stay up until midnight so that they can “ring in the new year”, which means watching the clock, doing a countdown before midnight (ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…) and then celebrating and wishing everyone around them a Happy New Year.
Things have been much quieter during the holiday seasons since COVID-19 started, though. Most people I know prefer to stay home. I don’t even stay up until midnight anymore, as I like to go to bed early, usually by 10 o’clock at night.
Here in Canada, it is a tradition for many people to make “New Year’s resolutions”. They decide to try new things or to change some of their habits. Do any of you set goals for yourselves? It was so exciting to watch the videos of the Team Tesfa Awards celebration – you obviously do work very hard, at your school work, and helping out at home. I think you should all be very proud of the great contributions you are making.
A very common New Year’s resolution is to be more healthy by getting more exercise and eating more nutritious foods. In North America, many people eat a lot of “fast food”, like hamburgers, french fries, and soft drinks (or “pop”)– foods with a lot of fat and sugar in them. It is called fast food because you go to a restaurant to buy it and it is already made for you so doesn’t take any time or effort to make. Sometimes people are so busy with their jobs and their family’s activities, they want to stop at a fast food restaurant to eat instead of cooking a healthy meal at home. It is convenient but it is not healthy. Many people in North America do not get as much physical exercise as they should. It is more challenging to get exercise during the winter months, as the snow and ice make the roads and sidewalks slippery and difficult to walk on. There are lots of fun winter activities that people can do, though. Some of the most popular are skating, tobogganing, skiing, bird watching, and snowshoeing. The water in our lakes and rivers freezes during the coldest part of the winter. Once the water is very well frozen, you can walk on it! Some people like to clear the snow off the frozen pond or river to make a skating rink. Maybe they will play a game of hockey! Because Canada is cold and snowy during the winters, hockey is a very popular sport. Many young boys and girls play hockey on teams, and some teams travel around the province of Ontario to play games against other teams, trying to win a championship trophy. I have a nephew who was so good at hockey, he was given a scholarship to play for a university in the United States. It can be quite expensive though to play hockey on teams. There is a lot of equipment that you have to buy. But if you just want to skate, here in Woodstock there are many skating rinks. Some are indoors, in big arenas, but neighbourhoods have outdoor skating rinks that people build in parks for anyone to use.
We had a lot of snow here on Christmas Day, but the weather got warm after Christmas and all the snow has melted.
It is beautiful to get outside on a sunny day with snow on the ground and on the tree branches. You have to dress warmly in heavy coats, hats, and mitts, and winter boots to keep your feet warm and dry. I am sending you a picture of a person dressed up in winter clothes, snowshoeing on a beautiful winter day in the country.
I have three dogs as pets, and when it is really cold, we put coats on the dogs to keep them warm when we take them for their walks. We even have little boots for our dog’s paws to protect them when the sidewalks and roads are really hard to walk on. That probably sounds silly to you!
Many people in Canada feed wild birds during the winter or even all year round. It can be difficult for birds to find food when the snow is deep on the ground. I have three bird feeders in my back yard, which I fill with bird seed every week or so. I love to watch the different kinds of birds coming to the feeders to get something to eat. It is so much fun to watch them. My favourite birds are the smallest ones – the sparrows and chickadees – but there are also some beautiful colourful birds too – the bright red cardinals and the blue jays. Even if you can’t see the birds, you can tell what kind of bird they are by their calls –the songs they sing. Do you have a lot of birds near your home?
I am going to finish my letter to you now and make some lunch for me and my husband. I think we will eat some homemade soup and maybe I will make some hot chocolate to drink! Soup is one of my favourite foods. I really enjoyed the Ethiopian food I had when I visited your country a few years ago. A highlight of that trip for me, though, was visiting your home and seeing what a beautiful, bright, and love-filled home it was. I think you all are wonderful examples of cooperation, caring, and responsibility. I admire very much how you care for each other.
Wishing you much love,
One of your friends from Canada,
Lisa