Merry Christmas to All My Loyal Readers!

This year we started the holidays season celebrating on the 3-rd of December upon the invitation of our friends Lyudmila, Wojtek,Joseph to take pictures with Santa Clause on the Promenade Avenue Bonavista to the South West of Calgary.

The picture is here.santa-and-we

Our next step of the Christmas celebrations took place at the Heritage Park Wainwright Hotel Restaurant where we met with other our friends Rudy and Patricia Lutz on early morning of the 17th of December and enjoyed the buffet breakfast made in old fashioned western Canadian style: scrambled eggs, crispy bacon and sausages, baked potato squares, variety of desserts, fruit cups, tea and coffee, and soda drinks in abundance. We were served with the staff dressed in the 19th century costumes, and the decor of the hall reminded us if we immersed into a time long past.

What a wonderful feeling!

In addition, the outside temperature – 25º C with a little frosty breeze. Br-r, it really feels cold that morning! When we were leaving the restaurant, all of a sudden we felt warmth-the temperature raised up to -1º C, now one can see how the Calgary Chinook wind gave us a surprise. I am not sure about the temperature one hundred years ago but nowadays the Chinook actually fluctuates the temperatures within a few hours on the same day from one extreme to the next very much.

having relaxed after good meals and friendly conversations we headed for the Gasoline Alley Car Museum which was open not long ago and hosted the vast collection of deanna-b-day-1antique cars and gas station pumps. The second floor is for banquets and receptions.

We looked around: so very interesting: Janko found one blue old fashioned 1937 panel truck which was used by a furniture maker back home in his village Delson, near Montreal.

Curtis exclaimed: “Dad, Dad! Look at it!”, pointing at a wooden car of 1917, a flat bed truck for carrying wood or something else. The last time when Curtis visited the Heritage Park with his Dad when he was eight or nine years old. Now he is 31, and there was no a car museum at that time. That’s why everything was astonishing particularly at this spot for him…

deannas-1-st-b-dayOn December 24th we participated in the celebration of the first Birthday of Deanna Marie Pitman wishing her and her Mum good health, happiness and beauty of the world. It seemed that the whole Philippine community gathered this day for festivities skilfully organised held as usual by Geege and Lisa and their friends beginning with the suckling pig dinner and lavish side dishes, jello desserts and cakes, pies. The pictures from this celebration are also here.

On December 25th by Skype I’ve got a good news from my class-mate Rimma Levchenko-Mitichkina about the event that the three of them, including Emma Mahova and Zhenya Serova, met Galina Kalinina’s daughter Irina at the new Bryansk cafe “OASIS” to commemorate the 1-st anniversary of the death of our class-mate Galina Kalinina last year on the 31st of December, one hour after midnight. Eternal memory to you, Galina, we will never forget you till we are alive. As vivid as if it were yesterday, I remember her and Lara Biryukova hurrying up to see me meeting at the bus stop, carrying in one hand the freshly made cake and in the other hand-my poetry books “Sinning Ginny” which I gave them as presents. It was in 2007.

On the 25th of December the Holly and Edwards families invited to their home in Airdrie to celebrate all together the Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all and a lovely happy New 2017 year! May all your dreams come true in 2017!

Listen to the beautiful music and a wonderful presentation:

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