New Year's Eve, 2025

I’ve never been much of a ‘party girl’. New Year’s Eve was most often spent at home, usually in bed and sound asleep long before the clock tolled midnight. Not so 50 years ago on December 31, 1975. Let me take you back to that night.

It was the last game of one of the first big Canada/Russia hockey series. I was lying on the couch in labour, had been since around 2:30 p.m. that afternoon. My husband, the father of the child, was glued to the television. ‘Can you hang on until after the hockey game?’ he asked. ‘I’ll try.’ I said weakly.

I DID in fact hold on until after the game but I could not tell you who won or lost. And frankly I did not care by that point. He called a taxi (we did not have a car) and he bundled me in the vehicle and off we went. We arrived to the hospital by which time I could not even walk.

A perky little nurse appeared with a wheelchair all full of smiles and an excited ‘Happy New Year’! It must have been midnight by then. All I wanted her to do is get close enough to punch that vivacious smile off her face. Luckily for her, she stayed out of my reach. I’d been having contractions for almost ten hours and I was ready for it to be over.

My doctor appeared to check in on me in a tuxedo. He must have come straight from the party he had attended. After verifying that my child was not going to arrive imminently, he left, I assume to get some sleep. Not many girls can say their doctor arrived at the hospital in a tuxedo when they were in labour though, can they?

My son ended up being the first baby boy born in Thunder Bay in 1976. His name was in the paper and we got a bunch of free stuff from local businesses. And 20 years after his birth on December 31, 1995, they replayed that hockey game on television and my son watched it. Obviously Canada won or it would not have been such a big deal.

What is your most memorable New Year’s Eve experience? I would love to hear them.

A Time for Reflection

With the end of the year fast approaching, many of us take time to reflect on the year that was. We think about our wins and losses, what we accomplished and what we did not. We often berate ourselves for the choices we made and decisions that did not serve us as expected.

Honestly, be gentle with yourself. There were likely lessons you needed to learn and, as we all know, some of the ‘best’ lessons are those learned the ‘hard way’. The fact that you made it through, in spite of the trials and tribulations along the way, is to your credit. You can move forward into 2026 better knowing your capabilities and strengths, and use them to guide you forward.

I personally don’t make New Year’s resolutions, as more often than not I fall short of my lofty goals very early in the year. Perhaps I set my expectations too high or over-estimate my abilities. For that reason, I’d rather make a list of things I’d like to work on with no expectation of succeeding, just things I’d like to change or improve upon.

How do you feel about New Year’s resolutions? Do you make them? Have you been able to keep them? I’d like to hear about your experiences too.

Boxing Day, 2025

Christmas is over for another year and time to prepare for the New Year. December was busy for me. I decided to make a lot of the Christmas cards that I sent to family and friends this year. Yes, I am diving into another area of paper crafting. You can see a few examples below…

It is hard to tell from the photo but the pink card has silver accents on the patterned paper and the paper on the left side is silver also. It was a scrap from some packaging I picked up.

I have now started my birthday cards for 2026. I belong to a Birthday Club on Facebook and I want to try to make all the ones I send out. The first two cards are below.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to new adventures in 2026.

Office Adventure

The end of the day was approaching. We were all shutting down our computers for the day. The last minute dash for the bathrooms was upon us. Just an ordinary day…until the extraordinary happened.

One of the managers, who’d brought his dog to work, left her in his office, closed the door and headed for the washroom. When he came back, the door was locked. His phone was in there, his coat, his keys AND his dog was in there too! Chaos ensued.

I knew there was a master key to the offices but had no idea where it was. The owners had left for the day hours before. Frantic phone calls reached voicemail only. They were contemplating busting the door down when one of the owners called me back.

We were directed to the location of the master key, the door was successfully unlocked and the crisis was over almost as quickly as it started. It was a bit stressful in the moment, but makes a pretty funny story now.

Winter is Here Already?

It seems that winter has begun with a vengeance this year. It started yesterday and has continued into today. This is the earliest winter storm we’ve had in over a decade. I sure hope it is not a sign of a bad winter ahead. I’m afraid it might be though.

To top off the ‘fun’, the heating system at work was not working this morning. Gratefully, the technicians came fairly quickly and got it up and running. Thank goodness I have a heating pad, a warm sweater and a blanket in the office. They really helped out. (Photo below is not me, but you get the idea.)