Still stuffed from the stuffing?
I am, and pleasantly so.
When it comes to food and festivities nothing beats the combination better than the Christmas season.
Most of my life I’ve been blessed enough to either attend or host major Christmas dinners complete with turkey, veggies, gravy, stuffing, desert—fortunate indeed considering so many have no such pleasure.
For a sweet-tooth such as moi, even better than an amazing Christmas dinner is, in the weeks prior, the ever-emerging and expanding array of delectables for mouth and stomach.
Chocolates, shortbread, butter tarts, mincemeat, fruitcake, gingerbread men, Christmas candies, candy-canes and for good health —mandarin oranges.
Mid-January to mid-February is generally spent in stomach rehab and sugar withdrawal therapy.
Special times with family and friends always add to the celebration, including the sharing and consuming of the above mentioned gourmet items.
I love presents. I make no bones about that. However, I really do get a special pleasure out of giving stuff at Christmas.
To me, the whole gift giving ‘thing’ is an adventure and a hoot. In fact, I generally take all the crowds, stress, line-ups and other negative distractions as merely part of the traditional ritual. I basically ignore the nasty and seek the nice.
What I therefore enjoy most about Christmas time is the kindness in others. Those special moments when strangers merrily exchange greetings and smiles with strangers.
It’s that annual spirit of sharing display which inspired my original Charlie’s Angels list many years ago.
The criteria to be an Angel is simple—be a nice person who willingly does something nice for others. Angels are people who make a difference in some way, shape, or form in your world.
Last week, I ran out of space before printing a few other readers’ Angel lists and, of course, my own. So…
Les Thompson’s nominee is his Big Brother Barry Johnson. Through Big Brothers of Kelowna, Barry befriended a young Les some 40 years ago this year. Les says that mentorship and friendship has meant a great deal to him all his life. That’s a lasting Angel, for sure. Way to go Barry.
Peter Comrie and Joyce Evans along with Lorraine and Don Richmond are two Kelowna couples that routinely do amazing things for others in our communities. They join Westside resident Ruth Gerber for her angel-like work with others, and Lake Country’s Karie Hay (or her work with injured workers around B.C. and friends and family here in Kelowna) as special members of Charlie’s Angels list.
My favourite angel Teresa (Tez) says her list of Angels is not huge this year but those on it are platinum angels.
Marlene Lang tops a list that includes Sheryl Deni, Deb Stone, daughter Lisa Derksen (Carlow), and the Dyck’s pharmacist on Gordon Drive and his assistant Sue.
Last but not least there is Teresa’s mom Otti Tomani. Even though she is my mother-in-law, she really is an angel.
Teresa Hodge tops my Angels list, not only for the obvious reasons but also for her tremendous work and support in so many ways during the past couple of months of civic election insanity.
A handful of amazing other folks have really ‘been there’ this past year it is humbling. Brothers like Keith Thom, Gary Smyth, Curtis Tulman, Jim Krahn, Ralph Krehbiel, Ziggy, and my Aunty Rae Banner—always there rain or shine.
Wes Kimmett, Noel Barber, Jim Ripley, Bernie and Bettina, Jim LeGuilloux, Elie Marchante, Ken Chung, Les Thompson and Yves Beliveau are salt of the earth folk who do many things for others quietly, or, in some cases, not so quietly. They make this a better place to live.
Thank you Angels.
