We don’t have a chimney!

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Chateauguay, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Diana Schwenk, family, growing up, happy, Hump Day Chronicles, joy, laughter, life, living in the moment, love, memories, Merry Christmas, parents, Quebec, Relationships, Stuff my parents used to say and do

Christmas at 111 Edgewood Drive

IT’S TRUE. WE DIDN’T HAVE A CHIMNEY.

But that wasn’t a problem for Santa back in the day when we celebrated Christmas at 111 Edgewood Drive in Chateauguay, Quebec.

Back then Santa just rang the doorbell on Christmas Eve when my family, according to German tradition, celebrated Christmas.

I know, I know, I’ve heard from many of you over the years how much you loved coming down in your PJ’s and opening gifts on Christmas morning. But in the Schwenk house, we celebrated on Christmas Eve and it went something like this…

“Come on kids, we need to get ready for Christmas. Santa won’t come if we’re down here!”

So up the stairs we go. Our outfits carefully chosen by Mom and laid out on our beds. But first into the upstairs fancy purple and black tiled bathroom – the one that had convinced Mom that this was the house we would buy – to wash our faces, brush our teeth and fix our hair.

DING DONG goes the doorbell!

Mike and I are ecstatic, “Santa’s here!” And he is noisy! The way he stomps up the front stairs laden with packages when Dad lets him in. What a paradox that Santa is; noisy and bold, yet apparently too shy to be seen by us.

The bathroom reverberates with our nervous laughter and excitement as we get all dolled up and dressed in our finest clothes under Mom’s careful supervision. And just as quickly as Santa comes, he is gone. We know this because we hear the door open and then slam shut.

Down the stairs we scramble. And into the living room we go. Wide-eyed staring at the Christmas tree all lit up, with presents laid below. Over at the dining room table our places are set with the finest dishes and the crystal glasses. At the center of the table is the Advents Kranz that Mom made by shaping a hanger into a circle and fastening evergreen boughs on it with wire to form the perfect wreath. Dad made the stand from wood. It has a base for balance and a round stick like that of a broom handle sticking up. The Advents Kranz is wrapped with red ribbon and the long pieces are stapled to the top of the stick holding the wreath, seemingly, in mid-air.

Before the present opening, we light the four candles on the wreath and eat our meal and Mom’s home-baked Christmas goodies for dessert while listening to Bing Crosby and Perry Como albums playing on the old console stereo.

Yes, we really just want to get right to the present-opening part of the evening. But there is something so magical about taking the time to look at the Christmas lights and candles and how they make the garland and tinsel icicles shimmer and sparkle.

But then after our meal

FINALLY

It is time to open our presents!

I didn’t know it then, but looking back, the best part of Christmas was really all of us being together.

The first Christmas I understood what was going on

Presents under the tree

Me and Mike playing with our gifts

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

I’m gonna do myself a favour this Christmas. I’m gonna look at those whom I spend the holidays with. I mean really sit back and see them. And I will make a conscious effort to recognize the gift of being all together. How about you?

On behalf of the Schwenks, and from my home to your home, have a very Merry Christmas regardless of the day you celebrate it on.

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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blessing, Christmas, Diana Schwenk, family, friends, gift, Hump Day Chronicles, Merry Christmas

 

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

 When I think of Christmas, I think of gifts.

My Dear Friends:

You are a gift,

a gift to the world.

Every time you are kind to someone,

encourage them,

lend them your ear,

give them your shoulder to cry on,

hold their hand when they’re afraid,

ask for their forgiveness,

forgive them,

pray for them,

and love them;

you are a gift.

Thank you for the gift of your friendship.

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May you be as blessed in 2015 as you have blessed me.

Music for a Winter Evening

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addiction, Alberta, Calgary, Calgary Dream Centre, Canada, caring, Charity, Christmas, community, compassion, Diana Schwenk, generosity, Homelessness, Hump Day Chronicles, living in the moment, mission, Music for a Winter Evening, Philanthropy, Relationships

The most effective and satisfying investment you will ever make is to invest in the lives of people…

Last night I went to the 14th Annual Music for a Winter Evening at the EPCOR Centre – a beautiful, traditional Christmas concert that set the mood for this ‘most wonderful time of the year.’

Hosted by Calgary’s very own beloved Darrel Janz with performances by Corpus Christi Male Chorale and special guest Tenore, it was a magical evening; setting the stage for the Christmas season. All proceeds from the concert and the Room for Hope Campaign benefit the Calgary Dream Centre in their work to help men break the cycles of addictions and homelessness.

During the evening, Luke, a client of the Calgary Dream Centre, along with his mom, took the stage and shared his moving story about struggling with addictions and overcoming them through the Dream Centre’s 49-day treatment program. I am so proud of Luke and admire his beautiful mom for standing by him; her love never allowing her to give up on her son.

This beautiful and inspiring evening would not have happened without the faith in the treatment program, and financial backing of, Legacy Kitchens and Dennis Plintz & Associates with Sotheby’s International Realty Canada.

Thank you to the brave men who work hard to change their lives, the inspiring performers, the above-mentioned sponsors and to all those who bought tickets and donated toward this campaign. You are making a real difference for men like Luke.

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

What are you doing to get into the holiday mood?

 

A Christmas Guest Post by Stephanie Barrett

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alone, building community, Christmas, Diana Schwenk, together

Christmas, a time to spend with your loved ones, a time for family, a time to give.

We spend so much time thinking about our families at this time of year. We rush around buying each other gifts and sending cards. We hurry to the grocery store to make sure the dinner is perfect. We donate gifts and food to Christmas bureaus and food banks. What we don’t do is take time to stop and have a look around. We don’t look at our friends and people we love and care about and make sure they are not alone for Christmas. I can almost guarantee that at least 1 person you know will be spending Christmas alone. Having spent Christmas alone at least once in my life, I can tell you it is very sad. Maybe their family is far away, or have passed on. Everyone’s circumstance is different.
Sometimes it is not about giving a valuable gift. Take a moment, look around, who is alone? Maybe you can invite that person to Christmas dinner. If that’s not possible, maybe you can take a time out from your Christmas Day and stop in, say hello, have some coffee. It may mean the world to that person.

Christmas, a time to never feel alone.

~

I met Stephanie when she was a teenager. At the time, she faced some serious struggles in her life – a story that is hers to share should she ever wish to do so. When Stephanie asked me if she could share a Christmas post on my blog, I’m jumped at it and agreed immediately. Like Stephanie, I know the loneliness of being alone and the blessing of being included at Christmas.

Thank you Stephanie for your wisdom and beautiful heart-felt words. Merry Christmas!

Whole Be Thou

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Christmas, Deep Calls To Deep, Diana Schwenk, Hump Day Chronicles, Pat Nixon, peace, Steve Bell, The StreetLevel Network

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Peace on earth and goodwill to all

On December 18th, I was invited to a Steve Bell Christmas concert.

I was going so I could help man a table for an incredible organization called The StreetLevel Network with my good friends Pat Nixon and his wife Lise.

As always, when I set out to volunteer, I walk away having received so much more than I give!

Steve Bell is an amazing songwriter and singer who masterfully shares stories before every song.

He shared a story about a trip to Israel and Palestine. He told how moved he was that people greet each other with Shalom in Israel and salam alaykum in Palestine. He went on to say how peace often means peace without conflict to us, but in Israel and Palestine peace is peace even within conflict.

When he returned to Canada being greeted with ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’ just seemed lame in comparison. In a search for the origins of these greetings, Steve found that Hi is a contraction of Hello and Hello is a contraction of Whole be thou.

This

Christmas

I wish you peace.

The peace that passes all understanding.

Peace that promotes good will for all

regardless of their race, or beliefs, or customs, or gender. 

Peace within, the kind of peace that allows you to lay your head

on your pillow at night with a clear conscience.

The peace that fills your heart when you know God holds you in His love.

The kind of peace

that prevails

without, and

within ,conflict.

Peace

A taste of Steve Bell’s music below:

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

Whole Be Thou

Merry Christmas!

In 1973 God blew a Big Bazooka Bubble

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angels, Art, caring, children, Christmas, creativity, Diana Schwenk, Eric Schachter, Events, generosity, God, growing up, imagination, joy, kindness, memories, music, parents, teacher

He helped me spread out my wings and taught me to fly..

For me the 1973/74 school year is one I will always remember fondly.

I was incredibly shy back then – painfully so. Up until the 5^th grade my only wish was to blend in, to be invisible.

But Grade 5 would change all that. Grade 5 would give me an opportunity to spread my wings.

Enter Mr. Schachter – a 28 year-old, long and curly-haired, brilliant and unconventional teacher.

Eric, as he insisted we call him, brought me out of my shell and taught me to love the Arts.

While all the other teachers focussed on the 3 R’s (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic), Eric inspired us to write long and imaginative compositions.

He taught us to play musical instruments like the autoharp and guitar.

Other times we would sit and listen to records with our eyes closed and once we had a dancing contest, in which I won a 45 – Smokin’ in the Boys Room.

I also joined the after school video club where we created animated films by shooting a few frames, changing the position of paper cut-out characters or clay figures, and then shooting a few more frames and so on.

Or we would make people appear or disappear using the same method. These shorts films were magical and so satisfying to create!

My favourite memory though, has to be the Christmas play we produced.

We had been divided into groups of 4 -6 kids and each group was tasked with the responsibility of creating a short skit that portrayed what Christmas meant to us.

My group did a family scene. I was the mother and Mr. Schachter was thrilled with my costume, saying he knew he could count on me to come up with something excellent.

I had stuffed one of Mom’s bras and wore a turtleneck, skirt and low-heeled shoes – that’s what Moms in the 70s looked like, right?

All the groups had practiced our skits but none of us knew how the play would come together. All we knew was our own skit and that we would all sing a song we’d practiced in class at the end.

When the stage curtains opened on the night of the play, the audience was greeted by none other than God (a football player-sized black boy who blew a big Bazooka Gum bubble)

I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that Vance, who played God, improvised his entire part.

One-by-one our little groups went out onto the stage and performed our skits and Vance, a-hem – I mean God, would share his thoughts about the goings-on after each group was done.

In the end, the theme that had threaded itself throughout the play was love.

When you strip away everything else – love remains.

Then we sang our finale – All you need is love by the Beatles.

It wasn’t a traditional Christmas play. It wasn’t what our parents were expecting, I’m sure.

Later I’d learned that Dad had turned to Mom and asked who that guitar-playing hippy was.

“That’s Diana’s teacher,” Mom said.

To which Dad just raised his eyebrows in bewildered amusement.

Many times since then I’ve searched for Eric Schachter.

You see, he left before the year ended. I’m guessing he was a little too unconventional for some folks at that time.

I can still remember the Monday morning that we showed up to find the Vice Principal was our substitute teacher.

He didn’t tell us why…

only that Mr. Schachter was gone and that he had left a little something for each of us in our desks.

I reached into my desk and found a Neil Diamond Album. It came with a card.

Dearest Diana,

I was thrilled to find that I’d kept this card!

I’d send you a horse for Christmas but I can’t find a big enough envelope. I’m sure that you have had a good year, you are a person who is strong and able to make the best of life. I often see your warm and smiling face in my imagination. Even if we never meet again I shall always feel for you and be wishing God to smile down on you. You are probably as tall as me by now, and a lot prettier!

All my best wishes for the new year and the changing seasons.

All my love, Eric

I still google his name every now and then but remain unsuccessful in my search.

Eric Schachter, if you’re out there somewhere and happen to read this post…

I just want to say THANK YOU for helping me spread out my wings and teaching me to fly.

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

There are people who like angels come into your life for a brief time yet manage to colour your world beautiful and change your life forever.

I’d love to hear about your angels in the comment section.

Ghost of Christmas Present Part Two

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Calgary, Christmas, daughters, Diana Schwenk, Events, Fairview Shopping Centre, family, friends, Gangnam Style, generosity, Good byes, Hockey, joy, La Vieux Chateau, laughter, living in the moment, love, memories, Montreal, parents, Relationships, Storm

I don’t care how poor a man is; if he has family, he’s rich ~ Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford

Following are some Christmas snippets for your reading pleasure. Unfortunately, I was negligent in taking the quality of photos I intended to take and I hope my family will send me the ones they took!

Family

Here’s the thing about family. It’s difficult at times – all those personalities. All those quirks and preferences. And for the most part they never tell you what you want to hear. They’re too busy telling you what they really think! Isn’t that the value of family though? There’s an old saying that goes, “…you can pick your friends but you can’t pick your family…” I’ve heard it said with negative connotations … like you’re stuck with them or something. But I think that’s a good thing – through thick and thin they’re in it with you – they’re not going anywhere.

Hockey

I was a proud Aunty at my nephew’s hockey game. His skating and skill have greatly improved in just one year. They didn’t win but the Ref missed an important call and that affected the morale of a team of 8-10 years old. They played with heart though and even have two girls on their team!

Fairview Shopping Centre

If you’re a last-minute shopper like me and Michaela you already know that malls a few days before Christmas are a zoo! But we asked my sister-in-law to drop us off at Fairview so we could do some last-minute shopping. Well we got it done and thank God they fill them malls with chairs so you can sit down with all your packages and rub your temples while you tell yourself it will be different next year! FYI, it’s never different…

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Eve at my parent’s place and enjoyed a meal of Rouladen, rote kohl and potatoes. My mom asked me to make a toast before the meal to remember those in our family who aren’t with us anymore. We raised our glasses and thought about those no longer living and those too far away to join us. I looked around the table at my brother, Michael, his wife, Heather, their son Spencer, Heather’s parents, Alice and Horace, my daughter, Michaela and my parents and said, “… you know some people think Christmas is about presents, but I think the best gifts are right around this table, family is better than any gift and I am so glad we’re all together…” Clink, clink…

Christmas Day was hosted by Michael and Heather and we enjoyed turkey with all the trimmings.  It’s amazing how hot a house gets when there are 9 people in there and the oven has been on all day! I tell ya, the whole holiday vacation, there was no shortage of food! Michael said a heart-felt toast (almost as good as mine on the previous day wink wink)

Breakfast at La Vieux Chateau

La Vieux Chateau is the favourite, hands-down restaurant in Hawkesbury, Ontario. It’s owned and operated by a local family (awesome people) and Dad likes to treat us to breakfast there. Almost every morning we went into town to have breakfast as a family and I really enjoyed meeting the locals.

The Storm

We weren’t sure if we would make it back to Calgary on the morning of our scheduled flight. Montreal saw a record 48 cm of snow and morning flights had been canceled. But my brother braved the 55 km to my parent’s house to pick us up and bring us to the airport. Our flight was scheduled for 6:45pm but we didn’t board until 8:30 and then it was too slippery for the fuel truck to come fill the plane! Ahh eventually we took off and landed 3 hours later than our original landing time. What the heck if we’d left on time I would not have met the coolest 87 year-old lady from Barbados and I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of sitting in the bar with my daughter!

Driving Michaela Home

On the 29th, I drove Michaela back home to Camrose ( a 3 1/2 hour drive) and along the way, as we had become accustomed to eating breakfast out, we stopped at Smitty’s for a breakfast brunch in Red Deer. It’s always hard to take her home and it was wierd the next day how quiet it was at my place. Still I’m grateful for the time we spent together and as I type these words, a smile is tugging at the corners of my mouth as I remember Oma dancing to Gangnam Style in the dining room inspiring Michaela and I to invent very odd and new dance moves to this song.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too and remember it doesn’t matter how little you have, if you have family you are rich.

Deer just walk through the backyard

A dozen long-stemmed roses for my Mom’s Birthday on the 22nd

Nice suspenders Dad!

Good Morning!

Say cheese!

Watch for Spencer in the NHL ~ that is if they ever start playing again!

Horace, Alice and Heather (Mom in background with gravy)

Getting ready for Christmas

~ THE HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

I’d love to hear some of your Christmas snippets, please share them below and Mom the link below is for you!

Ghost of Christmas present – Part 1

Tags

Christmas, daughters, Diana Schwenk, expectations, family, happy, Holiday, love, parents, sad

I usually get a little sad around this time of year.

It could be that there are less daylight hours…

or maybe there are just high expectations for Christmas.

You know, like how family should be together…

and everyone should just get along?

Honestly, I don’t know why – maybe it’s a combination of all of the above – who knows…

This year is a bit different though.

Maybe because I’m going home for Christmas for the first time in 23 years…

maybe it’s because it’ll be the first Christmas EVER that we’ll all (my mom and dad, my brother, his wife and son, me and my daughter) be together!

Maybe that’s why I’m feeling the Christmas spirit this year.

Maybe that’s why I actually put up a tree – albeit a small one.

This is one of my favourite Christmas songs and Sugarland really does it justice.

How about you? How do you feel about the holidays?

What are your plans this year?

The Mailbox

Tags

alone, caring, Christmas, daughters, Diana Schwenk, family, generosity, kindness, love, Mailbox

I know, I know – Christmas is three months away but this story isn’t really about Christmas. It’s about an act of kindness that I will never forget as long as I live.

Let me take you back to Christmas Eve 1993.  I was the single parent of a beautiful one-month-old daughter who just happened to be colicky and not sleeping well at night. Obviously I hadn’t been sleeping well either.

It was almost midnight and my sweet baby would cry every time I tried to lay her down.

When I tried to lay her down for the umpteenth time that night, she began crying again. I was tired and needed a break.

So I walked out of her room, grabbed my journal and pen and slipped out my apartment door.

I sat on the stairs in the hallway and opened my journal. I began to write while my baby cried.

I asked God – no – I begged him to let my baby and me sleep. My tears fell on the page and smudged my words.

What was I going to do? I was struggling financially and was worried about how I would pay the rent and buy supplies.

I felt like a failure. I felt incompetent and foolish. But worse yet, I was too proud to ask for help. Our situation was hopeless.

I had this little person to take care of and I wasn’t doing a very good job. What kind of mother was I?

I couldn’t remember a time when I felt more desperate and afraid.

About twenty minutes had passed and my little girl was still crying ,so I dried my eyes and slipped back into our apartment.

I picked up my baby and rocked her.

“Please little one, sleep,” I pleaded.

Eventually she fell asleep and I plopped down beside her in my bed and fell asleep.

~

When I woke up it was 8:00 am – we had slept almost eight hours!

I tip-toed out of my room, leaving my girl asleep on the bed and poured myself a coffee.

“Check your mailbox,” said this voice in my head.

Maybe I should I thought, perhaps my parents sent a card with money in it. (They often did this when I needed money the most – it really was quite remarkable – as if they knew).

But no, I reasoned with myself; it’s Christmas Day, there won’t be any mail.

But the nagging voice wouldn’t stop so I grabbed my key and went out into the hallway, down the stairs, to the mailbox.

My mailbox is a typical apartment mailbox.

There are only two people who can unlock it – me and the Mailman.

I took a deep breath and opened the mailbox.

Inside, I saw a white bulging envelope.

At first I just stared at it, not believing it was actually there.

I reached in and took it out.

Written on the outside of the envelope was: Merry Christmas Diana and Michaela.

Nothing else, no address, no stamp.

I locked the mailbox and ran up the stairs back to my apartment. Once inside, I sat down and opened it.

There was a Christmas card inside and about $400.

Tears streamed down my face as I began to read the card. It said something like:

Dear Diana, I know you’re scared. I know that you feel like you’re alone. But believe me when I tell you – you are not alone. And I want you to know that everything is going to be okay.

Merry Christmas to you and Michaela

I love you, Jesus

Friends, I don’t know who sent this card.

I don’t know how, or if they bribed the mailman.

But their kindness and the love that motivated them to reach out to me was nothing less than a miracle.

Do you have a story about how someone touched your life with kindness?

Or a story where you made a world of difference for someone else?