No Snowdrift Too High

Well, for those from other parts of Canada it might not seem like a lot but during the last week of December weather reporters were telling us we only needed 2 more centimeters of snow to break the all-time record for snowfall in Vancouver -- 88 cm. Well, we had a couple of clear days and the rest of the snow we had didn't come until the new year but it seemed to me that we had snow that just went on and on. With no side roads being plowed, we still have winter lanes only down our streets and we are a month into this now. Lorna and I had to wait for someone to dig out of the middle of the road to get to the house this morning.

Despite the snow, we had Christmas. We prepare hundreds of gift bags for homeless folks in the Downtown Eastside. Because we had so much snow on the ground and much more falling out of the sky, Roger and Alayne Adams and I took 15 or more crates of gifts to shelters early in the day. We weren't sure cars would be moving by evening.

Then it was home to prepare turkey dinner. The snow kept some away but we had lots of fun around tables and ate more food than we probably should have .... the pies really were good!

After dinner it was finding a way to get us all 5 blocks away to the church for a candlelight service to honour Jesus, the focus of the birthday celebration after all. We were all amazed to have about 50 people arrive. Many churches and organizations cancelled their plans for that evening. We sang carols, listened to the pastor speak about Jesus having every other day of the year "covered" because of His coming to be with us that we celebrate at Christmas.

Buses were getting stuck coming up the hill and we weren't sure how we'd get folks downtown but we managed to arrive at Main and Hastings around 9pm. We circled around the area carolling, handing out wrapped gifts and being community together around Jesus' birth for a little while.

No snowdrifts could keep Christmas from being alive in our hearts and hands this year.