December 2025 Remembering and Celebrating with LAMP Coworkers, Family, and Friends

December 2025 began with my visit to some LAMP communities in northern Manitoba. I arrived in Thompson and stayed there for a few days. I was able to drive up from Thompson to Lynn Lake for a quick visit with Father Ravi at the Catholic church there. I had some gloves, scarves, and socks to drop off with him for the people he serves. I was also able to make some brief visits to the Marcel Colomb Reserve (just south of Lynn Lake) and to Leaf Rapids. I was glad to see that there is a new youth centre in Marcel Colomb (picture below). I'm hoping our LAMP team can host their VBS there next summer. 

I also enjoyed a good visit over breakfast with Father Joseph in Thompson. We appreciate the connections we have with our Catholic brothers and sisters and their leaders. On Thursday, I drove to Flin Flon and stayed there. My trip to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan the next day included a stop at Deschambault Lake. I appreciated the chance to visit with the school principal Judy at Deschambault. Our LAMP team hosts our programs for children at the school in the summer. My flights home (Saskatoon to Calgary and Calgary to Abbotsford) were both quite delayed and I got home a fair bit later than I had originally planned. It was good to wrap up my community visits for the year with some positive moments. Here are some other pictures of a snowy road in northern Manitoba at sunset and some fine feathered friends (I think they might be ptarmigans?)

I also enjoyed attending our LAMP staff Christmas party online in December as well as some online school visits. We enjoy meeting with students and their teachers to discuss the book Hatchet about a teenage boy who gets stranded in the north. We connect it to our work with northern peoples in northern places and talk about LAMP's work in these places. 

It was also fun to attend the Christmas party at our community clubhouse (we live in a strata with other condo owners) and to play some music at the Christmas program at Trinity Lutheran Church here in Abbotsford. I was asked to play guitar and lead the singing for a rousing rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Here's a picture of me playing...and singing...about a partridge in a pear tree!

We hosted other Christmas dinners and brunches at our home for our family. We had a wonderful time trying out some raclette grills provided by my wife's brother Dennis and his wife Merle...tabletop grilling!! We were so glad my brother Darryl, his partner Noelle, my wife's cousin Lori and her husband Dave could also join in on the grilling! 

We enjoyed Christmas Day brunch with my wife's parents and a turkey dinner with all the trimmings on Boxing Day with them and our son Josh and his family. We gathered a few days later with Josh, his daughter, my wife's parents, and her brother Steve and his wife Brenda for a delicious brunch. We also managed to have a tasty supper and a great visit with my wife's Auntie Sue. So much good food and good family times to enjoy!

Josh and his family also went to Science World in Vancouver with me during their visit. We loved the different displays and presentations...including a wonderful exhibit combining Lego with information and films about space travel with the Artemis II and some neat displays about life in the north featuring Molly from Denali (a cartoon about a northern girl I had not seen before...fun!) I also enjoyed some of the indigenous art on display there.

One special moment in December was a family gathering in the Edmonton area on what would have been my mother's 76th birthday. It was good to be together and celebrate her memory in the first of many "firsts" for us as a family...the first time we celebrate her birthday without her...the first Christmas we celebrate without her...other "firsts" to come. I think of her often, especially during this Christmas season as she loved Christmas and celebrated it with great joy and enthusiasm. Here's a few pics from past celebrations and visits...

             

As my wife and I look back over the last year, we are both a little bit tired (so much happened!) and a lot thankful. Selling our home in Alberta and buying a new home in British Columbia was a big job and we are so thankful that everything went smoothly...we also appreciate all the help from family and friends before, during, and after the move. My work with LAMP continued to go well this year despite some very challenging times over the summer with forest fires and other obstacles. My wife Lynne wrapped up her work as a student loans officer in October and is trying out this "retirement" thing now. We've enjoyed more family times with her parents and other family and friends here since we moved. We grieve the unexpected loss of my mother in October.  We loved our family trip to Mexico in November. We've enjoyed these past few weeks as we celebrate Christmas. We're looking forward to a new year and some new and exciting things coming our way. We pray that your Advent and Christmas season has been a good one and we look forward to all the blessings that a new year will bring. As I sign off, here's some pictures of Christmas at our new home...and a snow man with no snow!