Family Day - A Day to Spend Time with Your Family

Family Day, a provincial holiday in Ontario for families  to spend time together

Yesterday was Family Day in Ontario - a provincial holiday introduced by the Ontario government a few years ago.

Families enjoying time together on Family Day

The idea is to give a day off to Ontario workers and students so that they can spend the day together with their families.






I wish there was a holiday like that when our children were young so that we could have spent a day with them in the middle of winter to go skiing, skating or doing other winter activities.

Eaton Centre, one of the few places opened on Family Day

Business were closed except for shops  in Eaton Centre

Our children are grown now and are living away from home. We cannot be with them on Family Day.

 Instead we spent a day with my ninety year old mother.






My mom lives in a senior apartment in the suburb and she has not been downtown Toronto for a long time.

One of her favorite things to do is to go downtown and stroll around the shops in the China Town area.

It was a fine warm day yesterday and we took advantage of the nice weather.  We did exactly what my mom loves to do on Family Day.

The Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto was packed on  Family Day 

Mom enjoyed the visit to AGO

We picked mom up from the senior home, drove her to China Town where we had dim sum in one of the popular restaurants.

Though ninety years old, my mother is healthy and still quite mobile.  With the aid of a walking cane, she was able to walk and enjoy the stroll downtown on a fine day.

We took our time to visit the art gallery and shops in the area. AGO - the Art Gallery of Ontario had a special program on Family Day for kids and parents. We took Mom in to see some of the arts pieces. She really liked that too.











Since most of the shops and business were closed except for the area that has been designated as tourist areas, the restaurants and shops were busy.

We introduced Mom to some new food.

As we were not in hurry for anything, we walked leisurely towards the Eaton Centre, one of the few places open on Family Day.

It was a busy place, more so than during Christmas!








We looked at some shops and had our coffee break there.

We introduced Mom to some new food at the Market Restaurant where they had some non sweet treats for sugar conscious patrons.

Over coffee and tasty pastries, Mom talked about the time when dad and her used to go downtown to visit friends every weekend years ago. She had a chance to reminisce the good old days.

I have been busy with my study and have not spent a lot time with my mom recently.

My mom was happy during the day long outing

I was glad that we got to spend a whole day together.

My mom was really happy and she told me how much she enjoyed the day long outing and that she was able to walk a few blocks.

Whenever my mom is happy, I  am happy too!

R.T.
Downtown
Toronto
Family Day 2017