Toronto Christmas Market at the Historical Distillery District

There are many special events and celebrations going on in Toronto in the month of December.
One special event that has fast becoming a tradition is the Toronto Christmas Market held in the historical Distillery District.

Started in 2010, the Toronto Christmas Market is getting more popular as the years progress.
The 2015 market was held for a month from November 20 to December.



Admission to the Christmas Market was free from Monday to Friday. But on the weekends, there was a five dollar charge for each person.

Since we wanted to see the lights in the evening, we planned our visit to the market in late afternoon.

Lovely displays at the Market

At the entrance, it was lined with some temporary wooden houses selling different Christmas goods.

Various vendors selling their crafts and items

There were about thirty vendors at the Christmas Market selling all things Christmas - crafts items, imported treats, knitted wear, bake goods and other delicious food.

The Toronto Christmas Market was a child friendly place. There were a lot of activities going on throughout the day.

A merry go round and a ferris wheel were set up on site to entertain the little ones.

Walking on the cobbled stone street,  actors dressed in elves and angelic costumes were conversing and taking pictures with visitors to the market.

We enjoyed the entertainment at the market

We were in time to catch the elves caroling on the stage set up in the centre of the square.







A couple of young members of the audience were invited to the stage and joint in the singing.

There were programs going on throughout the day starting in the afternoon.

Every hour, there was some kinds of performance on the main stage.

An Ukrainian group performing songs in its native language

Audience took part in carol sing

A little later on, we watched another group performing their Christmas songs in Ukrainian and leaning about their Christmas goat character, traditions and stories.

The Market got busier as it got darker!

As the sun went down, the Christmas Market lit up and the place got even busier.

Lot of picture taking opportunities for visitors to the Christmas Market

There was something for everyone at the Christmas Market.

Posting for a picture at the Kiss station

Sampling different food and picture taking evidently were the two most popular activities for most people.

Visitors enjoying hot drinks & refreshments outdoors

There were a few choices from which the visitors can choose to grab a bit to eat or to rest their tired feet.

The Sleeman Winter Lounge - an outdoor restaurant, was a popular eatery with blazing fires going in the patio where patrons could get a drink and warm up in front of a roaring fire.

Old distillery equipment on display at the historical Distillery District

While we were at the Distillery District, we took the opportunity to visit some of the historical building where Canadian Rye was invented in the 1800s.











We went into a building where some of the distillery equipment and the old bottles of Canadian rye were on display.

The weather was mild; there was no rain, wind or freezing temperature to deal with.

It was a perfect evening!








Soaking up in the Christmas spirit, watching great performances and enjoying the sights and sounds of Christmas and seeing people's happy smiles, we felt wonderful inside.

There must  be some magic at the Toronto Christmas market!

R.T.
Toronto's Christmas Market
Distillery District
Toronto

The One Hour Christmas Turkey Dinner!

Pastor Lin leading the ladies meeting in Waterloo

Christmas time is a happy time and a busy time for our family!

There are many things going on within our extended families, at the church and in our community in and beyond the Greater Toronto Area.

Fun time at the Christmas Women's Meeting

In early December, we had a special women's group meeting in Waterloo, Ontario, and shared the recipes for making a delicious Christmas meal within an hour!

Easy recipes allow time for fun with friends and family

That was a lot of fun as the ladies swapped recipes, exchanged cooking ideas and family secret recipes.

An easy to prepare veggie balls, cheese and cracker appetizer plate

Menu for the one hour turkey dinner 

Appetizer - Cheese and Crackers, Vegetable Balls

Main Course 1. - Turkey and Homemade Bread Stuffing

Main Course 2. - Swiss Meatballs - cook in a slow cooker with a bottle of original Dianna Sauce

Vegetables - Roasted Carrots

                  -  Baked Potatoes

                  -  Roasted Cabbage

Dessert - Coconut/ Pineapple mixed Fruits  

Beverage - Hot apple cider

The one hour turkey dinner refers to the preparation time needed to prepare all the food. My husband and I washed and peel the carrots, and potatoes, we did not cut them as they would be cooked for a little while in the roasting pot. For the cabbage, we washed half of a cabbage, cutting them very large.

After  the turkey was rubbed with salt, pepper on both sides and stuffed with the bread dressing.  I put two cups of water in the bottom of the roasting pot. I placed the turkey in the centre and put all the carrots on one side of the pan, the potatoes on the other making sure the cabbage was separated from them. ( This would make spooning and serving  the vegetables separately much easier later.)

I put the roasting pan with the turkey and all the vegetables in the oven, roasting it for about three hours ( it would need more time if the turkey is bigger, say more than 15 pounds in weight.)

 Having closed the over door, I started setting the table and making the house looked beautiful for dinner.

After about three hours, bingo! The turkey dinner was done with all the vegetables. Because the potatoes and carrots were baked in whole, they were very tender!
Cabbage is one vegetable that cannot be overcooked!

I have prepared this turkey dinner in a pot year after year. It has saved me many hours of work and let my family enjoy a great Christmas dinner! I was delighted to share my cooking ideas with the ladies from the Waterloo church.

R.T.
Women's Meeting
Christmas Lunch
Waterloo, Ontario 

A Mother's Christmas Rhyme - Counting Our Blessings at Christmas Time

A Toronto Mother's Christmas Poem

Love Christmas! It is our most favorite time of the year!
Admiring the sparkle, shining in front of neighbourhoond houses everywhere.

Love Christmas! It is our most favorite time of the year!
Watching Santa appearing in  malls across the city far and near.

2015 Toronto Christmas Market at the Distillery District

Love Christmas! It is our most favorite time of the year!
Visiting the Christmas Market; hoping to find parking which is not dear
and can be close to the Distillery Area.

Love Christmas! It is our most favorite time of the year!
Being stuck in the GTA traffic, fighting our way but going nowhere.



Love Christmas! It is our most favorite time of the year!
Going to the airport, picking up loved ones flying in from everywhere.

Love Christmas! It is our most favorite time of the year !
Welcoming our children home safe and sound from whenever they are
this time of the year!

Love Christmas! It is our most favourite time of the year!
Embracing and thinking of our sons;
gratefully thanking God for His blessings for the past year!

R.T.
Grateful and Counting Our Blessings
Toronto

Getting Up at an Ungodly Hour for the CBC's Sounds of the Season!

CBC - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

December 4, 2015 - Sounds of Season at CBC




We have been trying for the past few years to attend the annual Sounds of the Season hosted by CBC's Metro Morning.

However, we were unable to make it downtown from where we were in time to get a seat in the recording studio.

Looking out from our friends's condo -  view of Toronto and the DVP

This year we were determined to make it early enough to get a seat for the 6:30a.m. show. Fortunately, we were invited to stay overnight at our friends' downtown condo so that we could be much closer to the CBC headquarters.

The Atrium at CBC - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was ready for the show!

We arrived at our friend's place and ate dinner at 6p.m. After reserving a taxi for 5a.m. for the next morning, we went to bed shortly after 10p.m.











Jumping up from our bed and getting ready at the  the 4:30a.m. alarm, we reached the CBC  building by 5a.m., much earlier than we had anticipated.

Food Bank donation tables were set up at the entrance of the CBC, we stopped to make a donation and waited for a few minutes for our receipt.

The lineup was long at the CBC building for the annual Sounds of Season event.

By the time we got to the line, we were surprised at how long it was already at 5:30a.m.

 It went all the way to the back, then wound around to the back of the building.

The queue was already going around the CBC building at 5:00a,m. for the show!

We did not expect to be this far back of the queue. Would we be able to get into the studio for the 6:30am show - the main reason we got up at this ungodly hour?

People just kept coming while we patiently waited for show time. After an hour, the door flung open and people started streaming into the Glen Gould Studio.

Waiting area outside the Glen Gould Studio

Keeping our fingers crossed, we thought we would be able to get into the studio this time. But to our great disappointment, the door closed with just four people ahead of us!

Kevin Sylvester was there entertaining the crowds and kids with his cartoon drawing

For those of us who were left behind, we continued to wait with the hope that some people might come out after an hour or so.






Kevin Sylvester, a former broadcaster of CBC, set up his easel outside the studio and started drawing cartoon characters to entertain the crowd in the lineup.

Silent auction as going on at the same time 

There was a silent auction going on in the Atrium where people could bid on items in which they were interested.

The Silent Auction table was decorated with festive items. 

There were a few of creative and beautiful items on display and the table was decorated beautifully with seasonal items.

Overflow audience caught the show on the TV set up in the CBC atrium

Chairs were set up in the lobby to catch the overflowing crowd; free coffee and cookies were offered to visitors to the CBC building that day.













Lots of really good musicians and artists were performing at the Sounds of the Season show.

Lots of excellent musicians performed at the Sounds of Season

We finally got a seat at around 7:30a.m. By then we had stood and waited for two and half hours already!

We caught the last few performances by some excellent musicians.

The music was upbeat, fantastic and full of Christmas spirit!

Mat Gallowway & Maria Tremonti at the 2015 Sounds of the Season show

We saw Mat Gallowway in person hosting the show and with his many guests that morning.

Kathleen Wynne dropped by to support the Food Bank fundraising event

The Ontario premiere, Kathleen Wynne also dropped by the show and brought some food items to show support for the Food Bank's fundraising campaign.

Meeting the Metro Morning cast after the show in the CBC's atrium

Soaking up the Christmas atmosphere in the Glen Gould Studio and enjoying the beautiful music, we were sad that the one hour  flew by in no time.

At the end of the show, the Metro Morning show cast was out in full force in the atrium meeting the public.

It was a really fun event! We were glad that we got in for an hour to see our favourite CBC daily Metro Morning show being broadcast live.

Next year, we need to be at the CBC building by 4:30a.m. if we want to have a seat for sure in the studio!

R.T.
CBC Headquarters
Front Street, Toronto

The Farewell Dinner to Our Visiting Educators to Ontario

I feel absolutely fantastic this evening! I haven't felt so great in a long long time! It's strange that we work hard all our lives and look forward to our retirement. But for the past two weeks and half, I went back to work full time teaching this course and I was having tons of fun!

There were twenty- seven course participants and they were from different cities of the  province and did not know each other. Besides learning about the educational system and visiting school while they were in Toronto, in the course of the past two and half weeks, this group of visiting educators has made new friends and developed friendship with each other.

This evening, my students invited me to the celebration dinner prior to their departure. What a blast it was!

I heard of the Chinese custom of frequent toasting between guests, but I never experienced it until th tonight. Dinner started at 5:30p.m. and we toasted and congratulated each other on the completion of the course. Barely had we touched our food, then different members of the group started toasting one another. I had at least fifteen to twenty people dropping by our table throughout the dinner and offered me a toast. I think people spent more time toasting each other than on enjoying the various dishes. People apparently were having a great time interacting, toasting and chatting up with one another.

The fun part of the dinner started when most of the food had been consumed. A phy. ed. teacher organized some games, followed by various performances from the group. A couple of people even got up and recited some poems!  That was something different! Normally, when I go to some dinner parties, invariably someone would get drunk and does something silly or embarrassing. But this group of visiting educators from China was definitely different, civilized and very well behaved!

I felt so appreciated and uplifted as the participant in my coure continued to drop by my table expressing their enjoyment in my class and thanked me for being their instructor.

Teaching and sharing my knowledge with others is my passion.  Teaching in the past two  weeks reminded me of what I do the best and the tremendously joy and satisfaction it brings to me.

I could not believe it!  After I said good bye to my group, about ten of them in the leadership  program escorted me to the door of the college, and even accompanied me all the way to my
car in the parking lot!

Bathing in the kindness and love of my students and feeling totally overwhelmed with such warm hospitality, I was singing and almost dancing in my seat while driving all the way home!

In what other job would one get paid and be so appreciated for doing the job well?

R.T.
Last Day
International Leadership Course
Toronto

Having a lot of Fun While Training Principals for TECA in Toronto!

There is no other job better than being a teacher!!!

There are no other jobs I would rather do than teaching!

I always have so much fun teaching that it never seems like working while I am standing in front of the classroom.

Though I retired formally from my school a few years ago, I formed a company called TECA - Toronto Education and Communications Associates to provide training to teachers, vice principals and principals. Since TECA was formed,  have been busy with assignments and invitations to train and teach  in the field of education.

 I enjoyed my work as a school administrator tremendously. However, it was a highly stressful job dealing with the demands of numerous unionized staff members such as teachers, teaching assistants, secretarial staff, caretaking personnel, other supporting staff and parents on a daily basis.

Discussions on  educational issues

One of the advantages of being retired is that I do not have the responsibilities of running the whole school.

Instead I can focus on the one thing which I am absolutely passionate about - teaching and sharing my experience with other educators!

The Chinese principals practising the brain storm method for ideas

I have been privileged to have the opportunity of working with many visiting educators and school administrators for the past few years. However, I never had so much fun as I did with the last group of visiting educators from China!

Chinese principals presenting and sharing ideas with other course participants

This group was consisted of high school English teachers, aspiring leaders, vice principals, principals and education officials.

They were enthusiastic, energetic, very curious and had many interesting questions about the educational system in Canada.

Comparing the educational systems

We had really good discussions and I tried to model as many as possible the interactive teaching strategies employed here in my lectures.







We had so much fun!  In my last lecture to them, I used a real life story of  Dr. T. Stoddard from Iowa, U.S.A.-  his mother died when he was very young and affected his learning thereafter in school. Because of the loving care of a teacher, he blossomed and kept going in his study.

Teddy kept writing to his elementary school teacher over the years. He was able to finish high school and finally became a doctor. He was engaged and invited his favourite teacher to attend and sit at his parent's place on his wedding day!

Sharing a special moment with the ladies in our group

It was a very touching story and brought many of my course participants to tears.

After the Closing Ceremony, we took pictures, exchanged goodbyes and shared some happy memories of the past two weeks and some special moments.

Closing Ceremony on the last day of the leadership course

It is my sincere hope that the visiting educators would be inspired, be able to take back to their home country some of what they have seen and learned here in Canada for the past couple of weeks!

R.T.
Director
TECA - Toronto Education Communications Associates

Nov.- Dec. 2015