Christmas renews our youth by stirring our wonder. The capacity for wonder has been called our most pregnant human faculty, for in it are born our art, our science, our religion. -Ralph Sockman
It’s wonderful to see the Christmas lights and decorations around Toronto as the big day approaches. Toronto’s City Hall Square is ablaze with lights and many skaters were on the rink the evening I was there. “Located in front of City Hall, Nathan Phillips Square is an events landmark in the centre of the city. During the summer, the square is in motion daily, with people watching concerts and dance performances, viewing art at outdoor exhibitions, shopping for fresh produce at the farmers’ market one afternoon a week, attending weekly children’s events or sitting mesmerized by the fountain, eating lunch. The Peace Garden is a small green haven in the square, ideal for quiet contemplation or reading. In the winter months, the reflecting pool becomes a skating rink, with skates available for rental. Ice skating during the winter months runs from mid-November to mid-March each year.”
If you’re going to go ice-skating over the holidays, Nathan Phillips Square would be a good choice as you can see from the collages.
Although I no longer frequent malls now as much as I used to, I have to admit it was fun to see all the decorations in the Eaton Centre. That “childlike” delight in the lights and decorations still remains with me – the “wonder” of the Season.
Christmas greenery and real Christmas trees were all part of the Christmas scenery in the Centre. “Evergreens were a symbol of rebirth from ancient times. Egyptians brought green palm branches into their homes on the winter solstice as a symbol of life’s triumph over death. The Romans decorated with evergreens during Saturnalia, a winter festival in honor of their god of agriculture. In Northern Europe the pagans observed the Soltice festival of Jul – a two month feast beginning in November with prickly pine branches hung around around doorways and windows to keep away demonic spirits. But the sacred trees of the druids and norsemen were deciduous oaks, not evergreen conifers.”
Merely of merchant’s trafficking,
Of tinsel, bell and holly wreath
And surface pleasure, but beneath
The childish glamour, let us find
Nourishment for soul and mind.
Let us follow kinder ways
Through our teeming human maze,
And help the age of peace to come
From a Dreamer’s martyrdom.
~Madeline Morse
The above collage shows what Christmas at Holt Renfrew looks like!
Christmas — that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance — a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved. ~Augusta E. Rundel
Williams-Sonoma is a fine cookware store and when I stopped by in there last Saturday, I took these images. I had some nice hot apple cider while I was there.
![“The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before… .What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you. And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God’s [back] fade in the distance. So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon.” Jan L. Richardson, Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas](https://late-blooms.jeanjankisamaroo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Advent-lighting-candles.jpg)
Jan L. Richardson, Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas
There’s always Jagermeister at her parties.
Thy leaves are so unchanging
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
Thy leaves are so unchanging
Not only green when summer’s here,
But also when it’s cold and drear.
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
Thy leaves are so unchanging!
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
Such pleasure do you bring me!
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
Such pleasure do you bring me!
For every year this Christmas tree,
Brings to us such joy and glee.
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
Such pleasure do you bring me!
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
You’ll never be unchanging!
A symbol of goodwill and love
You’ll ever be unchanging
Each shining light
Each silver bell
No one alive spreads cheer so well
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
You’ll ever be unchanging.
The most beautiful Christmas tree I’ve seen so far for this season is the one in the above collage. This one stands in the lobby of the King Edward Hotel where some friends and I had the Nutcracker Tea a few days ago.
These are some of the sights and signs of Christmas in Toronto as I captured and experienced them. Hope you enjoyed.