The Premier and Public Health officials have decided, based on the increasingly high numbers of CV19 cases in the province, to prohibit family gatherings at Christmas. Christmas is now just two weeks away. Here are some ideas to facilitate your preparations for what will surely be a quiet Christmas. Hopefully you will be able to share with or include a neighbour….from a distance and wearing your mask.
Continue to shop safely when possible this winter. This means on-line ordering and deliveries. All grocery stores and pharmacies offer a delivery service. There is also assistance for those who need it: Contactivity is offering assistance with groceries – a volunteer will do the shopping and deliver the items right to your door. Email volunteer.contactivity@gmail.com or call 438 – 699-9927. Contactivity also offers its Outreach service if you need information about resources or living assistance & home care services available to seniors; email fsmithcontactivity@gmail.com or call 438-920-3460 to find out more. Contactivity will be closed from Dec. 21 – Jan. 4/21. This is a wonderful organization and many thanks to Contactivity for all their hard work during this trying year.
Christmas dinners may be ordered in advance from Chez Nick – their phone number is 514 – 935-0946. They will deliver. For Christmas dinner they are offering curried cream of carrot soup, roast turkey and gravy, tortière, meat balls, vegetables and roast or mashed potato, and cranberry sauce. Nick’s is asking $22 per person. Dessert will be part of the dinner but they haven’t decided what to make yet. Forno West on Greene, is also offering holiday meals, tel. 514 – 935-7337; At Simply Wonderful, Christmas dinner is $40 per person, call 514 – 939-7209 – order by Wednesday, Dec. 16 for pick up on Tuesday, Dec. 22 or Wednesday, Dec. 23 by appointment.
There are some Pandemic music and cultural programmes to note. The OSM is doing an virtual concert of Vivaldi and Handel on Dec. 15 – the price is $20 per ticket. Visit osm.ca to find out more. The Nutcracker will be aired on Dec. 18 at 7 pm on ICI Radio-Canada Télé and Dec. 28 on ICI ARTV. This is the 2016 production. The Sing-in from The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul will be broadcast on Christmas Day at 8 am on CBC Music and and noon on CBC Radio One. This will be a repeat of a performance from a previous year as well. Subscribe to the A & P’s YouTube channel and you will have access to all their Christmas services and music. www.youtube.com/standrewstpaul. If you are able to get down to the Quartier des Spectacles (Metro Place des Arts) there will be outside light shows all through the Christmas season.
Merry Christmas to all and stay safe!
Finally, “We’re all in this together” is a collaboration between the English Language Arts Network and Seniors Action Quebec. “We’re all in this together” is a web series – the brainchild of Bobbi-Jo Hart – which assists those seniors who are facing isolation. Episode One is called “Holiday Baking – Making sugar cookies with Hainya and Linda” and Episode Two is a “Holiday Concert Special at Martha Wainwright’s intimate venue Ursa”. Guests for the concert include Susie Arioli, Dawn Tyler Watson, Jennifer Gasoi and the Celtic trio “Solstice”. ELAN (English Language Arts Network) will soon have its own channel on YouTube where these and future episodes may be viewed.