City Lights

Ottawa embraces Yuletide festivities with unabashed enthusiasm, and our holiday spirit is rooted, at least in part, by the shortness of December days this far north. Up here we all go a little mad in winter for want of light, and we try to quell our uneasiness about the encroaching darkness by painting, decorating and lighting everything we can see and reach. There are lighted Christmas trees everywhere one goes - there are trees in windows - there are trees on roofs - there are trees precariously perched on scaffolding and high on the skeletons of unfinished office towers - there are trees on balconies and in public gardens. Even the trees along the city streets are strung with lights, and in sparkling shades ranging from primary to pastel.

A Yuletide walk through the heart of the city after dark is a magical experience, and one never to be forgotten, whether one took that walk long ago as a child herself or she did it much later with a small friend or family member. One of the loveliest Yules I can remember is one years ago when we walked up Elgin Street for hours on a fine cold starry night, looking at all the lighted trees. We finished our walk that evening by attending a gorgeous performance of the Nutcracker at the National Arts Centre, and I was not a child at the time - I was well into my forties.