Christmas Trees In The Chateau

O Christmas tree

O Christmas tree

Your ornaments are history

~ The Cat

Have a look over at my writer's blog today, as I'm doing my annual twisted images take on Christmas today.

Every year, the Chateau Laurier has Christmas trees set up in the lounges and corridors on the ground floor, decorated by local businesses and organizations as a charity benefit for the Children's Hospital Of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). Here are some from this year.

Christmas Lights And Wreaths

This Christmas sleigh can be found outside one of the hotels downtown.

There are also Christmas lights on Parliament Hill at the moment.

This Christmas tree is in the Ottawa Convention Centre.

While this wreath is hanging outside the main entrance at the American embassy.

And this is one of the Christmas wreaths hanging on the fence at the Royal Canadian Mint.

Brooding Sky And Music

In late November, on a day that I had the camera along to get some shots in for the last theme day, there were brooding skies. I took this photo from Major's Hill Park, overlooking the Ottawa River and Gatineau.

This one has a view of the core of the city around the Rideau Canal, as I was crossing the Mackenzie King Bridge over towards the National Arts Centre.

Around the NAC are billboards for upcoming performances. Through December, the Centre has been putting on Christmas related concerts. This display for Handel's Messiah was one of them; it brought out a memory that I went into at my writer's blog a few days ago.

This also included a Christmas concert by the Nova Scotia fiddler Natalie MacMaster, who I've seen in concert.

I stopped by in the evening and took this photograph of another Christmas concert billboard, for Canadian jazz singer Emilie-Claire Barlow, who I've also seen in concert.

The Kettle Campaign

This past Saturday in the Byward Market, an ensemble from the Salvation Army were playing Christmas music for two hours. I photographed them at work, and have a video clip here. The first tune is 'In The Bleak Midwinter', though the second tune's name eludes me. Anyone who can identify that, please do so. The audio is more due to my camera and the wind. 

These are the final days of the kettle campaign for the Salvation Army here in Ottawa (as well as in cities and towns across the world). The organization and church has its roots going back to 1865 in Britain, founded by Methodist minister William Booth and his wife Catherine. The Christmas kettle campaign, started later in the 19th century as a way to give Christmas dinner to the needy, has come to be the source of funds for the Salvation Army's programs, which include shelters, street outreach, family tracing, community and family services, emergency response, transitional services, and more. In Ottawa, that includes the Bethany Hope program, helping young parents adjust to their responsibilities through education and guidance. 

My mother impressed upon us that donating to the Salvation Army this time of year is the best way to do the most good, a lesson that's stayed with me. Donated funds stay within the community, put right into the programs. Here in Ottawa, as I assume to be the case in other places, the campaign wraps up on Christmas Eve (earlier than the stores close). If you haven't donated yet to one of the kettles in your area, put a few bucks into the kettles. It's the best way to help those who need it. 

Setting Up The Tree

A Christmas tree was being decorated in the World Exchange Plaza one weekend, while most of the office workers of the complex were away from work. A curious mix, the tree and the whale sculptures hanging in mid air around it.

This display is on the second floor, and can be glimpsed in the shot directly above. The reindeer in the following shot is back on the first floor, taken on another day.

And now for something completely different, but rather close to the World Exchange Plaza. Here at the corner of Sparks Street and Metcalfe Street, a block south of Parliament Hill, nutcrackers have been set up. Nutcrackers have a rather demented look to them (don't tell my cousin, who collects the things and loves them to pieces), which makes them quite fitting for what's nearby- the sign for the Ministry of Silly Walks, which I've shown you before. 

Christmas Market

I'm starting off a series of Christmas related posts today with the Christmas farmers market at Lansdowne, held here in the Aberdeen Pavilion. Held over several weekends (this weekend being the last), it includes farmers and artisans. The farmers market here will be taking a couple of weeks off before picking up again over the winter in here.

This particular vendor has an emu farm, and the crafts here incorporated emu feathers and eggs.

I took several photos of this dog, which was a constant blur of motion as its human passed through the market.