During the Ice Storm, I often though about my 12 Days of Gratitude challenge.  Even though I couldn’t blog about it, I often thought about the things for which I was grateful.  Here is my abridged version:

Day 6…I honestly can’t remember and have no intentions on making something up.

Day 7…Good Neighbours

We have been very fortunate to have some pretty great neighbours.  When we lived in our condo in downtown Toronto, our next door neighbours (to the North) were a super nice, fun and hip couple.  Our current neighbours are a lovely family with three young children, the youngest is a little boy who is only a few months younger than Kid.

The best kind of neighbours are the ones who are friendly and “neighbourly” without being intrusive.  Our neighbours are exactly that with a great sense of humour – the kind that you would want to invite over for a glass of wine without making you feel obligated to do so.

Day 8 (the day of the Annual Christmaspalooza)…Cousins

My family is huge!  Mom and Dad each are the second youngest of families with many siblings.  Dad’s family spans three generations and Mom’s family spans four generations.  I have a total of 45 cousins ranging from the age of 28 to 60, living all over the world (i.e., Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, BC, New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, Arizona, China, Hong Kong, India, Dubai and Sweden).  Family is very important in Chinese culture and especially with Mom and Dad.  Growing up, we spent a lot of time with family and that means, I spent a lot of time with my cousins.  I love hanging with my cousins – even if we haven’t seen each other in awhile, it is like no time has passed.  Sure, some of my cousins drove me absolutely bonkers but cousins are family and we accept family as they are.  They are like a close of group of friends who are immediately accepting of you and who understand all the family dynamics.  There is a certain sense of comfort with having that type of relationship.

So, when I see Kid (aka Liger) developing a relationship with his cousins at the Annual Christmaspalooza, I can’t help thinking about my own cousins and the great relationships that I have with them.  I can already see that Liger is drawn more to Nephew G and Nephew O, who are 1 year older and 1 year younger than Liger, respectively.  I am looking forward to seeing Liger growing up and getting into mischief with his cousins.

Day 9 (Ice Storm)…Papa and Zia

We were homeless during the Ice Storm.  With no power and no heat, the temperature in the house dropped to 41 F (approximately 5 C) and so we couldn’t stay.  At the time, we thought that power would be restored within 24 hours – little did we know that it took three days during some of the coldest days of a Canadian winter.

I am so grateful to Papa and Zia who housed and fed us until we got out power back.  Papa and Zia were more than gracious – they allowed Kid to take over the living room with his toys and made us feel right at home.  The three and a half days that we stayed with Papa and Zia were fun and memorable.  The best part is that Papa and Zia got to spend a lot of time with Liger and Liger got to bond with them.

Day 10 (December 23)…Acts of Kindness

During the Ice Storm, we got to witness many acts of kindness from friends to strangers.  People offered their generosity in many ways from empathizing and sharing the challenges of being without power and heat to opening up their homes.

Day 11 (Christmas Eve)…Toronto Emergency Workers

Employees of Toronto Police, Fire, EMS and of Toronto Hydro and other city workers and volunteers, to name a few, are some of the people to whom I am truly grateful for maintaining order and safety in our city during the Ice Storm and for restoring power and heat to my home.  These men and women worked around the clock.  A lot of them worked outside in below freezing temperatures.  Warming centres were open to provide people with a place to shower and sleep and volunteer workers helped run these centres and ensure that people were fed.  They all had better things to do, like being with their own families over the Christmas holidays, but instead, they gave of themselves in a time of crisis to help others.

Day 12 (Christmas Day)…Kid (aka Liger)

I started these posts with one of the most important persons in my life and I’m ending up with the other most important person in my life…Liger!  Liger is my precocious son who brings me so much love, joy and frustration and I wouldn’t trade it or him for anything.  This post could not do him justice and so I intend to write a standalone post (akin to a love letter) to him.

Hoping that there is no Ice Storm next winter to interrupt my 12 Days of Gratitude 2014.  I much prefered my more detailed posts.