Mr. Speaker, Christmas is on the way.
This past weekend, I had the wonderful privilege of participating in three Christmas parades, in Elmira, Baden, and New Hamburg. Thousands of children, teens, parents, and grandparents lined the sidewalks as a parade made its way down the street. Shouts of “Merry Christmas” filled the air as children sat on their fathers' shoulders or huddled under blankets in little red wagons.
Before Christmas, I will have the fun of attending four more parades, in St. Agatha, St. Clements, New Dundee, and Wellesley.
This weekend, I also participated in the Christkindl market in Kitchener, the Lioness Club's Christmas tree lighting in New Hamburg, and the Christmas turkey and food hamper drive for the House of Friendship. Dozens of volunteers are finding the joy of giving at Christmas.
On Saturday, at a Christmas concert at Koinonia Christian Fellowship in Bloomingdale, we were reminded again that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the one who was promised hundreds of years earlier, bringing light and hope to our world; the one who would “be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”.
Merry Christmas.