Every year I watch as advertisers begin to promote their products for the Holiday Period. For retail this is their busiest time and sales usually make or break a company’s year. I’m not here to play scrooge, I would however like people to think a little about what the holidays are really about.

Perhaps it’s me getting a year older and wiser, but as I look around at the world it really makes me understand that our time on this earth isn’t a long one and that we should make the most of our time. The catastrophee of watching Katrina wipe out whole cities and families makes me realize that material things that we have are great, but not all that important. Think about all the people that saved to buy that great house in New Orleans, that today if alive are without anything. These people as hard as it is should realize, that as hard as it is, life goes on.

Children and families to me are what Holidays are all about. When I see children who have certain difficulties and obstacles work hard to achieve goals that others take for granted, it touches my heart. Children are pure. The Mackay Centre in Montreal helps children. The first school for the Deaf in Montreal was started in 1870. Around 1960, the Mackay Institute and the School for Crippled Children both needed a new building. The new “Mackay Centre” was opened in 1964 to serve both populations. Since that time the Mackay Centre has evolved into an organization in which two different organizations cooperate to meet the needs of deaf and disabled children. The Mackay Centre focuses on rehabilitation while the Mackay Centre School concerns itself with the educational needs of the children. There are many joint efforts in accomplishing these goals. At the the present time, the school has a population of 28 deaf children and 133 physically disabled / language students ranging in age from 4 years to 19 years. However, the majority of our students are between 4 and 12 years of age. Students come to the school from all corners of the city as well as from off island schools. There are an additional 28 children who are not disabled in the school, but who attend the school on our reverse integration program. These students are from the Montreal area.

There are 32 teachers in the school, 10 teachers of the deaf and 22 for the physically disabled and language students. All our teachers are trained in special education, and most have advanced degrees.

This truly is a remarkable school with dedicated professionals who truly help children make the most of their lives. I decided that as a fundraiser for this school I would help them sell Christmas and Holiday Cards that were drawn by the children. Proceeds from the cards would go back to the school to buy specific equipment to further help these great teachers, help the children. Being part of this experince truly has made me appreciate the holidays. This year especially with all the tragedies in the world, pick a worthwhile cause and contribute. A small contribution goes along way in many deserving under priviledged peoples lives. If you would like to know more about the Mackay Centre please visit their website at www.emsb.qc.ca/mackay/generalinformation.htm. To order their holiday cards you may call me at 514-337-2238 or visit my website for Solutions Ink at www.solutionsink4u.com. Thank you and have a heartfelt holiday season.

If you’re having a Halloween party you need to play some games! Whether it’s to fill the time before the food is ready or to keep the kids occupied before their parents collect them, here are some ghoulish games to play.

1) Pin the Wart on the Witch’s Nose: Draw or photocopy up a big picture of a witch; get lumps of green play-dough, blindfold each child and let them put a green wart on the witch’s face.

2) Apple bobbing is the traditional Halloween game. Float apples in a bowl of water, each player must try to get an apple with their teeth while their hands are held behind their backs. (This can get messy)

3) Traditionally on Halloween night, if you peel an apple and throw the skin over your shoulder and it will form the initial of the person you are to marry. You could peel the child’s apple once bobbed and see if it resembles a letter.

4) Another variation is to hang the apples on string and the players have to eat the apple again without touching it. Problem: Unless you grow your own apples they rarely have stalks still attached. You could try this game with ring doughnuts, bagels or ring biscuits.

5) Musical Zombies: Find some suitable Halloween Music – Saint-Saens’ ‘Danse Macabre’ goes down well with children, but if the kids are a bit young you could use ‘Fossils’ from his ‘Carnival of the Animals’ – and play this version of musical statues. Instead of dancing the kids pretend to be zombies then stand still when the music stops.

6) Wrap the Mummy: tear up strips of an old sheet and see who can wrap up their friend the fastest.

7) Sleeping vampires: Quieten things down with this version of sleeping lions, they all have to lie silently in the crypt; the one who stays still the longest is the winner.

Have a Happy Halloween!

Choosing a dolphin lover gift may not be as easy as it is for a pet lover, but that is not to say it is not possible. In fact, you will find quite a range of dolphin related gifts around the internet, although in your local store it may be hit and miss as to whether you will find anything. In my case, I received the true, ultimate dolphin lover gift, some years ago, but more of that later.

The demand for dolphin gifts, though, is undoubtedly high. On a brief and unscientific survey, dolphin lover gifts are about half as popular as cat lover gifts. If you think about it, that is amazing. Most people will never see a dolphin in their lives, yet we are surrounded by cats.

What is it, then, that makes dolphins so appealing? I love birds and cats especially, but dolphins I adore. They are wonderful and appealing creatures with a mystique that helps their popularity. Dolphins are the stuff of sailors’ tales, and true stories, about dolphins and man. They have faces that are expressive in a human like way, and they seem to smile. Dolphins also seem to follow man out at sea, when men venture out in their boats or into the water.

Dolphins are also performers, not just in captivity, but in the wild. While they do travel at high speed and jump out of the water in so doing, they do come across as playful, and capable of enjoying life. So, in a way they are partly human like, and therefore easy for us to relate to. They are also very intelligent.

Dolphins engender excitement, and at times everyone becomes a dolphin lover. In my country of origin, England, dolphins off the coast have always been something of a rarity; although I have read that large numbers of dolphins have been seen off nearby Wales recently. While I still lived in England, though, the appearance of a few dolphins close to shore may even have made the television news and front pages of the newspapers. Now, that’s something cat’s cannot do!

I am one of the lucky few, though. I was fortunate to be able to live on the Dorset coastline, where a group of about 6 dolphins had become familiar passers-by just offshore. Very rarely they ventured into Swanage Bay, but mostly they were observed sometimes off Durlston. But, you needed a lot of luck and patience to see any dolphins there, even when they were known to be in the area. I had a naturalist friend who had lived in Swanage for 25 years, and was a frequent visitor to Durslton; he had never, ever seen a dolphin there.

I was a member of Dolphin Watch, spending long hours on the cliff top looking out for the dolphins to record their movements. I had no luck ever while on duty, nor had many fellow dolphin lovers on the watch. My luck suddenly changed, though, when I was out walking with my daughter one Sunday afternoon, on the cliff tops at Durlston. It was early December, and winter and Christmas were in the air.

The grass slope was a little bit slippery, and I slipped over, ending up on my back. After my daughter’s initial concern subsided, we both had a good laugh, and I hobbled over to a nearby bench to get my breath back. The bench was looking out to sea. That’s when something of a miracle happened; well, at least a major coincidence; an incredible coincidence.

As we sat down, I said: “Ok, we will sit here until we see a dolphin, even though it may mean missing Christmas.” Christmas was 3 weeks away, so it was a rash thing to say. We looked out to sea, and within a minute, I saw two dolphins. I was in disbelief, but I took another look; I had my glasses on so was not being deceived. It really was dolphins.

My daughter thought, assumed, and was sure, I was joking. Then she saw them also, plus a third dolphin. We watched them for about 45 minutes, walking along the coast with them, and then back again. It was a mesmerising and unforgettable time, even though they were so far away; those three bottle-nosed dolphins were, to me, the ultimate dolphin lover’s Christmas gift. A few weeks early, and free, but a wonderful gift nonetheless.