Regulars Category

Publisher & Owner – I love the holidays but for some the season starts much too soon. At least the U.S. has the benefit of a late Thanksgiving date, which happily delays the start of the festive season. There’s just something not right about holiday music piped through an establishment on a mild fall day, before we’ve even commemorated Remembrance Day and before the kids have finished off the Halloween candy. But as our friends down south enjoy their Thanksgiving turkey and prepare for Black Friday – their much ballyhooedRead More

by Lara Gladych – Seaside Magazine wants to live up to our slogan of being “the voice of the Saanich Peninsula,” so in every issue we’ll be asking people to answer one simple question. We’re looking for responses from all ages and across the diverse neighbourhoods that form our community. “Where do you find the magic in Christmas?” was the question I decided upon for this month’s issue, hoping to elicit some heartening responses. Before going out to speak to the public, I always ask the question first of myself. IRead More

by Caroline Paterson – CPA, CGA, Paterson Henn CPA – Most of us don’t like budgeting at any time, let alone during the holidays when we want to make our loved ones happy. Spending time with our family and friends is the best part about the holidays; the gift giving is a fun part too but shouldn’t cause us stress. Here are some ideas for making the holidays more enjoyable: Set a total budget amount for gift giving, decorations, food and evenings out – this should be a reasonable amount basedRead More

by Jo Barnes – As the holiday season approaches, signs of it are everywhere: Santa, shortbread and singing carols! And, I’m not referring to the melodies by Ms. Burnett or Channing. The word carol is actually based on an old French word – “carole” – meaning to sing and dance in a ring. During pagan times at Winter Solstice (around December 22) people danced around stone circles. When Christians took over the practice later, they gave people hymns to sing. St. Francis of Assisi started his Nativity Plays which promptedRead More

by Sherrin Griffin – VP, Operations, Sidney SeniorCare – I have very fond memories of Christmas as a child, and of the seniors in my life who helped to make my holiday season so special. Spending time with my grandparents was a huge part of the holidays and they would always make the time fun, festive and full of Christmas magic. Every Christmas day, like clockwork, my parents would pack my sister and I into the car with a large stack of wrapped gifts and we would head to myRead More