Shiloh Sixth Avenue church offered a special “Blue Christmas” service yesterday for people coping with loss and grief. Aside from a minor flood in our basement this season due to a burst pipe (eek!) and the occasional family tiff we have not yet been faced with adversity at Christmastime. We have been lucky. I imagine for those who do experience tragedy at this time of year, it must be especially hard because everyone around you seems so happy. Songs of joy and peace, and all that.
Writes the Burnaby Now :
For those …

Here’s a lovely hint of a story to think about as we approach Christmas: when soldiers were posted to B.C. in 1943 to guard against a feared attack by the Japanese, New Westminster opened its doors and made sure every last one had a home to go to for Christmas:
Despite omnipresent danger, tasteless bully beef and hardtack rations in the field, and nearly dying of pneumonia one year, Christmas in the army was the only place Charles Goodman wanted to be in his youth.
Having left home in Saint John any …

New Westminster school trustee Lori Watt calls giving a kidney to friend and acting coach Nathaniel Deveaux the “most unique” Christmas gift she has given in a recent Newsleader profile. No kidding!
It started with a phone call when Watt asked, “What blood type are you?”
“B positive,” he replied.
“I’m B positive too.”
That’s when she started thinking about it. After doing research on transplant surgery she told Deveaux she would donate her kidney.
A battery of medical tests showed they were a match and the surgery was scheduled.
“When we both got out of …

The Vancouver Sun reports that New Westminster will ask school district managers to come back to the classroom as teachers to help offset costs for substitutes due to the $2 million shortfall.

School district managers could be teaching in New Westminster classrooms next month as part of an urgent plan by the district to eliminate a $2-million shortfall without laying off staff.

Senior managers from the board’s head office will work as teachers on call from January until June in a move estimated to save $19,000. A manager is also expected to …

Roundup of some recent news items related to our fair city:

Casey Cook wants Grimston “off the table” for new school site [The Record's Time Out Corner blog]
New West-based Credit Counselling Society offers tips to rein in holiday spending . [Financial Post]

Royal City Ballet’s Nutcracker ticket sales for Vancouver performance affected by news of Ballet B.C.’s financial woes [Georgia Straight]
Local kid made good Justin Morneau named Canada’s top baseball player [CBC]
Fraser Health Authority apologizes after a Royal Columbian Hospital night nurse shaves off a Sikh man’s beard [Maple Leaf Sikh]
Local lacrosse star Paul …

The Tyee’s got a great list of 50 ways to help the homeless, building on Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson’s pledge to end (!) homelessness in Vancouver by 2015.
New Westminster is mentioned twice:
8.) Lobby for treatment funding in private, and put the spotlight on alternative treatment in public. Check out Vancouver Coastal Health’s innovative DayTox program, and take a look at one of the more successful private recovery houses, such as The Last Door in New Westminster.

and:

39.) Invite the neighbours. Include representatives from Burnaby, Richmond, New Westminster, Surrey, the Langleys and …

CBC photo
CBC reports $100,000 worth of damage to the Salvation Army thrift store on Columbia St., though thankfully no one was injured.

The Surrey Leader reports that New Westminster’s Brad Ross has provoked a testy bit of back-and-forth between provincial transportation minister Kevin Falcon and Delta city council. Ross commutes to Delta, facing a regular bottleneck at Highway 91 and 72 Ave.
New Westminster resident Brad Ross, who makes regular trips across the [Alex Fraser] bridge, wrote Falcon to ask if there were plans to build an overpass.
According to the minister’s written reply, the traffic lights are still there because Delta “strongly favoured an alternate and more costly configuration, and we were unable …

In a recent Globe & Mail column, Vancouver-based HGTV designer Kelly Deck draws on the example of a New Westminster friend’s home to illustrate dos and don’ts of guest room decor :
For seven years, Gillian has been ceaselessly redecorating the interior of her New Westminster home. Last Sunday, we ascended a narrow fir staircase to a room where Gillian has created a warm and romantic retreat for the guests she and Michael are expecting this holiday season. As is her habit, the room is a clever blend of old and new, …