So what’s making me happy this week?

Civic Holiday

Well, it was a short week this week thanks to “civic holiday” Monday. So, I’m me. Hi! And I went off to find the law that makes the August civic holiday an actual civic holiday. You know what? IT ISN’T! What the heck?! I started looking at the Government of Canada – Justice Laws Website. There is a Holidays Act. It recognizes THREE holidays. THREE! Can you guess which (answer at the very bottom).

So then I go down the rabbit hole….Christmas isn’t there. Nor Labour Day or New Years Day or Thanskgiving or Boxing Day. Where do they come from? And where can I find the damn August Civic Holiday?

The short answer is – it’s not easy. And I’m a lawyer! How crazy is that? First off, it turns out that “August Civic Holiday” is a social convention. We all just made it up out of whole cloth and everyone just keeps the charade going. It’s definitely not a national holiday – it’s not a day off at all in Quebec, Newfoundland or Yukon. And it’s not a stat day in Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario or PEI. Seriously. It’s only in 4 provinces and 2 territories that it’s an actual statutory holiday!

Anyway. Happy Simcoe Day! ‘Cause I’m in Toronto and that’s who we picked to honour. John Graves Simcoe. The first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada and he who abolished slavery in 1793. That’s pretty cool.

Q

Second thing making me happy this week is Q. He’s awesome. He’s decided to grow his hair. He really wants a pony tail. He’s got this weird combo of my hair and Toby’s hair. It matches Toby’s colour now exactly and my thickness/curliness. When my hair is long, most of the time it’s in a pony tail. When my hair is short, well, it’s short. I remember nothing about growing my hair from one to the other but right now, Q’s hair is ridiculous. So I made an appointment for him to get his hair cut by the guy who cuts my hair.

Shampoo!

Not the best before-after picture but Daniel cut a huge chunk of hair off the back of Q’s head. AND kept him entertained in the seat long enough for a decent hair cut. He cut lots off the back and left the top mostly long (except the bangs). As the top catches up to the bottom, well, then pony tails happen 😉

Coffee

Coffee. Oh sweet sweet….okay actually amazingly yummy and slightly bitter coffee. There is a long-standing joke in my family about the amount of caffeine I need to consume just to maintain sustenance levels. My folks have Q tonight and all I was thinking was “So happy they get time together AND I get to sleep in tomorrow and wake up to awesome coffee.” Except then I came home. And realised I was out of coffee beans. And then I checked the mail.

I am fortunate enough to have some pretty awesome sisters-in-law and one of them is the lady who married my brother. I adore her and she and I have a lot in common including a love of coffee. While we might differ on the whole temperature thing (she will drink it scalding hot while I add an ice cube or 3) we both like rich, full coffee. So for her birthday (and poor George’s too) I bought a 6-month subscription to a coffee-of-the-month thing from Toronto-based Birds and Beans. They only sell bird-friendly beans. My brother and SIL will get a pound of coffee a month for the next 6 months and I told the shop that she loves bold coffees so I’m hoping she gets loads of those. And I got my first one in today’s mail. The coffee maker is all ready for tomorrow. Beans in the top, filter in the filter. I’ll throw the water in before bed and just have to literally press “go” in the morning.

So. What’s making YOU happy this week?

ANSWER – The Holiday Act establishes the following days as legal holidays and observed as such throughout Canada: Canada Day (July 1), Remembrance Day (November 11) and Victoria Day (first Monday before May 25). And I still don’t know why December 25 is a holiday but I’m tired and will keep looking later.