Our first Virtual Canadian Christmas Celebration
On Friday, December 18th, the DKG and the Canadian Club of Belgium virtually celebrated a Canadian Christmas on Zoom. Of the 180 registered people, at least 110 participated and made this premiere a great success!
The idea of our Virtual Canadian Pub Nights team, consisting of Martin Gutsch (DKG Treasurer and Member of the Executive Committee), Tamara Joyette (DKG member) and Karl Boulé (CCB), to connect people and share some Christmas spirit in these trying times spread further to create a team of „jolly good fellows“ who prepared a wonderful night.
The evening started with some background Christmas music to welcome the participants. Then our fantastic host Tamara guided us through the program. She handed over to our first-class DKG Vice-President Georg Schmitz, who introduced four very important guests whom we would like to thank once again for taking the time to support us and give welcome addresses: Mrs Isabelle Poupart of the Embassy of Canada to Germany, Mrs Caroline Jenner, President of the Canadian Club of Belgium, and our very own DKG President Michael Siebold as well as DKG Chairman Stefan Rizor.
The highlight of the evening was the participation of the very talented Singer/Songwriter Christina Martin from Nova Scotia. Not only did Christina prepare three wonderful original Christmas songs with her partner and husband Dale Murray to warm our hearts: „Kisses for Christmas“, „Coming back home for Christmas“ and „This Christmas“; but she also gave an interview, participated the whole evening and even hosted her own breakout room with the Canadian game „Fluster“. If you haven’t discovered Christina yet, you should definitely visit her website. A greatly talented artist and a caring human being. Thank you so very much again for so delightfully brightening our Christmas celebration!
After the interview with Christina, we moved on to some fun activities in the different breakout rooms such as Trivia, a Canadian Christmas Quiz, Chat rooms, Fluster and Scattergories as well as the DKG room, in which we held a live-interview with three participants currently in Canada. Thank you to Anna Herzog (Barriere, B.C.) and Alexandra Weipert and Alexander Liebrecht (Calgary, Alberta) for telling us about your experiences in Canada and showing us many impressive photos.
Another highlight was our poetry contest, which both moved us and made us laugh. Thank you to everyone who submitted a poem, and congratulations to our winner Clarissa! The first three places will be awarded some nice Canadian prizes!
After the official part, some of us stayed behind to chat some more so that the celebration went on well after midnight. Thank you to all who participated and made this evening a magical one!
This wouldn’t be complete without thanking the amazing team behind all of this: again, Martin Gutsch, Tamara Joyette and Karl Boulé for your positive energy and your deep respect as well as inclusion of all who wish to Canada-connect. Georg Schmitz and Marietta Weiland-Kuch of the DKG Team Oberbayern for your kindness, great inputs and enthusiasm. Leonie Dieske of the DKG office in Cologne and Hannes Weiland of the DKG Executive Committee for your commitment and devotion. And finally, Vicki and Leon van Eeghem, our friends from the Netherlands, for your wit and humour.
