Canada Day celebrated ‘as if it’s someone’s birthday’

It won’t be a typical Canada Day for Cassie and Andrew Niven and their two children, but it will be a day to celebrate what is important to them.

As difficult as the pandemic has been for the local couple, both continuing to work, the one good to come of it is the focus on the importance of family, says Andrew.

That has become especially evident with the “expansion of our bubble after the lack of interacting with family,” he says.

It’s been difficult for them as parents and for their kids, who missed that family connection, says Andrew. 

The expansion of the family social circle was a welcome one, he says, and came just in time to celebrate

Father’s Day, and Canada Day next week.

Owen, their three-year-old son, is too young to really understand what it represents, he says, but Rylie, 5, is excited. 

Her Kindergarten teacher did a good job of teaching the kids about the importance of the day, and he and Cassie have tried to reinforce that at home by talking about what it stands for.

“She really takes it to heart, that it’s Canada’s birthday. We decorate the house like it’s someone’s birthday, and she gets really excited.”

The couple have enjoyed going to Ravine Vineyard Estate Winery on Canada Day, but this year, will likely celebrate at home.

They realize they are very fortunate to have family close by, in NOTL and Niagara Falls, and to live in a neighbourhood where they feel secure, bringing up their kids in a safe community.

And that, he says, is something they want to pass on to their kids.

“I can’t imagine anything better, to live in this country and this town, and have our family around us, in one of the safest places in the world.”