Our families are very important in the lives of each of us. After all, family is like links in a single chain and all chains are inextricably linked.  Each chain can be strong and impervious to any impact or damage, or it can be fragile, and then others can fill the missing links with their support and love. Never  underestimate the role of each family in society. Our traditions and habits, our skills, and everything our family gives us—we fill our lives and the lives of those around us with them. 

From a cozy home in the Crowsnest Pass, Iryna reflects on Ukraine’s winter of blackouts and bitter cold as strikes hit the energy system. Through Kyiv and Odesa, she shares survival, humour and the stubborn will to keep living.

New Year’s Eve carries memories of childhood, family and tradition, from Father Frost and school concerts to Old New Year rituals rooted in the Julian calendar. Against the backdrop of war in Ukraine, the season has also become a measure of endurance and a renewed wish for peace.

From a folk proverb to the korovai wedding loaf, this feature traces wheat and bread as symbols of prosperity, hospitality and identity in Ukraine, honouring bakers, inclusive workplaces and family traditions that keep the craft alive.

A column linked Canadian Thanksgiving with Ukraine’s Obzhynky, stressed gratitude for farmers and nature, recalled Holodomor remembrance in Canada, and closed with a family harvest and wishes for prosperity.