And whiskers on kittens.

Bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens.

Brown paper packages tied up with strings.

These are a few of my favourite things.

Chances are you recognize those lyrics and are now humming along to Julie Andrews in her role as Maria in The Sound of Music.

This classic flick is high up on my list of my favourite things. I have liked it as long as I can remember; our young, still maturing voices belting out Do-Re-Mi to our parents who listened with apparent rapt attention to our elementary school choir’s Christmas concert (back when we were still allowed to call it a Christmas concert).

It’s not a traditional Christmas movie like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or A Charlie Brown Christmas, but it always comes out at this time of year and remains a favourite to watch, curled up under a big, fluffy blanket with a mug of hot chocolate (or rum and eggnog depending on my mood).

My favourite things

That got me thinking about some of my other favourite things. Of course, there are family members and friends but beyond that:

• The four seasons – living overseas for many years in countries that only experience wet and dry seasons, I actually grew to miss winter. Now that I’m home I love walking on a bright, sunny winter’s day, taking in deep breaths of the fresh, crisp air. Spring though remains my favourite.
• Nature – speaking of deep breaths, there’s almost nothing better than immersing myself amongst a forest of tall pine trees and breathing in. It kind of smells like those pine tree-shaped deodorizers that hang from a car’s rear view mirror, only better.
• The smell of a subway system – there seems to be a theme emerging here, related to scent. I haven’t been in Toronto’s subway system for years but the odour emanating from the tracks stops me in my tracks and transports me back to my childhood when I’d spend a weekend at my grandma’s and we’d use public transit to get around. Such warm, loving memories that only a grandmother (and apparently the smell of a subway system) can provide. For the record, I’m not talking about the smell of urine. Nope. Not at all.
• Animals, animals, animals – I used to be all about penguins and still have a couple of hundred of them, in all shapes and sizes, in my house (just to be clear, they are figurines and stuffed penguins – no real ones waddling around). I still appreciate these majestic and comedic tuxedo-adorned seabirds but have also expanded my list to include the mighty elephant and the minute dung beetle. I had the chance to see both up close in South Africa and have come to adore the family-oriented and protective nature of the pachyderms, and the perseverance of the male dung beetle as he rolls his treasured find up a slope, trying to win the admiration of his favoured female. A shout out too to family pets. I like dogs and cats but lean more to the felines. They’re just so much more practical.
• Canada – We aren’t perfect but we’re pretty damn good. Nothing beats flying home from abroad, watching the flight path on the tiny little monitor in the seat in front of me, and seeing us cross over Newfoundland. I always feel that I am home.
• Chocolate – Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, orange chocolate, chocolate with fruit and nuts, chocolate with cherries, chocolate filled with cream, chocolate ice cream (soft of course), just not white chocolate. Enough said.

My not-so-favourite things

• Cigarettes and cigarette butts – and the smokers who think the world is their ashtray and toss their butts out the window of a car. I’d like to toss their butts out the window of a car.
• Auto playing video ads online – annoying as all get out (check out The Weather Network to see what I mean).
• Other people’s lack of planning – that then becomes my emergency. Not the way it’s supposed to work. Who can relate?
• Cheesecake – I know, I know, WTF?! Not gonna lie, it’s not my favourite. Not by a long shot. In fact, I can barely stomach it. Even if it is chocolate.
• Body odour – on a passenger sitting beside me on a plane for 12 hours. I had to switch seats.
• People who don’t know how to walk on a sidewalk – if 2 or 3 people are approaching one person, they should fall into a single line to not impede the progress of the person they’re approaching or force them off the sidewalk. Most people I’ve encountered don’t do this.

But I don’t want to end the year on a negative, so I’ll finish as I do every day, with five things I am grateful for:

• Heat and a roof over my head – as I write this, a massive winter storm has moved in and temperatures are plummeting. I can’t help but think of the people I see camped out in tents in the park I walk through almost every day and hope that they have found better shelter.
• Močkė – my gray tabby who adopted me earlier this year. Her name is Lithuanian but doesn’t mean anything. I chose it because I remember my grandma calling her cat that when I was a kid. Močkė is loving, engaging, playful and makes me laugh every single day.
• Vacations – it has been years since I have travelled for fun but this week one of my besties and I are flying off to the Mayan Riviera in Mexico. Bring on the margaritas!
• Vince – a friend from high school who, during the COVID-19 pandemic, started offering free online cooking classes. Thanks to him I learned how to make the world’s best rice pudding (although he won’t let me put raisins in it). Check him out on Instagram.
• Me – yep, I am very thankful for me and my inner strength that has seen me through a very challenging year. I love feeling strong again and look forward with great anticipation and excitement to 2023, what it will bring and what I will accomplish.

Happy New Year everyone!

You’ve heard from me. Now I’d love to hear from you. What are some of your favourite things? Can you relate to any of my not-so-favourite things? And what has you grateful as we prepare to turn the page on another year?