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Happy Holidays from the Editors and the Readers of News and Views

 

1949 - UNICEF's First Greeting Card by 7 year old Dzitka

We wish you and your family Happy Holidays and Good Health Throughout 2021  
Nous vous souhaitons, à vous et à votre famille, de joyeuses fêtes et bonne santé durant 2021
Les deseamos a usted y a su familia felices fiestas y buena salud en 2021.
نتمنى لك ولعائلتك أعياد سعيدة وصحة جيدة طوال عام 2021
祝您和家人2021年节日快乐，身体健康
Желаем вам и вашей семье счастливых праздников и крепкого здоровья в 2021 году



We send you and your families our warm wishes for wonderful holidays and
a great year ahead
in 2021.

.....

Greetings We Have Received So Far
Add your own - Just send to us at xunicef.news.views@gmail.com
or add a comment at the bottom of this article.



Horst Cerni

"Christmas is coming, children are waiting...
"Hohoho, how does Santa get here?
We have no reindeers on our island, there is no snow on our mountains,
and our houses have no chimneys...
Hohoho how will Santa get across all the water?"




The lyrics of this Calypso song pretty much describe our situation, except we don't have to depend on the arrival of Santa.
Our entire family is together for Christmas and this gives us a lot of joy and brings holiday spirit.


We wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy new year.
Warm greetings from Isabel & Horst,
Karl (with Lorena, Gabi, Ina and Bea),
Paul,
Anneliese, Daniel and Nadia.
.....

Brigitte Duchesne

Sun, Dec 20, 1:06 PM (2 days ago)
Hello dear friends - hope that this finds you all well. I thought I'd take this opportunity to send greetings to everyone.

After my 5-year posting in London-UK (and a high-intensity job) we returned to Canada (Ottawa), where am still working for Foreign Affairs. Since March 2020, I've been working from home to avoid the spread of COVID meanwhile our border with the US has been closed - we had plans to travel/visit but have put those on hold. It's been a challenging year on many levels, but we keep trying to look at the bright side and thankful that we have each other and still have our health.

Here's hoping that 2021 marks the return to "normal" daily lives for everyone - stay well. Best wishes to all!
.......

Franziska Von Vietinghoff-Riesch


All good wishes for an exciting and safe New Year 2021 !

Travelling from Rovaniemi, Finland.

Orthodox icons on my studio walls






.....
Victor Soler-Sala




.....

Pilar Aguilar


Dear All,
Wishing you a peaceful end of the year celebrations, and ...


.....

Narinder Sharma


Wishing, you and family the blessings of the Almighty and have A Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday Season and a wonderful new year 2021. May this new year and new decade bring the best of health, success and happiness and remove the negativity of 2020.


Warm regards, Narinder
....
Ines and Juan Aguilar




Dear XUNICEF family


In this singular year of 2020, Ines and I are grateful to be in good health and, with renewed enthusiasm and happiness, to be getting in touch with family and friends from around the world. With the new ways of life learned of social distancing, masking, and staying home, we discovered the advantages of technology in communications facilitating virtual human contact, but above all, we also discovered again solidarity among family members, friends and our neighbors. We also discovered the joy of watching Netflix series, YouTube documentaries, and listening to classical music.


Thank God, Ines quickly recovered from a laparoscopic gall bladder surgery. Interestingly Juliana, her sister, underwent the same procedure in Argentina almost at the same time. Juan continues his voluntary work as Chair of the Neighbors Committee, having been elected for another two-year time period. Also continues participating as Member of the Municipal Development Council, of Guatemala City. Zoom allowed frequent video conferences with Juan’s medical school and high-school classmates.


We maintained contact with our children and grandchildren living in the USA and are happy to report that all of them are in good health and high spirits.


Our Miniature Nativities Collection had a short presentation for the Friends of the Crèche virtual Annual Conference last November and also short narrative with pictures which was published in the XUNICEF News and Views Bulletin. You can also read a nice article published in Spanish, in Spanish.



So, once again, we ask our beloved Good Lord to fill your lives with PEACE, JOY, HEALTH, and LOVE during this Christmas season and throughout 2021.


Ines & Juan Aguilar





Cheers…
.....




Dominic Millioni

Wish you and your love ones a 
Merry Christmas and very best wishes for the New Year.


 

Kind regards, 

 

Dominic Millioni and Family.


....


Oscar Fernandez

From all of us here in XUNICEF Mailing Board,

To our XUNICEF family,




We want to wish you a very healthy and happy holiday season in the company of your loved ones. May the new year bring peace to all! May 2021 bring us all a hope for mankind and for our planet! May we all live in harmony, regardless of race, religion, and politics.

PEACE AND LOVE FROM OSCAR AND SUSAN.
....

Doreen Lobo

Adrian’s “recycled” art - He painted the Nativity on a plastic CD case. While the format is similar to “stained glass,“ in reality it is “stained plastic!”.


Adrian joins me in wishing XUNICEF colleagues the very best of the Season and for a more optimistic 2021.
Doreen Lobo

....

 


 


 

....


Dear all,
From my daughter’s Christmas tree!
Happy holidays 
Sree
....

NOUS VOUS SOUHAITONS DE BONNES FETES.



QUE 2021 SOIT PLEIN DE SANTE ET LE PLAISIR
DE SE REVOIR

******************************

WISHING YOU HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND A
HEALTHY 2021

HOPING TO SEE EACH OTHER SOON.

Nadia and Fouad
.............


Lou Mendez
.....
Dear XUNICEF Family

We wish you and your families a new year 2021 of joy, peace, hope and better health. Adrian and Doreen Lobo


....


L'embarquement pour le vol AN2021 est annoncé ! N'emportez dans vos bagages que les meilleurs souvenirs de 2010 ......
Laissez les mauvais moments aux objets perdus.
La durée de votre voyage sera d’exactement 12 mois.
Vos prochaines escales sont : 
Santé, Amour, Joie, Harmonie, Prospérité et Paix.
Le Commandant de bord vous propose le menu suivant, servi durant le vol :
Cocktail de l'amitié
Suprême de bonne santé
Gratinée de prospérité
Plateau d'excellentes nouvelles
Salade de réussite
Bûche du bonheur
Le tout accompagné de bulles d'éclats de rires.
Bon et agréable voyage à bord du vol AN2021 !

Malika Abrous

.......

A Happy New Year to all  XUNICEF members!


Detlef Palm

....

Dear Friends,
My very Warm Wishes for a very Happy New Year,
May your New Year be filled with  Good Health, Peace  and Joy...
I  pray God🙏 to give us the courage to
Continue alleviating the plight of Children,   so that they grow and thrive....in Peace.....
It is such a great pleasure to be working  with all of you,
With gratitude,
Rima


....

Dear Friend

Seasons’ greetings and wish you, your families and your beloved ones very happy holidays. May God bless us all peace and prosperity in the coming year, free of corona.


Best regards. Ali Abbasi

....
Mark and Paula Claycomb




Comments

  1. lherissondevint@videotron.caDecember 29, 2020 at 12:03 PM

    Greetings from Montreal! I hope you and your family are well of health and in a very good spirit to welcome the year 2021.

    The year 2020 will soon enter in the past. It will be remembered as the year of many bad events in particular Covid-19, the deadly virus that has aggressively struck the world bringing suffering, despair, loss of millions lives, tears and emotional pains. A year that has also brought to light the many ills of today’s society namely persistent social and economic inequalities, poverty, anger, racism and social tensions that have led to street protests and disturbances in many countries.

    Likewise, Covid has exposed the absence and failure of leadership in many countries as well as the flaws in the decisions taken, the policies and interventions to combat the disease. It has shown the lack of preparedness for an epidemic situation and the blatant weakness of the health systems in many countries to cope with such a disease. It has seriously impacted the economy of the countries. Moreover. the restrictions put in place and the sanitary measures to contain the pandemic have also affected our daily life mentally, emotionally and physically. In sum the year has brought serious challenges to governments, the health systems and the business sector. Indeed, 2020 will be remembered as the year of crisis and devastation that will never be forgotten.

    Nevertheless, with all the shortcomings in tackling this contagious disease, the sacrificial spirit of the health workers needs to be highlighted. High tribute should be paid to them. They are labouring vehemently with professionalism sparing no efforts to save others lives while putting their own at risk. A fine example of self-forgetfulness worthy of emulation. Their work deserves high praise.

    Let us enter the year 2021 with the happy confidence and optimism of triumphant days ahead with the arrival of the vaccine that will help defeat Covid. We should remain confident that the day will come when smiles will chase the tears and pains caused by the virus and we can all turn to more pleasant reflections. Let us hope that the painful lessons learned in 2020 will not go unheeded and will help shape the world of tomorrow with a more humane, inclusive and egalitarian society with social justice and economic opportunity for all at its centre piece. Finally, it is also my hope that we will get out of this crisis year with a better understanding and appreciation of how we should live in the global village.

    Stay safe. With my most hearty good wishes for the New Year and that the new journey be without obstacle and turn out to be the happiest for you and your family.

    Warm regards

    ReplyDelete
  2. jimmayrides@gmail.comDecember 29, 2020 at 12:05 PM



    Dear Friends and Family, December 2020

    Wow! What a 2020 this has been! Glad it is almost over and the future seems to glimmer slightly through the pandemic fog. The loss of life has been excruciating. There has also been an uptake in hope on the political front after an extremely tense, emotional year. Just disappointed with a system that works so often in the self-interest of the supposed “representatives”.

    We began the year with a road trip south visiting friends and family in N.C and S.C. We spent a few weeks in the Villages with friends playing golf and bridge. We visited with family in south Florida. Then with COVID rearing its ugly head, we fled back north in early March.

    Since then we have been hunkered down at home. We did enjoy a few outings with family during the warm summer months sitting outside, wearing masks and social distancing. The hardest part of that was no hugging, just an elbow bump. We’ve done walks around the neighborhood and some food shopping but mostly purchasing on-line. One great activity we do enjoy has been on-line bridge. Even going through the pharmacy drive-thru has become exciting!

    Time marches on. Three grandkids graduated high school and started university. Another has almost completed his degree. Two more are in high school and the three younger girls are virtual students in south Florida. Holidays this year are not as joyous without joint celebrations. We are thankful that technology allows us Face Time with them at least. Despite the pandemic, our children and their families are doing quite well.

    We send you all our best wishes for a very happy and holy Christmas holiday season and a New Year 2021 filled with good health, success in life, happiness and love.

    Elayne and Jim Mayrides
    139 Turnberry Drive
    Thorndale, PA. 19372
    Tel: 610-380-1950
    Elayne cell: 484-888-3770
    Jim cell: 484-467-4112

    ReplyDelete
  3. MuffyJanuary 2, 2021 at 4:16 PM

    Dearest friends,
    We are far far apart this Christmas season, at least 2 m. if not thousands of miles, so my wishes for your happiness are even stronger.
    Yes, after the trying year which has just become “history”, I wish that this unique Christmas season brings magic into our lives, beautiful moments of creativity and joy, new emotions even more special than those hugs we all crave for, lasting and true love and light shining brightly from our hearts.
    I don't know about you but I feel this Christmas has been one of human values and depth rather than a commercial bonanza - a gift in itself to those who yearn for authentic caring gestures - to receive and to give. Now is the time - especially for giving a big bag of happiness to all those in need.
    Yes, my heart goes out especially to all friends who lost loved ones to this awful pandemic. May they rest in peace.
    Yes, we are far apart, but we are all in this together and we are closer than ever and our hearts are beating stronger as we look ahead to a new year, a new era - when we can breathe, sing and dance together again - without masks (maybe).
    Best wishes for a wonderful 2021 to all my beautiful friends from me and my gorgeous four-legged companion, Honey.
    Lots of love,
    Margherita

    ReplyDelete
  4. Angela Raven-RobertsJanuary 8, 2021 at 4:52 PM

    This is Christmas eve in Ethiopia and for the Eastern church. All over that world people are cleaning, soaking, peeling, chopping, grinding and grilling all kinds of delicious things with which to celebrate after the great majestic church services are over. Growing up in Ethiopia I loved all the different customs, cuisines and festivals of my friends and neighbors. I was blessed to live in a community of such diversity. There were all the wonderful events and flavors of Ethiopia itself and then the Greeks, the Armenians, the Egyptians- my Liberian, Nigerian, Ghanian,Sudanese, Yemeni, American school friends; Indians, Italians, Israelis, Yugoslavs, Persians, Germans, Swedes each household with a mother who produced amazing feasts and delicacies eaten together at great family banquets or served as little treats tucked into lunchboxes or Tiffins to be carefully laid out and displayed and solemnly shared between best friends sitting under the huge mimosa tree in the school yard or on family and school organized picnics. Bahais, Copts, Catholics, Hindus, Jews, Lutherans, Moslems all had their wonderful array of festivals and rituals into which one was warmly welcomed and embraced. Families opened their homes and the carefully tended, nurtured, molded, flavored food was served with love and genuine friendship. Even the usually modestly living Baptists and others of the resident ‘Missionary” societies conjured up simple pies and stews whose origins harked back to an early European or American rural tradition. This was an introduction to world histories and cultures through feast and feasting. An opening of the mind and intellect through the rituals of eating, sharing and learning- geographies, histories, origins of beliefs, faiths, methods of dress, dance and above all celebration and the ways in which eating drinking and sharing create meaning and embody the essence of what makes us all human. I think of Ethiopia tonight as that is the root of my own Cosmopolitanism. I think of Ethiopia as it is a place I love and I yearn for peace for it. I yearn for it not to discard its own diversities and all that also unites it. I wish peace and love for all and while I am at it, I am really sorry to see what is happening in Washington DC and the example that is being set and the sad observation that we witness again the double standard of who gets ‘policed’ and tear gassed and shot when there is any civil protest. So sad so predictable. But then again, the people have spoken, the clock has been re set. Good luck Mr Biden, happy "Genna" to all. xxxx

    ReplyDelete

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