Calgarians spend Christmas enjoying time with loved ones, helping ...

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Bowness Park on Christmas Day pulsed with people gliding through its creek with skates, some tripping before their loved ones picked them up with a smile.

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Some used a skate trainer while others tried their hand at a skating bicycle, pushing their way through the ice.

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Those watching clicked photos or strolled along a path tracing the river. Some held hands, while others carried children over their shoulders, walking to and from a small garden festooned with golden lights.

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Standing close to the shore of the creek were Victoria and Oleg Tsilinchuk, watching over their two kids, all of whom had moved to Calgary from Ukraine four months ago.

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The parents beamed as they caressed the shoulders of their children who were frolicking on the ice — but behind their smiles was the tension they had been grappling with as the Russian invasion of Ukraine wore on.

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But they decided they would make this day positive for their kids.

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Christmas tradition for Ukrainians stretches back centuries, which over time has manifested in family tradition. And today wasn’t going to be any different for the Tsilinchuk family, Victoria said.

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“It’s frustrating that we are from our communities, but we decided to (celebrate) the holiday,” she said. “We wanted to keep the Christmas spirit.”

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However, a Christmas in a new city has offered them new connections. For now, they’re enjoying the unique communitarian spirit certain neighbourhoods in Calgary have to offer.

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Seated not far from them was Juan Pablo, who was taking a break from skating. Christmas, to Pablo, means fostering a spirit of kindness, of selflessness over selfishness — a reason that made him celebrate this day with his daughter and the broader community.

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“The place is beautiful,” he said. “It’s amazing.

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“Everybody’s having fun.”

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But Christmas is not just a celebration. It’s also a day to pray, to reflect and to serve your fellow human beings.

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That’s how Oswaldo Caneles chose to celebrate Christmas.

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Caneles, an outreach worker with the Salvation Army, was working at a makeshift warming tent at Chinook Station set up by the non-profit, serving food and hot chocolate to those in need.

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When he realized he’d spend his Christmas at a warming tent outside a train station, Caneles thought, “I’m happy,” he said, “because I was thinking about our clients.”

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Beyond Christmas, this job, he said, has allowed him — after 28 years of working as a property manager in a private real estate company — to wake up each day with a sense of purpose.

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Before joining the organization, he used to think, “Am I going to be finished doing this?”

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Finally, he decided to leave his job, take a social work program for a year and then join the Salvation Army as a volunteer, eventually becoming a full-time employee. His job requires him to venture out every day and make connections with homeless people to link them to resources.

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Now, such existential worries don’t bother him.

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“I don’t see this as a job,” he said.

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“It’s a part of me.”

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