Village News

It is now January and the Mennonite Heritage Village is hosting our auditor, preparing to send out our donations receipts and making our plans for the months ahead. The staff are also busy preparing their budgets for 2021.

History is often ugly. To ignore the ugly bits and glorify the triumphal parts leads to a distortion of the truth and a blindness to our own sorted past.

One day when I was ten my father came home from work and instead of working some more in his shop he came in to the house and told me to get my skates.

Christmas is about celebrating a Gift that keeps giving, so I thought it would be a good time to talk about how we can all give gifts that keep giving.

At this time last year, we could not have foreseen the kind of year 2020 would be. While it is generally the case that we cannot see the future and, if anything is certain, it is that we never do really know what life has in store for us, 2020 was a uniquely challenging year for individuals and organizations alike.

I (Barry Dyck) met Seaton Coleman shortly after starting my job at Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV) in 2009. One pleasure of working at the museum was meeting people from all over the world, and another was getting to know a lot of local people through their support for MHV.

I think all of us will be happy to move on from this year. Like a review for a poor Amazon product most of us would give it one star and say ‘Tried it. Don’t recommend it’. However, it is good to take time to review the year and grieve what needs to be grieved and be thankful for what we still have.

This week my family and I pulled out the Christmas decorations, started listening to traditional carols remixed and thinking about how Christmas will be different this year.

At the Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV) in Manitoba, we know there is a season for everything. A time to build, a time to hibernate. A time to go out and a time to stay in.

Many of us like the security and satisfaction that a To-Do list provides. One of my family members even adds completed items to her list so she can have the satisfaction of making another check mark.