The Secret Society of Santas is not just a Myth.

Yes, Virginia, we can confirm that there are actually teams of “Secret Santas”

… in neighbourhoods like ours who are bringing gifts of kindness to unsuspecting people during this Holiday Season.

We all want Disneyesque “Story-Book” endings.

But “real” Life stories never quite go as imagined. They meander and wander with unanticipated outcomes.

A few weeks ago, we entered “The Great Furnace Giveaway” sponsored by Derrick Davidson Mechanical Services, a local company based in Caledonia. (You can still click here to read our original story).

Like many other local business owners, we have been affected by COVID.

Just days before the mandatory closure of our Dance Club/Studio in March, we were at home in bed; drifting into the twilight of sleep. We heard a loud “scream”. Actually, it was more like a “screech”. As if two knife edges were being scraped back and forth, over and over. Our furnace had broken down.

Two days later on Friday, March 13th — yes, Friday the 13th — and only 2 weeks to go before the end of the Winter term, we had to shut down danceScape because mandatory lockdowns, our home away from home where we had been teaching for the past 20 years. As a “non-essential” local business, we had to stop all our “In-Studio” Ballroom, Salsa, Wedding Dance, and Fitness classes.

As fate would have it, we had been collecting photography lights, green screens, webcams, and even a pocket-sized live event camera over the years. As well as dabbled in virtual reality and livestreaming with Periscope, Facebook and other apps. (One of us likes shiny new tech objects!)

In just 7 days during March Break, we transformed our un-heated basement into a home “internet television” station, broadcasting our dance and fitness classes to Students. Necessity is indeed the mother of creation!

Spring came. Then Summer.

Thanks to another alumni Student-Friend, Brandon, we discovered that there was no need for the furnace to run the air conditioner. So that meant we could put off its replacement while still keeping cool during the summer.