O Canada!

The Frostbite & Sunburn household 

became Canadian Citizens today.

This is a special and long awaited date for us - one more piece of the puzzle that ties us to our new home, and slots into place with a feeling of calmness and settledness (if such a word exists).  We applied one year ago - and have lived as Permanent Residents in Canada for just over four and a half years now.

We all arrived bright and early, and after having all our paperwork checked out (passports with the dates that we said we were in, and out, of the country, birth certificates, Permanent Resident cards, etc), my hubby and I took a written test.  It is a 20-question multiple choice test - and you need to get at least 15 to pass.

Applicants between the ages of 18 and 55 sit the test - so our girls sat outside the room with a book, waiting for mum and dad to do their thing!  In all honesty, we should have sent the kids on our behalf, as they knew all the history and geography better than us.

I think I now have a pretty good grounding in Canadian history and politics, who is on which dollar bill, and what a beaver represents!


Because we passed the test in the morning, we were invited back at 1pm to take part in the Citizenship swearing-in ceremony.  One hundred new citizens took their oath in Calgary today (in French and English) and came from an amazing 37 different countries of origin.


I felt it was a very special day and even caught myself welling up a bit.  Old softie.

The Ceremony finished off with a final sing-song of the national anthem "O Canada" - in English (thank goodness, for us!).  I really like the Canadian national anthem and my throat nearly always closes up when I hear it, or try to sing it - I think this is down to the pure gusto with which it is sung.  It's a very proud song.


So then we all filed out to start the next part of our life in Canada.


And they can't kick us out now, eh?