For many years, the Edmonton community of Crestwood, with its canopy of snowy branches, has been known during the holidays as Candy Cane Lane. It’s visited from sunset to midnight by families from across the city and beyond. Why?

Because every year, beginning some time in November, the entire neighbourhood (meaning every household) decorates the outsides of their homes with lights of every colour and configuration, filling the area with the joyful spirit of the season. And every year, local businesses, residents and visitors donate food items and other gifts to the Edmonton Food Bank for those less fortunate.

From its official website at yegcandycanelane.com: “It not only serves as a source of pure joy for all who pass by, but also a welcomed oasis for the less fortunate and those with health challenges, including children at the Stollery Children's Hospital, patients from the Cross Cancer Institute and countless retirement and extended care homes.”

1. Bake like a mother...or a grandmother! There's nothing better than Christmas cookies or a tasty pie to get everyone around your home feeling festive during these trying times.

2. Fill your house with music. It doesn't have to be Christmas tunes but there are some good ones you might not have heard for a while. They're all on YouTube.

3. If your dream is to sell or buy real estate in December 2020, keep that dream alive! Imagine this: "Honey, open your eyes and look at what I bought you for Christmas (It's a new home)!"

4. Light up your property! That "For Sale" sign out front can look even better with some light (or a string of lights) on it. Throw some coloured floodlights onto trees in the yard while you’re at it!

5. Deep clean your home, streamline your stuff and open your closets to charity! You'll feel good and you'll make someone else's holidays great. Cleaner is safer right now.

6. Watch Christmas movies with themes of love and giving and get into the spirit of the season.

7. Buy a batch of old-fashioned holiday greeting cards, write them and send them the old-school way via Canada Post. Don't procrastinate!

8. Connect online via Zoom for LIVE gift exchange parties, karaoke craziness and eggnog (alcoholic and/or non).

9. Drive! Visit neighbourhoods you've never seen before to check out the lights and decorations. Get out-of-town and see snow-capped peaks from the highways at dusk. This is peak season for Northern Lights, too!

10. Stock up on firewood or buy a portable, fuel-burning fire-pit for the yard and keep the home fires burning. If you’re in an apartment condo, set the mood with the fire log channel on TV. Here comes 2021!

There’s a nice curve in the North Saskatchewan River that runs through southeast Edmonton, close to ravines. On the south shore of the bend, you’ll find Gold Bar, a residential area named after gravel bars where prospectors panned for gold in the 1800s. Beautiful Gold Bar Park is on the east side of this community, connecting further south with another gorgeous greenspace called Goldstick.

The community runs east from 50th St. to the ravines of these parks and south to 101 Ave. It boasts off-leash areas for dogs, networks of urban trails and cross-country skiing in the winter. Single-family homes -- many built during the 1950s when the area developed rapidly -- typically run from the 300’s to the 600’s, averaging out somewhere in the middle. It’s peaceful and full of beautiful views.

For shopping, there are businesses at 50th St and 101 Ave and Capilano Mall is nearby, in the community of Ottewell. There are two schools here: Gold Bar Elementary (run by the Edmonton Public Schools Division) and Mount Carmel Bible School, a private Catholic post-secondary school.

Selling a home is not always easy if you have pets. In fact, some experts warn that owning a pet can reduce your home's value. Not if you’re proactive. Here are five tips on making the sale while you and your pet are out for walk in the park!

Always leave – with your pets – during showings. Let your agent make the sale and then return with all people and pets refreshed and relaxed.

Hire a handyman to replace structural elements of your home that your pets might have trashed. Start by inspecting baseboards, floors and doors for scratches and bite damage.

Bring in the movers! You might not have sold yet, but you need to get any chewed-up furniture out the door and into storage… pronto!

Replace carpets and subfloors if they’ve been soaked by your pet. Talk to a carpet retailer about replacement solutions.

Paint the place neutral with odor-free primer. Make it look and smell like new, free of any offensive stench!