It's the week of December 13th!

Are you ready for Christmas or are you already participating in Chanukah festivities? Are your halls decked? Cookies baked? Shopping done...or even started? The two weeks leading up to Christmas always seem to be the busiest weeks of the year. But, in all the holiday hustle and bustle, you must recharge your batteries with a little downtime. Speaking of (ya, crappy segue), this is the last week that The Hour will be taping until January 2010. I just checked and as of now there are still some tickets available for this week.

As always, the week begins with a new edition of The Strombo Show on CBC Radio 2. Find your frequency here.

Unfourtunately, we have not yet received a list of the guests scheduled to appear on The Hour this week. Therefore, the following may be subject to change...time will tell.

Monday, December 14th

Head of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, Paul Kennedy.



Canadian heavy metal band Anvil.

Tuesday, December 15th

Portuguese-born, Toronto raised actor in Stargate Universe, Louis Ferreira.

A few weeks ago, George had mentioned the story of six year old Elena Desserich. Elena, suffering from brain cancer, knew she was dying. In the time she had left, she began leaving hundreds of notes hidden everywhere in her family home. Her parents, Keith & Brooke Desserich have compiled these notes into a book, Notes Left Behind 135 days with Elena. Keith will be on The Hour. I could write more, but instead I would ask that you watch the brief clip below, as it will preview Elena's story far better than I could.

Wednesday, December 16th

Founder of Samasource and Huffington Post contributor, Leila Chirayath Janah.

Canadian musician, author and activist Matthew Good makes a return visit to The Hour.

Thursday, December 17th

Actor, writer, animator, director and Monty Python alumni Terry Gilliam.

In case you missed the memo, the world will be coming to Vancouver in February! No one is more aware of this fact than John Furlong, Chief Executive Officer for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Presumably, Mr. Furlong will be providing an update on the Vancouver preparations as the Olymic Torch is currently making its way across Canada. This week "the flame" will be passing through my community. Has it come to your town yet? Let us know!

Friday, December 18th

This "best of show" includes Stephen King, Shawn Ashmore and Anika Noni Rose.

In other news...

Did you happen to catch the holiday special Deck the Halls with Steven and Chris? You can watch it here. George participated in the show and created a rather 'interesting' gingerbread house, now up for auction on Ebay. Proceeds from the sale of George's creation will go to Serve Canada, an organization that "empowers youth to become caring, confident, and contributing members of their community through experience-based learning". Also still up for grabs on Ebay is that infamous Toronto Maple Leafs jersey!

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CBC Learning has released a five volume DVD set of The Hour for use in the classroom. The set includes "The Hour’s best interviews on key curriculum-relevant subjects, including politics, civics, the environment, business and character education". If you are an educator, you may want to check it out. Also, if you have someone on your gift list who is a fan of CBC programming, be sure to check out the CBC Shop Online.

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And finally...don't forget to cast your vote for The Moose Award.