I hope your birthday celebration was a good one yesterday.

I realize it probably wasn't your personal birthday unless you happen to share it with our nation as it marked its 142nd anniversary on Wednesday. But I'm always up for a birthday party.

I've always felt celebrating Canada Day in the middle of the week wasn't as great as getting a long weekend holiday. However, now that I am in semi-retirement mode, every day seems like a holiday.

When I was growing up, we called the day Dominion Day. That changed in 1982 and I don't remember it being a big deal, but I suppose it was for older Canadians.

I guess I'm a patriot by most definitions of the word. I love my country and fly our flag at my home. I sometimes tear up when I hear the anthem sung and I am extremely proud of the fact that people around the world envy us and the wonderful land in which we live. You can't say the same for countries like Afghanistan.

My ancestors, relative newcomers to the Canadian experience, first came to Canada in the latter part of the 19th century by way of Ireland and Scotland.

They settled in southern Ontario, first plowing fields, and as the family grew, moving north to cut timber in the forests of Manitoulin Island and on the mainland. The Ballantyne contribution to the growing nation included service in both world wars. So our part of the clan wasn't in at the start of things.

Many Americans take pride in being able to trace their ancestry back to the arrival of the Pilgrims in Cape Cod in 1620. It gives them bragging rights to be able to claim they've been true red, white and blue patriots from the get-go.

My wife Carol has them beat on that score. Her family has traced its history in Canada back to a man named Louis Hébert, who was born in Paris in 1575 and arrived in Port Royal, Acadia (Nova Scotia), in 1607 on a ship captained by Samuel de Champlain. And you can take that to the bank, pilgrim.

In the 400 years since then, Carol's maternal roots encompassed fur traders, members of the Huron tribe in this region, farmers, fishermen, soldiers, miners and one Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, our seventh PM.

While I may be the most vocal flag-waver in our current family, Carol quietly takes pride in being descended from the first settler on land that became Quebec City when Louis Hébert moved there in 1617.

You can't get much more Canadian than that.