Canada wrote another memorable chapter in its 148-year history this year, with many unforgettable moments that should make all Canadians proud to call this country home.

Here are some of the fun, fascinating, quirky, heartwarming and thrilling moments since last Canada Day that'll give you reason to wave your flag on Wednesday.

Canada captured in a photo

Hockey. Mounties. Ice. If you had to sum up Canadian iconography in one photo, it would probably look something like this image taken by B.C. RCMP officers last March.

The photo shows a Canadian Mountie in full uniform (along with skates and a stick), preparing to shoot the puck at a goaltender on an outdoor rink in the B.C. mountains.

While some might criticize the image as cliché, it's certainly not as in-your-face as the Miss Canada costume photo that went viral earlier in the year.

Miss Canada, Chanel Beckenlehner

The ultimate 'man cave'

A Canadian man gave new meaning to the term "man cave" this year, after police discovered the entrance to a large underground hideaway he'd dug in the woods near York University in Toronto. The cave's builder did not immediately come forward, leading to much speculation about its true purpose. The so-called "Toronto Tunnel" captured national attention for several days, with many debating the origins of the mysterious items found inside. Some suggested it might be a terrorist hideout, but those fears were put to rest several days later, when a North York construction worker admitted to digging the tunnel as a personal getaway.

Crowdfunding generosity

Crowdfunding websites like GoFundMe emerged this past year as one of the most popular ways for Canadians to support those in need, as donors pledged hundreds of thousands of dollars to help the victims of tragedy, disease and other forms of hardship.

Well-wishers raised $123,000 for a nine-year-old girl who lost her limbs to an infection, $10,000 for a mom to have her son's body flown home, $95,000 to send a formerly homeless woman to Harvard and $175,000 to pay for the funeral of a Toronto toddler who froze to death last winter.

Eastern Canada survives mountains of snow

Atlantic Canada typically gets a lot of snow in the winter, but this year was particularly bad. The region saw more than two metres of snow fall in the span of about two months in early 2015 -- and without warm spells sprinkled in to melt off the accumulation. By March, some cash-strapped cities were forced to ask their citizens for help shovelling off the roads.

But East Coasters endured these near-disastrous conditions with determination and humour, and as the winter wore on, they shared many amusing photos of their winter wonderland on social media

Photos circulated in January of people opening their front doors to walls of snow. One man shared a video of the tunnel he dug to reach his car. Others posed next to three- and four-metre-high snowbanks.

One person captured footage of a train blasting through a massive snowbank, showing that no matter how high the snow gets, Canadians will find a way to work through it.

Dollarama survives retail exodus

It was a bleak year for Canadian retail, as several Canadian-based operations were either sold to American ownership or went belly-up in the face of competition from south of the border.

Best Buy absorbed Future Shop. Blacks Photography announced it will close all outlets by August. Mexx Canada filed for bankruptcy, Reitmans closed its Smart Set stores and Target's high-profile expansion into Canada ended in bankruptcy and embarrassment , just two years after it launched.

But despite the dark clouds hanging over the retail sector, Canadian-owned Dollarama continued to thrive . The dollar-store chain has been steadily expanding its business, and now stands poised to open its 1,000th store.

Much ado about cereal

Canada's last Kellogg's cereal plant closed for good in London, Ont., in December, leaving about 450 people out of work. But a few employees at the company remained proud of a Canadian-made product right up to the end, and found a novel way to show that pride using the last cereal box that rolled off the production line.

A family in Timmins, Ont., opened a box of Frosted Flakes last March to find a message on the cereal bag that had been written by former workers at the plant. "This is the very last bag of Canadian cereal for the Canadian market from Kellogg's London Ontario plant," it said.

The three long-time employees signed their names on the bag, along with the lengths of time they'd worked at the plant.

Canada may be losing its factory jobs, but its employees are as dedicated as ever to their work.

Lost and found Franklin Expedition wreck

Grade school history class came alive in late 2014, when the federal government announced one of the two lost Franklin Expedition ships had been found in the Canadian Arctic. The shipwreck was soon identified as Sir John Franklin's flagship, HMS Erebus, which went missing along with HMS Terror while exploring Canada's north in 1845.

The fate of the Franklin Expedition crew remains shrouded in mystery, but researchers hope the Erebus wreck can help them piece together more of what happened to that ill-fated mission to find the Northwest Passage.

Leading by example

We can't take credit for the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage, but we can be proud our country has been leading by example for the last decade. July 20 will mark the 10-year anniversary of the day same-sex marriage was legalized across Canada.

Ontario was the first province to legalize same-sex marriage in 2003, and the rest of the country followed suit two years later. U.S. couples have been coming to Canada ever since to tie the knot in the Great White North.

Same-sex marriage crusader Edith Windsor was one of those Americans who came to Canada to get married. Windsor has been fighting against the Defence of Marriage Act in the U.S. for years, and her efforts helped lay the groundwork for last week's landmark decision.

Many gay marriage supporters trumpeted the slogan "Love wins" after the U.S. ruling was handed down. But in Canada, love has already been winning for 10 years.

Hockey supremacy

Canada's hockey pride runs deep, and we never run out of reasons to fawn over our top players. Still, this year saw Canada end two gold medal droughts in tournaments where the country has underperformed recently.

First, Canada's top teen players captured the World Junior Championship on home ice in Toronto in a thrilling final game against Russia on Jan. 5. The victory ended a five-year gold medal drought for Canada.

Next, a team of Canadian NHLers captured gold at the IIHF World Hockey Championships for the first time since 2007.

Canada's national women's team also served themselves proud at the World Hockey Championships, capturing a silver medal after falling 7-5 to their U.S. rivals in the championship game .

Canadian sports hospitality

If there's a big sports tournament happening in North America right now, chances are it's happening in Canada. Our country already played host to the World Juniors, but we've got two big summer events on the schedule that are happening now or in the days ahead.

The FIFA Women's World Cup is already in full swing, with games taking place in several cities across the country. Canada bowed out of the tournament on Saturday in a loss to England, but captain Christine Sinclair and her squad acquitted themselves well with the tournament on their home turf.

Looking ahead, the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games will sweep into Toronto on July 10, as 41 countries and territories gather to compete in a number of summer amateur sports.

Our athletes might not be taking home all the top prizes, but our country is still front and centre as the host of these big sporting events.