Search results matching tag 'Christmas'

Holiday Mail for Heroes

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 21:41:00 GMT

This time of year, many of us recieve e-mails, or see messages posted on Facebook and other social websites suggesting that as we prepare our Christmas cards for family and friends, we also send a card to a recovering soldier at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Sounds like a good idea, right? Don't do it. This Snopes.com article, last updated November 16, 2011, has a thorough explanation of why it doesn't work. However, as the article goes on to explain, the American Red Cross's Holiday Mail for Heroes is a valid option, if you do want to send a card to a soldier. According the the Red Cross, "Every card received will be screened for hazardous materials by Pitney Bowes and then reviewed by Red Cross volunteers working around the country."

The mailing address for the program is:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights MD 20791-5456

However, please visit the Holiday Mail for Heroes website and read the card guidelines. Be aware that this year's deadline is Friday, December 7th!

Happy holidays!

Christmas is Coming

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 17:48:00 GMT

I don't want to alarm anyone, but Christmas is coming; in fact it's less than two months away. Now, it's still entirely too early to be putting up tinsel and whatnot, but it is absolutely time to get on the waiting lists for these new Christmas cookbooks!

I'm personally very much looking forward to trying out the recipe for toffee thins on page 86 of Sweet Christmas: Homemade Peppermints, Sugar Cake, Chocolate-Almond Toffee, Eggnog Fudge, and Other Sweet Treats and Decorations by Sharon Bowers, with photographs by David Bowers.

Other new Christmas cookbooks to be excited about:

Christmas Baking: Fun & Delicious Holiday Treats by Mia Ohrn

A Home-Baked Christmas: 56 Delicious Cookies, Cakes, & Gifts from Your Kitchen

American Christmas

If you really can't wait for these titles, I recommend checking out a copy of an older title, A Baker's Field Guide to Christmas Cookies by Dede Wilson, which has a nice variety of cookies to try.

Joy to the Readers: New Christmas Fiction

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 00:08:00 GMT

Every year, sometimes starting as early as September, the EVPL starts recieving new Christmas fiction. Here are a few of the titles we've gotten in so far this year:

Sarah's Christmas Miracle by Mary Ellis

The Three Kings by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez

The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig

The Next Queen of Heaven : A Novel by Gregory Maguire

Busy Body: An Agatha Raisin Mystery by M.C. Beaton

A Chesapeake Shores Christmas by Sherryl Woods

Christmas Mourning by Margaret Maron

Call Me Mrs. Miracle by Debbie Macomber

Cat Coming Home: A Joe Grey Mystery by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

Love Finds You Under the Mistletoe: Two Heartwarming Stories of Christmas Past and Present

A Piggly Wiggly Christmas by Robert Dalby

A Darcy Christmas: [a holiday tribute to Jane Austen] by Amanda Grange, Sharon Lathan, Carolyn Eberhart

Christmas at The Mysterious Bookshop : 'Tis the Season to be Deadly : Stories of Mistletoe and Mayhem from 17 Masters of Suspense edited by Otto Penzler

Christmas at Harrington's by Melody Carlson

Christmas with Tucker by Greg Kincaid

A Holiday Yarn: A Seaside Knitters Mystery by Sally Goldenbaum

Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas

Two Tickets to the Christmas Ball : A Novella by Donita K. Paul

Gingerbread Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine and Leslie Meier

A Simple Amish Christmas by Vannetta Chapman

Some of these titles are availble in large print or as audiobooks too!

Matchless is just that ...

myzticrhythmz@evpl — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Every year some of your favorite authors pop up with a new title for the holiday season, and this year is no exception. Richard Paul Evans, Linda Howard, Garrison Keillor, Wally Lamb and several others have new books this Christmas.

My favorite this year is a simple little book by Gregory Maguire, author of the Wicked series of Wizard of Oz books. It's called Matchless, and it is an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen tale The Little Match Girl. In this retelling, the match girl's story is woven into that of Frederik Pedersen, a little boy whose widowed mother is the seamstress to the queen. The pair are poor, down to their last bit of tea and last matchstick. Next we meet the match girl who, loses her shoes (one of which Fredrik takes) and is freezing, and she lights her matches one by one until they are gone. Maguire takes us through the sadness of the girl's passing and the story ends happily, as a new family is created.

This story is beautiful in its simplicity and its brevity. Maguire wrote Matchless after being asked by National Public Radio to create an original story with a Christmas theme. The author will read his work Christmas Day on NPR's All Things Considered. Tune in and listen, or snuggle into a cozy chair, grab your favorite read, and have yourself a merry little Christmas!

Christmas Reading

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:54:00 GMT

I hear from a lot of people that they don't have time to read around the holidays. I can certainly understand that, but I need the escape of my favorite hobby more than ever during the busy month of December.

At the top of my Christmas reading list this year, I had Knit the Season by Kate Jacobs. It's her third Friday Night Knitting Club novel. It focuses on 20-year-old Dakota Walker, who was a little girl in the first book, but the rest of the club and Dakota's father James are there too and it takes them from Thanksgiving through Christmas and New Year's Day. I can't say it's as good as the first book, but I enjoyed it. It's also my favorite so far from the batch of books I've selected for this year.

Two others I've enjoyed this month are The Great Christmas Bowl by Susan May Warren and The Christmas Letters by Lee Smith.

Do you still find time to read around the holidays? If so, what are you reading this holiday season?

Links for the holidays

googler@evpl — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:47:00 GMT

I've come across a whole bunch of links appropriate to the season.

The Federal Trade Commission has all the info you need about gift cards, with tips on what to ask when you buy them, and contacts for problems.

The Responsible Shopper wants to promote a responsible economy, and believes consumer education is a good way to do that. Their database allows you to "search hundreds of company profiles by name or by industry and quickly compare the corporate responsibility records of companies."

Don't let Santa come down a dirty or dangerous chimney. This site tells you how to make your fireplace and chimney safer by proper cleaning and maintenance.

Your Christmas cactus and poinsettias, and other common seasonal houseplants, all have differing needs for water, light, etc. Read this site to keep them happy so they'll keep your home festive.

Need some holiday trivia, fast facts, statistics? The US Census Bureau features the holiday season this month with facts and figures from its data collection.

DailyLit is a website that supplies free digital books via email or RSS, which might be a fun way to re-read A Christmas Carol. Subscribe using the box at the right of the screen.

Looking for fun family activities? This site has tons of Christmas craft ideas with great instructions, difficulty ratings, and age recommendations. (My favorite is a Santa made out of a potato chip tube that they probably would have called "Chris Pringle" if it weren't for the trademark.)

Last, prepare for New Year's Eve by reading the champagne primer. Epicurious.com explains the varieties of sparkling wines, how to read labels, how to store, how to serve, and much more.

Counting to Christmas

mrsweasley@evpl — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:13:00 GMT

Waiting for an anticipated event (like Christmas) can be very difficult for young children, who have not developed a sense of the passage of time. Here are some books to help them count down the days.

Counting to Christmas by Nancy Tafuri is a large-format book with bright, simple illustrations. A little girl spends the days before Christmas preparing to share and give. One of her projects is a tree filled with treats for the wildlife near her home. Recipes for outdoor animal treats and other projects are included.

Snowbear finds numerous ways to fill his days in Snowbear's Christmas Countdown by Theresa Smythe. From decorating his house to cracking nuts with his new nutcracker (and including spending couple of days in bed with a cold, watching holiday movies), Snowbear stays busy preparing to enjoy Christmas with his friends. Kids will like the lively illustrations, and may be inspired by Snowbear's creativity and caring. A plus for parents and teachers is that this book uses ordinal numbers (1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, etc.) for the countdown.

Karen Katz's Counting Christmas features her trademark folk art-like illustrations. Charming round-faced, rosy-cheeked children take part in traditional Christmas activities in a warm, family-centered setting. Nothing new here, but Katz's illustrations are worth the trip.

Uno, Dos, Tres, Posada! introduces the Hispanic custom of the nine-night posada and its traditions, such as the candy-filled piñata and fuego artificiales (fireworks). Spanish words share the page with the mostly English verse, with abundant clues in the context and illustrations to clarify their meanings.

And here's a simple craft idea you can use at Christmas, or leading up to any special event, like a birthday or vacation. Make a paper chain using colored strips of paper, one link for each day before the event. Decorate as you please, perhaps putting numbers on each link, or adding stickers, etc. Hang the chain in a conspicuous place, and allow the child to tear off one link each day. It will serve as a tangible reminder of the approaching event, and help children visualize the concept of time passing.

"One Magic Christmas"

MediaPhile@evpl — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 01:03:00 GMT

Everyone has favorite Christmas DVDs.

My favorite comedies are "Scrooged" with Bill Murray (since all I had to do was look at Murray and I would start guffawing) and "Christmas Story" (since it is set in Hammond, which is where I grew up). My favorite dramas are "It's a Wonderful Life" (no explanation required) and "One Magic Christmas."

Released in 1985, "One Magic Christmas" stars Mary Steenbergen as an overworked, fretful mom who labors away as a grocery store clerk and Harry Dean Stanton as Gideon, a guardian angel. Mary's husband is laid off and she doesn't look forward to Christmas at all. In fact, she is an outright Scrooge.

Things get much worse before they get better. But a sequence of events lead her to once again believe in the Christmas message of hope and change.

Just a couple words of caution -- this is more a slice of reality than a magical little children's flick. Also, Mary's children willingly rendevous with Gideon on a trip to the North Pole, but he is after all an angel! (Don't know if times were safer then, or if we just thought they were).

Want to try a fun music program for your child?

FiddleChick@evpl — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:06:00 GMT

This year’s 3rd Annual Holiday Harmony event was a great success! Firstly I want to thank all of the EVPL staff who volunteered their times to make this celebration a great success.

If you don't already know, Holiday Harmony is a wonderful program that happens once a year around Christmas time. Our core focus during this program is to celebrate various cultures/beliefs during this holiday season (December) through song and live instrumentation. Rowan Tree, traditional Irish band and 2006 Evansville Living Magazines voted "Best Place to Spend a Sunday Evening," was present and in top form by accompanying our "Silent Night" singers who sang in various languages ranging from Navajo to Japanese. Signing Hands, a class directed by Miss Lola Snyder at Central Library, were also present that evening to not only sign a verse of "Silent Night" but also sign a Christmas favorite "Up on the Housetop." This year, we were also able to begin a new music program at Central Library called the Beginning Recorder Class. Under my own direction, this 7 week course teaches children between the ages of 6 - 10 how to play the recorder, read music, clap rhythms, know musical terms and eventually compile all of their knowledge by performing at the Holiday Harmony event. This course will be offered again in March of 2009 and will span a total of 2 months (9 weeks) and will end with a recital to be held at Central Library. Parents will be able to sign up their children in February. Limited seats will be available so mark it in your calendars! Also, parents who sign up their children must attend all rehearsals as well as the recital.

For more information about the Beginning Recorder Class or other music programs held at Central Library, you are more than welcome to leave me a message on my blog or e-mail me at christas@evpl.org

A Christmas murder mystery...and Agatha Christie...two of my favorite things.

HRevvdon@evpl — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:26:00 GMT

I thought I had read all of the Agatha Christie murder mysteries years ago. Then, while Becky was searching for a book of Christmas short stories for me, I found Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot's Christmas. The only ties to Christmas are the dates and the estranged family coming home for the holiday. Pretty much the usual Christie/Poirot murder mystery - a gathering of people, a murder, and the little Belgian detective. Picture Murder on the Orient Express - only in an English manor house at Christmas, without any signs of Christmas.

I love Agatha Christie for the simple old-fashioned murder mystery - no high tech here, but unusually there is a bit of gore. Mild by today's standards though. Lots of blood and talk about the quantity of blood. The disappointment of the book is that Poirot does not demonstrate much of his expected manner, and never referrs to "the tiny gray cells." But, am I remembering that from the other books, the movies, or the great A&E movies starring David Suchet (the consumate Poirot, in my opinion)?

Sure, I thought I had figured out whodunit, but I didn't. As usual Dame Christie through in a twist that I didn't catch in the multitude of useful and useless clues.

I don't know if Murder on the Orient Express or Death on the Nile is my favorite. Do you have a favorite? Does anyone read Agatha Christie anymore? And, who is the better detective Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot?