Friday, January 4, 2013
Saying goodbye to the holidays and this column.
So, how did you spend Boxing Day? Unless you’re wearing a toque and scanning the web for creative ways to incorporate Christmas leftovers into poutine, you spent it staring at the Amazon.com home page in a kind of disconnected-post-holiday stupor, head propped on your coffee mug and desperately trying to remember what day it is and how you got to work this morning. At ease, Suzy Snowflake. The color-coded Christmas threat scale has been changed from fuchsia to magenta, signaling a "less-than-elevated-but-remain wary" threat of continued holiday madness. Time to check the expiration date on that carton of egg nog in the fridge before the Penicillium takes over and your left with a thick Camembert that smells like nutmeg. The post-holiday …
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
How much will we spend this year? And what's the best-selling Christmas song of all time? Find the answers below.
Looking for something to talk about over Christmas dinner? Here are a few things most people don't know about our yuletide traditions.
There are so many holiday traditions that we do without thinking much about how or why they started. Allow us to shed some light on a few: 1. Candy Canes. They're believed to have made their debut in the mid-1600s, when a German choirmaster made white sugar sticks shaped like shepherd’s staffs in the mid-1600s to keep fidgety kids occupied during live Nativity scenes, according to www.christianitytoday.com. The idea caught on, and became common at Nativity scenes all over Europe. The idea of using them as tree decorations began in about 1847, and red stripes and peppermint flavor were added around the turn of the century, the Web site says. Christian sources say the candy has many symbolic qualities – the white representing the virgin …
Plenty of money flowing for gifts and decorations, according to U.S. Census Bureau.
There's plenty of ways to look at the holiday season, but the U.S. Census Bureau has offered a little numerical perspective on what typically goes on this time of year. $27 billion: The total amount of retails sales at the nation's department stores in December 2011, the most recent year with available statistics. Not surprisingly, this amount was a 45-percent increase over November 2011. 22 percent: This is the amount departments stores increased their inventories between August and November 2011. Of course, inventories dipped by 21 percent when holiday shoppers hit the stores in December 2011. $38 billion: The total amount of retails sales done online or by mail order in December 2011. $1 billion: The value of U.S. imports of Christmas …
Monday, December 24, 2012
NORAD tracks Santa every year, and children can find out where Santa is as he travels the world delivering presents.
While Santa Claus makes his trip around the world, with Rudolph lighting the way, the men and women at NORAD will be tracking his travels and alerting children of his progress. Santa's magic is powerful and much more technologically advanced than that of NORAD, the North American Air Defense Command, said U.S. Army Major Mike Humphreys. Humphreys is stationed at Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado Springs, Colo. The command is confident that Santa will be able to handle anything he encounters on his Christmas Eve trip. "We have satellites in space that pick up heat signatures, and those satellites pick up threats," Humphreys said. "Rudolph's nose comes in quite well on those satellite images. We also have 47 radar sites that are able to …
Friday, December 21, 2012
A neighbor of St. Paul’s United Church of Christ recently donated an entire nativity scene to the church after five figures were stolen from the previous set.
A kind neighbor has helped a Downers Grove church restore its stolen nativity scene. Five figures—Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus and two magi—were stolen from St. Paul's United Church of Christ, 5739 Dunham Road, on Dec. 4. An empty manger and a lone wise man were all that remained of the scene when church staff arrived the next day. READ: Nativity Figures Stolen from Downers Grove Church A few days later, a woman who lives nearby contacted the church after reading about the stolen nativity on Downers Grove Patch, said Rev. Kirk Moore, pastor at St. Paul’s. The woman had an extra nativity set in her garage that she wanted to donate to the church, Moore said. "Baby Jesus was stolen," Moore said of the donated set. "Thankfully, we have a spare …
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
If you've got wit, add your caption to Patch's weekly comic challenge and win a personalized print.
Are you blessed with insight and good humor? Or just bored today? Share your wit with your neighbors by entering Patch's comic caption challenge. Just add your dialogue for today's comic in the comment section of this post. Our only requirement is that you keep it clean! At week's end, we'll pick the winning punchline based on how many of us here at Patch giggle and smile at your contribution. The user who produces the winning punchline will get a personalized proof of the comic, with the winning words and a credit line, from cartoonist Chuck Ingwersen and Patch. Congratulations to Louis W. Sagan, who provided the winning punchline to last week's Doctor and Bear cartoon: If you think I'm letting you anywhere near me with a scalpel, you can…
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Our Patch Elf on the Shelf has gotten ahold of our computer and now wants to know what his buddy elves are up to. Share your photos here!
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Attention emergency services workers: a boy in Virginia wants to hear from you.
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Thursday, December 13, 2012
Update: Nathan's mom is reporting that the family is becoming overwhelmed with the amount of letters and cards coming to their home and is asking well-wishers to visit Nathan's CaringBridge site or Facebook page to leave greetings. It seems that every holiday season, a story comes along that can change the way we look at life. This year is no different. Earlier this month, one of our Patch sites in New Milford, VA, told us the story of 6-year old Nathan Norman — a boy with terminal cancer and who is reaching out to policemen, firemen and all emergency service workers everywhere to fulfill his final Christmas wish. READ: A CHRISTMAS WISH FOR A DYING BOY Like many boys his age, Nathan has a deep interest in watching the heroes that make up…
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Our Patch Elf on the Shelf has gotten ahold of our computer and now wants to know what his buddy elves are up to. Share your photos here!
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Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Hello friends! I'm the Patch Elf on the Shelf. Call me Patchy. I've heard about more of my friends hanging around the area lately, and I wondered what they were up to. Could their families post pictures here on Patch to show me? I'd love to catch up with them. We all go back to Santa on Christmas Eve, but in the meantime, we'll be watching you! Cheers, Patchy the Elf - - - - - - - - - - - - - - There are plenty of ways to keep up on Downers Grove news:
Dan McReavy
3:35 pm on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Tony, come over to nwzPaper.com already! We just passed month three of public beta testing and Sam DeWitt of Denver, CO marks journalist account number 352! http://nwzpaper.com/journalistPerspective?userId=352 I highly recommend everyone to check it out if you are sad about the decline of Patch. Best, Dan McReavy more ›