Caring for Poinsettias
Nothing says Christmas like brilliant red poinsettias. Also available in other colors, these tropical plants can spread cheer throughout the holidays and beyond if you care for them properly. Here’s how to keep these festive plants merry and bright. Buying poinsettias To keep poinsettias blooming into the new year, be sure to choose healthy plants. […]
Celebrating the Christmas Season
The legend of Santa Claus originated with Saint Nicholas in the 4th century. Nicholas was perhaps best known for having secretly supplied a poor man with three purses of gold coins to pay for his three daughters’ weddings. In one version of the story, he dropped the purses down the chimney and one purse landed […]
Hanukkah: Celebrating the Festival of Lights
Candles in a Menorah are lit each night of the eight days of Hanukkah to signify the miracle of one day’s worth of consecrated oil lasting for eight after the desecration of the ancient Jewish temple. Thus, Hanukkah is also known as the Festival of Lights. Building neighborhood bonds. The holiday season offers the opportunity […]
Sharing the Bounty of Thanksgiving
The first recorded Thanksgiving in 1621 had wild turkey and other fowl, along with abundant fish and venison. The event was attended by the surviving 50 members of the original group that arrived on the Mayflower and 90 Native Americans. Prior to the drafting and adoption of the U.S. Constitution in 1789, the Continental Congress […]
Honoring the Defenders of Freedom on Veterans Day
Armistice Day commemorated the end of World War I. An armistice was declared at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year 1918. In 1938, Congress made it a federal holiday. In 1947, the name was changed to Veterans Day to honor all who have served. Veterans Day is […]
Exercising Our Freedom On Election Day
America was predominantly an agrarian society in the 18th century. By November the harvest was done, but winter storms had not commenced, so farmers could participate in elections. Later the day was set for the first Tuesday following the first Monday of November because it didn’t interfere with Sunday church or Wednesday market days, with […]
Turning Back the Clock: Returning to Standard Time
Nations located along the equator see little benefit to Daylight Saving Time since the difference in the number of daylight versus dark hours varies little. For the rest of us, it’s good to remember to “spring forward, and fall back.” You’ll lose an hour of sleep in the spring and gain an hour in the […]
Halloween: It’s So Much Fun It’s Scary
Stingy Jack was a mythical Irish figure who was said to roam the countryside with a lantern made from a burning coal in a hollowed-out turnip. The Halloween tradition of a lighted Jack O’ Lantern evolved from that story. Keeping Halloween Safe As the sun sets on October 31, children and their parents roam neighborhood […]
Patriot Day: Remembering 9/11
Since 1775, some of the New England states have marked the third Monday in April as Patriots’ Day in honor of the Battle of Lexington and Concord that marked the beginning of the American War of Independence from Great Britain. The new holiday began immediately following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, when President […]
Labor Day: Celebrating the American Worker
The National Education Association, the union for teachers and school administrators, is the largest union with more than three million members. In 1894 President Grover Cleveland signed the law making the first Monday of September the federally recognized holiday known as Labor Day. End of summer, beginning of fall. Although seasonally still part of summer, […]
Celebrating America’s Freedom on Independence Day
Signers John Adams and Thomas Jefferson became the second and third U.S. presidents, respectively, and in an odd twist of fate, each died on July 4, 1826, fifty years later. Today, we celebrate the holiday much as Adams wrote to his wife Abigail: “It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, […]
In Honor of Dad
This father and son team has competed in thousands of marathons and triathlons. Born in 1962, son Rick has cerebral palsy, and his dad pushes him in a special wheelchair, carries him on a special bicycle and pulls him in a small boat as he swims. They have competed in more than 1,100 events including […]
Memorial Day: Honoring Fallen Heroes
No consensus exists on when and where Memorial Day in America began, but the custom of decorating the graves of America’s Civil War dead became so widespread by 1868 that May 30 became known as Decoration Day. In 1967, it became officially known as Memorial Day. In 1968, Congress moved the day from May 30 […]
Celebrating Mom on Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day began in 1908 when West Virginia’s Anna Jarvis memorialized her mother, who had cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared Mother’s Day to be a national holiday on the second Sunday of May. Today in the United States, $24 billion is spent […]
Easter a Traditional Sign of Spring
The first Easter Egg Roll was held on the White House grounds in 1878 by President Rutherford B. Hayes. Festively colored Easter eggs were originally meant to symbolize the birth of new life. Easter bunnies in the U.S. were introduced by German immigrants settling in Pennsylvania during the 18th Century. Easter is the second biggest […]
Coming up Green on St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick is often depicted with a cross in one hand and a three-leaf clover in the other. He was a Fifth Century missionary and bishop credited with introducing Christianity to Ireland. St. Patrick used a three-leaf clover to explain the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity to the Irish people. Today, St. Patrick’s Day, […]
Does Daylight Saving Time Reduce Energy Usage?
Hawaii and Arizona (except for the Navajo Nation) do not observe Daylight Saving Time. Cultures throughout history have adjusted time measurement to maximize the use of daylight and increase productivity. Versions of Daylight Saving were adopted in Europe and America with the growth of railroads and the industrial age in the 1800s. Daylight Saving Time […]
Celebrating Presidents’ Day
Cherry pie is the unofficial dessert of Washington’s Birthday, drawing from the legend of young Washington chopping down a cherry tree. Presidents’ Day has had various designations. Originally it celebrated George Washington’s birthday on February 22. In the 20th Century, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on February 12 was also noted, as well as paying respect to […]
Love Blooms on Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day also ranks second only to Christmas for greeting card sales, but Mother’s Day sells more flowers than Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day, as we know it, has its romantic roots in a poem about “Valentines” by 14th Century English writer Geoffrey Chaucer, best known for “Canterbury Tales.” During that period, the concept of “courtly […]
Groundhog Day
The tradition of forecasting a longer or shorter winter originated with a medieval German belief about the behavior of badgers. The folklore made its way to the Pennsylvania Dutch country in America around 1840. Today, each February 2nd, the town of Punxsutawney, in western Pennsylvania celebrates Groundhog Day by declaring that “Punxsutawney Phil” has or […]