With all the shopping, wrapping, opening and returning (maybe not all the returning) of Christmas behind us, the next biggie looming on the social calendar ahead is New Year's. For those who hesitate venturing out New Year's Eve amidst the loco drivers filled with a little too much holiday cheer, the New Year's Day party is a sane alternative. About four years ago, Bradenton's Sondra Sharff, a willowy blonde and single mother of two boys, discovered the fun of hosting a New Year's Day party for her friends and is willing to share her tips and recipes. Three of her annual menu "musts" are …
Pass by the knotty root labeled "ginger: in the produce department of your local grocery store and visions of icing-trimmed, candy-covered houses do not automatically come to mind. But it is that very same tuber, used for centuries in healing teas and potions, which is the basis for the gingerbread house still created in homes today as part of the Christmas tradition. Fourteenth-century Germans formed gingerbread guilds and used carved molds to create gingerbread masterpieces for aristocracy. German bakers in the 1600s were the first to begin the tradition of celebrating the holidays with …
Those with active childhood memories will recall the very merry unbirthday scenes from "Alice in Wonderland." Drs. Susan and Randy McSwain creatively invented what they call the Very Merry UnChristmas to accommodate celebrating the holiday with a complicated matrix of four generations of in-town and out-of-town families. "I call it the Simple Christmas," explains Susan, a pastoral counselor, who resides with her retired surgeon husband in Northwest Bradenton. "We find this is the least stressful for all and provides the most relaxing time for everyone involved." The true spiritual meaning of…
Years ago, when my kids were toddlers, my next door neighbor tucked her little boys to bed wearing their t-shirts for the next day under their blanker sleeper. We lived in Buffalo and for those of you who wonder what is a blanket sleeper, it is a combo blankey and pajamas. Very cozy. I propose that this is the time of year we should all sleep in our clothes so we can hit the ground running. There is shopping, decorating, parties, more shopping, wrapping, writing cards and then shopping again. My son once confided to me that he saved his shopping for the day before Christmas because then he …
