No matter how old your children are, the period preceding Christmas is exciting and busy. Families are looking forward to gatherings and Grandparents; children are anticipating Santa; young couples may be planning Big Announcements; and most important of all, Christians are making ready to celebrate the Coming of the Lord. I think all of us […]

Sure you’ve heard of Saint Patrick’s Day, but did you know that the other March Feast Day – which happens to belong to Saint Joseph — is equally well and joyously celebrated? It’s true that we know little about Saint Joseph – other than the obvious. He was chosen by God to be Mary’s husband, […]

If I should tell you who got the ring, you would think it really meant something…–ADT Whitney, We Girls (1870) I don’t think it’s any secret that not so long ago, Halloween was a lot more fun (and a lot less grotesque). Bleeding Masks and Body Part Decorations were not yet in vogue and the […]

New Orleans, March 14 1891: Eleven Italian immigrants are shot, hanged, and mutilated in front of a cheering crowd of thousands You probably know that Columbus Day falls on the second Monday in October; you may even know its original date (before Congress enacted the “Monday holidays”). But you may not know that Columbus Day […]

Do you send postcards? I occasionally send one to a family member not acquainted with Great Sand Dunes or Indianapolis Children’s Museum. But I rarely use them to just say Hi –and almost never for holiday greetings. In the early decades of the 20th Century, postcards were the preferred form of communication. (Some 900 million […]

As my kids get older, I find myself more and more alert for ideas that can remain relevant (or at least fun) for them as they rush past their elementary years. So you can imagine the satisfaction of learning about a German tradition called Ostereierbaum (also Eierbaum or Osterbaum): an Easter Egg Tree. This is […]

June 30 (1859) happens to be the date “The Great Blondin” wearing pink tights and spangles, crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope. And he did it without a net or a harness or any of the other safety features (like rescue helicopters) we’d see today. Niagara Falls is an iconic body of water on the border […]

Considering that we hardly pay it any mind, May Day has a pretty interesting history, associated through the ages with an ancient Celtic festival, a medieval holiday, a Catholic ritual, and the modern labor movement. Plenty of room for exploration, education and fun. May Day began as an ancient Celtic holiday called Beltane (or some […]

Some years we make “natural dyed eggs” and some years we go for glitter and tie-dye. This year we tried looking for natural dye in our own backyard — where we found a little yellow flower growing all over. The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center site identifies it as an Huisache Daisy, a member of the […]

“Now the wellcome time of harvest aproached, in which all had their hungrie bellies filled.” Watched an eye-opening video from Izzit the other day. Called Yours and Mine: The Lesson of 1623, the free DVD focused on the early days of Plymouth Colony. Never learned this in school, but apparently the Puritans* who settled there […]