We have many family Christmas traditions. When people ask my kids what their favorite Christmas tradition is, they’ll say seeing the Nutcracker on Whidbey Island with their grandparents, making Almond Roca for family, friends and teachers and making (and destroying) gingerbread houses the weekend after Thanksgiving to kick off the Christmas traditions.
Rainier Youth Choirs presents Warmth in Winter at 2 p.m. Saturday at Kent United Methodist Church, 11010 SE 248th St.
Concert day tickets are $15 and $12 and available at the door at 1:15 p.m.
In many of those Japanese paintings with Mt. Fuji in the background, we find tiny figures moving along under the immensity of the landscape. Here’s an American version of a scene like that, by Stanley Plumly of Maryland, one of our country’s most accomplished poets.
The Maple Valley Creative Arts Center’s second annual Holiday High Tea Event will be held Sunday, Dec. 18 2 p.m.
The Maple Valley Creative Arts Center will host an opening night reception featuring hand painted glass artist, Margaret Joyce Van Duine at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9.
Dace Anderson and Arielle Young will be playing as acoustic duo, Finkle and Einhorn, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9 at the Starbucks next door to QFC at 22131 S.E. 237th Street, Maple Valley.
The Maple Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra will hold a holiday concert Dec. 16. at Maple Valley Presbyterian Church at 7 p.m.
Roy Douglas will be hosting an open mic sing-along at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11 at the Maple Valley Creative Arts Center.
I never claimed to be a good housekeeper. There are just some things in life I really hate to do and housekeeping is one of them. So consequently, I put off many household chores until they are screaming for attention and I can’t ignore them any longer.
The Very Merry Christmas House in Covington is now featured daily from dusk until 11:30 p.m. through Jan. 7.
Artists from the Maple Valley area will be performing “An Evening of Dance, Poetry and Song” 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8 – 9 at the Maple Valley Creative Arts Center.
A 1950s union strike in a textile factory doesn’t sound like the best setting for a musical comedy, but, for Kentlake Drama it has worked well in its production of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’ “The Pajama Game.”
Yes, it is a bit early to begin to think about Christmas. The pumpkin season just ended and Thanksgiving just passed us by.
But America’s Christmas tree farmers are just beginning to get warmed up. They produce a true “real green” product that will create jobs, is grown in the U.S.A. and is recyclable.
Here’s a fine poem about a cricket by Catherine Tufariello, who lives in Indiana. I especially admire the way in which she uses rhyme without it ever taking control of the poetry, the way rhyme can.
Soon the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether making health care coverage mandatory for all Americans is constitutional or not. The principal question is whether the government should have the power to make people buy a particular product – in this case health insurance – regardless whether they want it or not.
The Maple Valley Creative Arts Center will hold a “Post-Traumatic Thanksgiving Blues” event at 7 p.m.
Local area artists will be performing “An Evening of Dance, Poetry and Song” 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8 and 9 at the Maple Valley Creative Arts Center.
Last week, congressional legislators voted to block a proposal by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to improve the nutritional quality of the nation’s school lunches, which the agency says contain too much junk food and not enough fresh produce.
My mother and her sisters were experts at using faint praise, and “Bless her heart” was a very useful tool for them. Richard Newman, of St. Louis, does a great job here of showing us how far that praise can be stretched.
It’s getting harder to feel good about life in America. According to data collected by the Census Bureau, the average income of Americans has fallen by almost 10 percent since the beginning of the recession of 2008. Some experts say the financial crisis has been as traumatic and anxiety-producing for millions of Americans as the events of Sept. 11, 2001. While people back then were fearful of another terrorist attack, they are now experiencing profound existential angst about their future.
