Winter chills bring thoughts of summer reading programs

We need society, and we need solitude also, as we need summer and winter, day and night, exercise and rest.
--Philip Gilbert Hamerton

 

It's freezing outside.  Which means it is time to start planning the summer reading program.  This will be my fourteenth summer running the program, and I need to breathe some new life into it.  Switch things up a little bit, and hopefully attract some more kids.  

Attendence over the past few years has remained small.   Some kids grow out of the program, and few return to take their places.  I'm not great at promoting the summer reading program.  I've done it for so many years already, and have never really succeeded in drawing extra kids through the library door.  I would not make a great salesman.  So, we're doing some work to come up with new ideas.

In the past few years, I've started the summer reading program shortly after school gets out.  Bigger libraries do this with great success.  But, we aren't a bigger library.  With a town of less than 500 people, there aren't all that many kids, and right after school gets out is when there are a lot of other really great programs and activities for them.  Maybe that will help.  

For many years we've had a library store at the end of the program.  Each 15 minutes of reading equals one library dollar to spend at the store.  The kids love it, but it doesn't necessarily encourage six weeks of reading.  Many of them cram some book reading into the last week of the program.  This year we're thinking about giving the kids prizes at each level of reading met.  Read for two hours, you get a prize.  Continue reading for another two and you get another.  We're also toying with the idea of getting credit for attending story hour and credit for bringing in the book logs and getting them stamped for some extra prizes.  Big libraries can't do that, but since we're so small it would be an option.

The thing about small libraries is that you know most of the kids that walk through the door.  You know their names, ages, and have a pretty good idea of what their home lives are like.  You know which ones need the most help with reading.  You know what kinds of books they prefer.  You know what games they play on our computers.  

At a small library you build relationships with these kids.  Granted, it's only for a short time.  Sometime in their teens they don't come through the door on a regular basis anymore.  Sometimes you don't see them until they bring their own children in.  You do your best to provide them with some tools for a successful life while you have the opportunity.  You impart on them the belief that public libraries are a wonderful thing.

It's really only the beginning of the planning stage, but we've already brainstormed quite a few new ideas.  It should be a fun year.  The Dig Into Reading theme translates to one thing for me, WORM ART!!  One of my most favorite projects!  I can hardly wait to share this painting technique with a few more kids.  What the rest of the six week program will bring is still up for discussion.  

Here's hoping we can bring a breath of fresh air to our summer reading program.  Maybe we can bottle up some of this below zero windchill and pull it out in July. 

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”― John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

      

New Comment, old story

We live in an increasingly sophisticated world that makes it difficult to make simple comments on stuff. There are too many people on both sides of the border who are taking advantage of circumstances and the situation.
Arlo Guthrie
 

I love it when people comment on this blog.  I like the feedback, I like the shared stories, I like the shared ideas.  For every post I do, I hope for a comment or fifty.  Lately, I've been getting a lot of comments.  Usually not on the current posting though.  More often than not, it's on the Smooth Seas or What Happened After the After School Special postings.  Those comments don't make it onto the actual blog.  Sometimes, the comments are quite flattering.


 Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors. ~Africa...":

This post is priceless. How can I find out more?
Also visit my web site ... immobilien alanya
See, my writing is priceless!  Maybe I should have clicked on that sight.


Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Ode to Toys":

Thanks for finally talking about > "Ode to Toys" < Loved it!
my web page :: cool minecraft pictures
Too bad I don't have any use for cool minecraft pictures, but thank you for taking time to leave a comment!


 Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "What happened after the After School Special?":


I am curious to find out what blog system you have been using?
I'm experiencing some small security problems with my latest blog and I'd like to
find something more secure. Do you have any recommendations?
My webpage : Tropical Fish Food
Oh, sorry to hear about the security problems with your Tropical Fish Food website.  I'm really not a great person to ask about that kind of stuff though.  I just write the postings, I don't get too involved with anything else.  Good luck!


 Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors. ~Africa...":

I do not leave many remarks, but i did some searching and wound up here "Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors. ~African Proverb".
And I actually do have 2 questions for you if you usually do not
mind. Is it only me or does it look like some of the comments appear like they are coming from brain dead folks?
:-P And, if you are writing at other online social sites,
I'd like to follow everything fresh you have to post. Would you list of the complete urls of your social sites like your Facebook page, twitter feed, or linkedin profile?
Also see my web page - buy cigarettes online
I don't think that about anyone leaving comments on this blog.  You must have accidentally posted your comment to the wrong blog.


Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "From Russia with Love":

Pay day loans are whenever you borrow cash from the loan company, plus they recuperate their money.
The charges are additional,and curiosity instantly out of your subsequent paycheck.

Essentially, you spend additional to obtain your paycheck earlier.
Whilst this could be occasionally extremely handy in a
few situations, failing to pay for them back
again has severe effects. Study on to find out about whether or not,
or not pay day loans are correct for you personally.
Also see my webpage :: www.cathedral.cork.anglican
I'm sorry, what??   I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to say.  I don't take out payday loans. 


Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "What happened after the After School Special?":

Hi there everybody, here every person is sharing these kinds of experience, so it's fastidious to read this website, and I used to pay a visit this web site all the time.
My weblog ... Coupon Codes
Wow, fastidious is a great word.  Very flattering.  For anyone else who doesn't know:

fas·tid·i·ous [fa-stid-ee-uh s, fuh-] adjective 1.  excessively particular, critical, or demanding; hard to please: a fastidious eater.  2.  requiring or characterized by excessive care or delicacy; painstaking.

I'm not sure I'd say that it's fastidious to read this.   Perhaps you were talking about how hard it is to read it instead of referring to the care I take in composing the blog.  Nuts.  Now I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "What happened after the After School Special?":

I'm gone to tell my little brother, that he should also pay a quick visit this website on regular basis to get updated from newest reports.
Also visit my website ; I need to sell my house PA

I hope your brother enjoys reading this blog.  Good luck selling your house! 

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "What happened after the After School Special?":

It's really a great and helpful piece of info. I'm satisfied that you simply shared this helpful info with us.

Please keep us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.
Here is my homepage :: Stage Lighting

I'm glad you found this useful.  I didn't set out to satisfy anyone with the posting, but I'm glad you are.  

 Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "What happened after the After School Special?":

Can you tell us more about this? I'd like to find out more details.
Take a look at my homepage :: green coffee beans Canada

I think it's great that you want to know more.  There are all kids of ways to find out.  Maybe you want to ask someone a little more local to you, since I assume you're typing from Canada.  I never knew you could grow coffee there.  You learn something new every day! 

There is always a link attached to some website or another.  I usually delete them right away from my emails, but I knew I was going to write this post, so I've been saving them up.  

It does take a lot of effort to make a comment.  It seems that perhaps some of these comments were made by people who get paid to post comments along with links to various places.  

One final word from someone who wants to say hello to everyone here:
 
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "What happened after the After School Special?":

Hi to all, it's really a good for me to pay a quick visit this website, it contains helpful Information.
Visit my website errol denton uk
I'm going to hope they were talking about this website instead of their own, but I can't be sure.

 
So, thank you to anyone who has ever made a comment.  I know it takes some effort to make them.  I would also like to thank anyone who has never made a comment.  Thanks for reading this and hopefully enjoying the Marble Public Library blog. 
  

 “Observing and commenting, it is a piece of cake.
Experiencing and sharing, that is a piece of work.”
― Toba Beta, My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut

You'll never get a book deal with that resolution.

“If the real world were a book, it would never find a publisher. Overlong, detailed to the point of distraction-and ultimately, without a major resolution.”
― Jasper Fforde, Something Rotten

Did you make a resolution?  I didn't.  I couldn't think of any that I haven't already made and failed at.  Which got me to thinking.  If I often make some effort to come up with a resolution at this time of year and then repeatedly fail at these resolutions, maybe I need to rethink my strategy.  

On that note, here are my resolutions:

1.  I will never turn in a library book on time again.  Ever.  Those fines help (very indirectly) pay my wages, and I need to support the library by paying them.

2.  I will spend more time sleeping.  Or, at least sleeping when I should be awake.  Naps are not okay.  I need to sleep until the morning is almost over.  To accomplish this, I need to stay up until the wee hours of the morning.  Preferrably long enough that I only get a few hours of sleep before lunch.  Which makes napping in the afternoon a bad idea since I would have only just gotten up. 

3.  I will get more screen time.  

4.  I will cut down on the amount of time I spend cleaning and organizing my house.  One person should only do so much.

5.  I will read nothing but romance novels.  But just one per month.

6.  I will gaze into every sunny sky looking for a dark cloud.  Not just figuratively either.

7.  I will eat more butter.  I love butter.  I will eat more of it.

Maybe that's all a little too tongue in cheek and just invites trouble.  I should probably stick to some of the same resolutions my sister came up with.  Things like:

1.  I will put my pants on the right way.  If the tag is in the front, I will switch them around.

2.  When I wear socks I'll wear one on each foot.  Unless it's super cold outside and then I might wear two socks on each foot.  At no time when I wear socks will I have zero socks on my feet.

I'm fond of the one about socks.  Maybe I'll just keep it simple and stick to that one.  You'll notice that it says nothing about the socks having to match.  That should make it a resolution that is much easier to accomplish.

It's fun to make resolutions, I'm just not any good at keeping them for very long.  At least not the ones made around the first of the year.  But maybe if I break any of these resolutions I won't feel too guilty.  I might even be happy about it.

“May the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early! My own plan is to swear off every kind of virtue, so that I triumph even when I fall!”
― Aleister Crowley, Moonchild  

Step right up

A book is a gift you can open again and again. ~~Garrison Keillor


I went to one child's holiday program yesterday.  I was happy to hear the principal  tell the audience that the gift of books is a great thing.  I couldn't agree more.  She said that if you need suggestions you can ask your child's teacher.  But, you can find more resources than just your child's teacher!  Librarians are a great source of help.  At least we try to be!  Ask someone who works in a bookstore.  Chances are if these people can't think of any books off the top of their heads, they'll know where to look to find what you're looking for.

If you have a child who hasn't discovered the joy of reading, they may not have found the right book yet.  Maybe they aren't great readers.  Either way, it's a fun thing to start reading together.  It's amazing how much people enjoy listening to a story.   Don't worry about if the book is going to challenge your child, if the book is an AR book, if your child is going to learn anything from it, or if it's considered a "good" book by some higher power.  What you're looking for in a gift book is one the gift recipient will not hate. Granted, if you are shopping for a book hater, that might be a pretty tall order.  But, there is more than just one kind of book out there.  Take a look at Manga or Graphic Novels, audio books, activity books, how-to books, an almanac, a book of world records, a comic book.  If there are words in there somewhere, it's a book that they'll have to read.  If there aren't any words in the book, they'll have to make up their own story.  If it's an audio book, there is only the joy of the story.

I had to go to the bookstore yesterday to find a few books.  (I know I talked about this a week or two ago,) I had no idea what to get for a couple of my children.  They read a lot.  I don't always know what they read.  I have some idea of the types of books they like.  I also have some idea of the books I like.  So, when I'd come to a likely candidate, I'd take a little time and read the first few paragraphs.  It took a little while to find a couple that I thought they might like, but here's hoping that I got it.  If not, the bookstore is local and they're pretty good about making exchanges.
  
If your wallet is not in favor of you spending even more money on something that you aren't sure your child will enjoy, I can recommend the for sale pile at your local library.  Many libraries have them.  I know the Coleraine Public Library has books for sale in their basement.  I was there this morning, and picked out a few.  I know the rest of my family is each getting at least one book, so I made sure that I'll have a new book to crack open as well.  Maybe it isn't exactly new, but it is new to me!     


Books are a great thing to get children for Christmas.  They have many days of Christmas break to get through and it wouldn't be too good for their brains to do nothing besides look at a screen.  (Or a bunch of screens as the case may be.)  At some point in time they will get on a parent's nerves and then the parent can say, "Go outside or go read your book."  Maybe they'll choose to do both.  Maybe you'll get to sit with them while they drink their hot cocoa and read a chapter or two of whatever book they got for the holidays.  See?  They're a bit worn out from being outside, and now they might quiet down a little while you're reading.  Win, win.  Mom got some quiet time, and now she's unwittingly fueling their little brains.  Even more of a win, you all get to enjoy some quality time together enjoying a story.  And that is a memory few kids forget.

So, step right up and get a book for your loved one.  It will be money well spent, even if you didn't spend very much.   

“Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them. And it's much cheaper to buy somebody a book than it is to buy them the whole world!”
― Neil Gaiman

12.12.12 days of Christmas

Lists are the butterfly nets that catch my fleeting thoughts... ~Betsy Cañas Garmon




Twelve twelve twelve.  The day we've all been waiting for.   Doomsday?  Lucky day?  To me all the date really signifies is that we only have 12 more days left until Christmas eve.  It means I need to work on my Christmas cards, finish my shopping, bake some cookies, wrap some gifts, bake some more cookies, and listen to Christmas carols until my ears bleed.

Bah, humbug, indeed.

But, today is the day we celebrate the number twelve.  I remember turning twelve.  It seemed a huge mile marker.  In the spirit of that feeling of joy, here is a list of twelve things I love. These twelve things are listed in no particular order beyond what I thought of next.

1.  I love the library because it has all kinds of good stuff to entertain and enlighten me.  And it's all free.  Unless I'm really late returning something, and then they just take the money out of my checks.  Just kidding!  They just pay me a reduced rate to balance things out.

2.  I love to go snowshoeing.  I will love it even more after we get some more snow.  We have about three inches.  Three more would be great.  We might get more this week which caused me to shout a hip hip hooray when I looked at the extended forecast this afternoon.

3.  I love getting Christmas cards from family and friends.  I would love to get cards from enemies too, if I had any and they cared to write once a year.  I like to see how everyone's family has grown over the year, and I like to look at the pictures on the cards and read the messages printed inside.  We've gotten many already, and it should be only another week or so until I get mine sent out.

4.  I love gingerbread men.  I love them.  I love the red hots and raisins they are decorated with.  For the past couple years, when my family gets together for our Christmas, I make gingerbread men and let the kids decorate them.  I really should take pictures.  Some of them are so full of red hots it's crazy.  This year I got some new cookie cutters.  Ninjabread men.  My nephews LOVED it, and so did everyone else.  The ninjabread cookies are gone, and it's now time to make more.  

5.  I love book club.  I have two book clubs.  One with my friends, and one with the library and my library friends.  The library club meets the last Wednesday of every month (except Nov. and Dec. when we meet a week earlier so as not to cramp our holidays).  I love meeting with people and discussing a book we've all read, or at least looked at the cover of, or thought about reading.  Neither of my book clubs is very strict when it comes to that.  Library book club meets next week.  We're reading A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg.  My other bookclub meets at some yet to be named date next month and we're reading Henry's Sisters by Cathy Lamb.  I love my book clubs.

6.  I love reading to kids.  I should amend that.  I love reading books that I've picked out to kids.  It's so much fun to introduce a child to the wonders of books.  I love it when I get to introduce them to some of  the authors and illustrators that are great at their craft.  Mo Willems is my favorite author/illustrator to read to any kid.  If you haven't had the chance to read a Mo Willems book, do so as soon as possible.  They are delightful.

7.  I love the relationships I have encountered while working in libraries.  I love the kids who come in on a regular basis and know what I'm like and seem happy to see me.  I love the patrons who come in on a regular basis and chat with those of us working behind the desk while they peruse for their next book.  I love that I know what some of them want before they do.  I love leading them to books that they wouldn't have picked up on their own.  I love talking to them about what they just finished reading and what they want to read next. 

8.  I love chocolate.   

9.  I love traveling.  I will go just about anywhere given the opportunity.  I love seeing new places.  I love exploring new places.  Hot, cold, sunny, rainy, snowy, it doesn't really matter too much.  Generally I bring a book with me so that I have something to do while traveling and it's a good back up plan for inclement weather.

10.  I love finding the quotes for these blog postings.  I also love finding the pictures and/or videos.  Usually the post leads to the quote, but sometimes it works the other way.  Sometimes I start with one and then have to change it to something else.  Sometimes the pictures spark more ideas than what I already had.  Sometimes a pictures says it all.  Sometimes it just hints.  It's fun to search for inspiration.


11.  I love cutting out snowflakes.  While I was coming up with the final two things on this list, I cut out a few snowflakes.  After I finish the posting, I'll hang them on the windows in the library.  They'll join the other four I made last week.  The two boys who were in here last week when I hung them up with impressed with my mad snowflake cutting skillz when they saw my yoda flake.  Yes, I love making snowflakes.  All it takes is paper and a decent pair of scissors.  

12.  I love all colors.  When asked what my favorite color is, I always answer with, "I don't have one, I love them all.  Except maybe puce."    I love mixing paints.  Blue with yellow, add a little white, then a little brown, then a little more yellow and see what you get.  I love how the colors change from one to the other, and leave spots of half mixed in between.  It's not so much the destination as the journey when I'm mixing colors.  The journey from blue and yellow to a sage-y green is fun.

And there's my twelve things for the twelfth day of the twelfth month in the year two-thousand-twelve.


A clock struck out the hour of twelve, and the bird in the hedgerow was still singing as we marched out to the roadway, and followed our merry pipers home to town.
Patrick MacGill

Ode to Toys

The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value.
~Charles Dudley Warner

 Ho, Ho, Ho only 20 more days to go.  That's two and a half weeks.  Yikes.  Guess I better start being good and hope that Santa will forget about the rest of the year.  My children also need to start being extra good and hope that he'll forget about the transgressions of the past year.  Not that there were that many.  Or that they were terribly severe.  It never hurts to put in a little extra effort just to be safe.  

I have been working at cleaning out my house.  Kind of.  I went through the bins of stored clothing in the basement, and 2/3 of the childrens' dressers have been gone through.  Summer stuff and too small stuff moved out, winter stuff and stuff that fits moved in.  I started going through the toys, but I shortly found myself on the verge of a mental breakdown, so I quit for the time being.  I'll have to get that done soon.  There are things in the basement that none of them have touched in the past couple years; and really, I probably played with the Little People stuff more than they did.  (It was one of my favorite things to do as a child, but somehow they never found them as appealing as I did.)  We have books coming out of our ears.  I need to go through those as well.  The good ones I pass on to other kids, and the really horrible ones get dumped.

So I was a smidge crabby this morning as I sorted through an accumulation of stuff that we don't use.  Or want.  Or take very good care of.  Why in the world would I add to this mess with some Christmas presents that probably won't be remembered a year from now?  I got a little Grinch-y.  And then I remembered being a kid at Christmas.  We didn't get toys and clothes except for birthdays and Christmas.  Unless they were hand-me-downs; and those were generally an unexpected thrill.  My kids don't get much either, unless it's hand-me-downs or they buy it themselves.  They don't get a lot from us or Santa for Christmas, so I should just quit my grumbling.  In a month, I may get to pick some new socks off of the floor instead of just the grungy old ones.  

I'm going with the one thing way this year.  One thing you want, one thing you need, one thing to wear, one thing to read, and one thing they really truly want.  Ahhh, at least one of those things doesn't make me feel like a Scrooge.  Books.  But which ones?  The girls are 11,9 (almost), and five.  Which books to choose?  Oh, I can spend a lot of time looking online, but it isn't nearly as fun as shopping in person for books.  Then I can read the 5-year-old's book to make sure it isn't one I'll hate reading.  In years past I always have a great idea for reads, but this year I don't.  They've checked out so many library books, and read so many books in school that I can't keep track of what they haven't read yet.  This means a trip to the bookstore.  I will gladly spend time in a bookstore.  

And with that, the Christmas spirit hits me.  The Grinch is gone, replaced by a book lovin' momma who wants to share some literary joy with her children. 

If you have any good suggestions for books, please share them!!  I don't believe I'm the only one who could use them! 


  
Christmas is for children.  But it is for grown-ups too.  Even if it is a headache, a chore, and nightmare, it is a period of necessary defrosting of chill and hide-bound hearts.  
~Lenora Mattingly Weber

From Russia with Love

“If you look for perfection, you'll never be content.”
  ~~Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

 I read Anna Karenina when I was in my early 20's.  I didn't have to, but at that time in my life I read a lot of the classics.  Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, and Thomas Hardy were among the many authors I poured over in my spare time.  It took me months to finish Anna Karenina.  I learned a lot from that book.  Namely, that you don't have to finish a book you don't like.  I haven't finished a book I haven't liked since that one, unless it's been a you-have-to-read-it-for-book-club book.

I know, it's a classic.  I know, you loved it.  Or everyone you know who has ever read it loved it.  I hated it.  I read the unabridged version.  I almost want to read the abridged version to see if I can find out why people love the book.  Almost.  I want to see if my ideas about the book have changed now that I'm older.  Maybe it just wasn't the kind of book a single 22-year-old girl could relate to.  Maybe I would really enjoy the book now as I approach the big 4-0.  Then again, maybe not.

For having hated the book, I kind of am glad that I read it.  You see references to it here and there.  Leo Tolstoy's great book, one of the greatest books ever written!  I read it, and hated it.  I never was one to follow the herd.  (I didn't much care for Les Miserables either.)  But, I can say that I read it.  I tried it and didn't like it.  (Same for Les Mis--listened to the audio book and saw it on Broadway.  I liked the book better, but only slightly.)  Reading the classics is a great way to expand your horizons.  It lays the foundation for so many other things.  

The latest movie version of the book comes out on Friday.  I don't think I'll be going to the theater to see it.  I'll wait until the DVD comes to the library.  I'll try to find the abridged version of the book and read that in the meantime.  Maybe now that the internet is so readily available I can track down some discussions about what things mean in the book.  I can get find out what it is about the book that made others love it. 

Now and coming soon are a bunch of movies based on books.  Some of those books I've read and truly enjoyed.  Others I haven't found time to read yet.  Maybe I'll go see one of those instead of Anna Karenina.  Probably Rise of the Guardians, since I never got around to reading it even though I checked out the first of the books in the Guardians of Childhood series last winter.  With the movie in theaters, there is now a long wait for me to get my hands on a copy of Nicholas St. North and the battle of the Nightmare King again.  There's nothing like a movie to bring back interest in a book!


“One of the world's most tiresome questions is what object one would bring to a desert island,because people always answer "a deck of cards" or "Anna Karenina" when the obvious answer is "a well equipped boat and a crew to sail me off the island and back home where I can play all the card games and read all the Russian novels I want.”  ~~Lemony Snicket

Thanks for being in my family.

 The family - that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to.  ~Dodie Smith

Tomorrow is turkey day.  A day of gathering with family.  I've heard a lot of talk shows discussing the best way to navigate these functions.  The rules I remember go something like this: 

1.  Thanksgiving is not the time to drop any bombshells.  Save your horrible news for a different day.

2.  Help with the clean up.  The host has spent hours cleaning their house and cooking the food, the least you can do is help with the dishes.

3.  Stay away from controversial subjects at the dinner table.  This includes politics, religion, and personal information that is none of your business.

4.  Do not talk about the diet you're on.  Do not talk about the diet that anyone is on.  Food is a huge part of the day.  Eat what you're going to eat, but there's no need to explain the detailed reasoning behind your choices.

5.  Put your phone away.  Have some face to face conversation instead. 

6.  When all else fails, suck it up.  Put on your happy face whether you feel like it or not.  Fake it until you make it.


I'm fortunate that I don't have a family that I have problems with.  I enjoy all of them.  I'm still very lucky to have one set of grandparents to enjoy the holiday with, along with my parents, my siblings and their families, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  There are a lot of us.  A lot.  We have fun together.  We laugh a lot.  Most everyone plays nicely together.

I know how lucky am that this is the case.  And I am thankful for it. 

Family life is a bit like a runny peach pie - not perfect but who's complaining?  ~Robert Brault

Free fun at the library!

Storyhour at the Marble Public Library

Join Alicia every Wednesday from

3:30 to 4:45 pm

For a fun Story, Crafts and Snacks!

For Kids from 4 – 11 years of age!

Upcoming special events:

November 27^th:  We will be showing “Brave” at 6pm. Enjoy the movie on our big screen!

December 2^nd: 1-3 pm annual Christmas party at the Greenway Township hall.  Join us for sleigh rides,

                             crafts, cookies and cider.

December 26^th: Skating Party at the Marble skating  rink.

January 9^th: Birdseed snow angel: Come and create snow angels outside and decorate them with seeds,

       Then come inside to warm up with some hot chocolate and cookies!

February 6^th: Snowmen build:  We will be joining the Snowfolk festival in Itasca county and help with the

        attempt to build 1000 snowfolk across Itasca county.

All events are free and from 3:30 pm – 4:45 pm unless otherwise noted.

For information, call 247-7676 and/or check us out on Facebook.