Technology has had a dramatic influence in the way people decorate for Christmas. New innovations in lighting have made outside decorating both more attractive and safer. Christmas tree lights have also undergone some changes over the years.  

There was a time in the early 1900’s when it was popular to get a Christmas tree that was as tall the ceiling would allow. The Christmas wreath became popular in America. Wreaths were mostly made from evergreen tree branches. The late 1920’s saw the introduction candy canes as part of the tree decorations. 

Later in the 1900’s as times and attitudes changed, so did Christmas decorating. People used to cut down live trees and bring them home. As time passed, not only did the tree size change, but the type of tree as well. Most people started to buy artificial trees that they could assemble and take down year after year. In Europe and Japan, it became popular to hang ornaments that were hollowed out to feature a variety of Christmas scenes. It was by the 1960’s that outdoor lighting really took off and became a national trend. 

Today people have begun to change their attitudes about the environment and many have now switched to artificial trees which come in a variety of colors and sizes. Indoor and outdoor lighting has also changed and now is mostly energy efficient LED lighting that can perform a variety of tasks. Now there are even lights that you can control using an app on your phone.  

God only knows how Christmas decorating will change in the future. Maybe all the decorating will be virtual. 

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Most parties and events during the holidays will occur during the evening hours and sometimes alcohol will be available. There will also most likely be a variety of foods and deserts for all the guests to enjoy. These are just some of the good reasons to include coffee at all your holiday parties and events. 

Your guests will expect to drink great coffee at their holiday party. There are also other reasons to include coffee at your parties and events. For company party’s coffee helps boost company happiness and promotes socializing among employees. You don’t want your party to end quickly and coffee can provide the fuel to keep your party going for hours. Coffee can give your guests a fancy non-alcoholic alternative. Coffee also has a way of adding a festive touch to your event or party. 

If your party or event features dinner, you can make coffee a bigger part of your event by simply making it an after-dinner course. Serve your guest a nice cup of coffee with their dessert so that they can have some time to enjoy some after dinner socializing before getting on with the party. 

Coffee is the responsible thing to do if your party or event will be having alcohol available. Whether people have a drink or not it’s always a good idea to finish off the evening with a cup of coffee. Coffee will leave your guest with a satisfied feeling as they leave your party or event and it will help them stay alert on the way home.  

This holiday season include coffee for your party or event. It will make the whole thing a lot more fun.  

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The first Thanksgiving was neither a feast or a holiday but simply a small gathering. Following the Mayflower’s arrival at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620, the Pilgrims suffered the loss of 46 of their original 102 colonists. With the help of 91 Indians, the remaining Pilgrims survived the bitter winter. The following year yielded a bountiful harvest in 1621. In celebration, a traditional English harvest festival, lasting three days brought the Pilgrims and natives to unite in a “thanksgiving” observance. 

This is how history records the first Thanksgiving, but the meal would not be celebrated again until June of 1676. On June 29 the community of Charlestown, Massachusetts proclaimed a day of thanksgiving for their good fortune. Unfortunately, things had changed with the natives by then and they weren’t included in the celebration. One hundred years later, in October of 1777, all 13 colonies participated in a one-time “thanksgiving” celebration which commemorated the patriotic victory over the British at Saratoga. 

It wasn’t until 150 years later that Thanksgiving as we celebrate it today was established. George Washington proclaimed it a National holiday in 1789, Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November in 1863, and Congress sanctioned it as a legal holiday in 1941. 

Today we use Thanksgiving to celebrate family and friends and the fact that we are all thankful for another year. Let’s not forget that the holiday is supposed to be more about how fortunate we are and less about all the parades and football games.

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For one thing, Thanksgiving comes a lot earlier in Canada. Canadian Thanksgiving takes place on the second Monday in October, instead of the fourth Thursday in November. No one knows exactly why there is this difference, but one theory is that harvest, which is believed to be part of the history behind Thanksgiving, simply starts earlier in Canada than it does in the US. 

Canadians are likely to get less time off than Americans. Canadians automatically get the Monday of Thanksgiving off work in most parts of the country — except in the Atlantic provinces (Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador) where it remains an optional holiday. Americans get both Friday and Monday off. 

It is believed that Thanksgiving started in Canada first. The earliest recorded Canadian Thanksgiving celebration dates back to 1578, after explorer Martin Frobisher’s third voyage to Canada. This was years ahead of the first recorded US feast between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans at Plymouth in 1621. 

Canadian’s don’t associate Thanksgiving with sports as much as Americans do. In the US, everyone seems to watch the game, only the true football fans tune into sports during Thanksgiving in Canada — the others are too busy eating. 

Black Friday isn’t really a thing in Canada. While in the U.S. people can’t wait to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving, in Canada there are no big shopping sales surrounding the weekend at all. Canadians don’t have a big parade for Thanksgiving either.  

This year enjoy your Thanksgiving no matter where you live. 

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Recently a U.K. design firm called Bompas & Parr claimed they had created a popsicle that won’t melt onto your hand, even at the height of summer.  

The idea supposedly came from a World War II-era research project in which an inventor Geoffrey Pyke proposed building a mile-long aircraft carrier out of ice. For the project, a material called “pykrete” was developed. The material was composed mostly of ice and wood pulp and had the ability to float like an iceberg. The project even made it to the testing phase in which a small-scale model was built and evaluated. The project was finally canceled because of logistical issues. 

But all was not lost, half a century later it was this project that inspired Bompas & Parr to create a popsicle that wouldn’t melt. The team realized that it could use edible fruit fibers to create the same insulating effect of wood–along with other ingredients that remain confidential.  

So apparently, they have succeeded in creating a popsicle that doesn’t melt, but is it really the same thing? Those who have tried one of these say the taste is not far off from a regular popsicle but maybe just a bit chewy. A chewy popsicle? I’m not sure how good that sounds. 

Sometimes you have to watch what you wish for. Maybe a regular melty popsicle is still the way to go. 

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Vanilla flavored ice cream has been the over all favorite flavor since ice cream began and it remains the favorite today however there are other flavors that have risen in popularity.  

According to a survey of U.S. ice cream makers and retailers conducted by the International Dairy Foods Assn. (IDFA). The top-five flavors — vanilla, chocolate, cookies ’n’ cream, mint chocolate chip and chocolate chip cookie dough — may be classics, but that does not mean they have not evolved over time. 

But it doesn’t stop there, today’s innovative ice cream makers are giving many of these traditional flavors creative spins to differentiate in the freezer. This includes offering them in high-protein/low-sugar formulations or blended with other favorites. 

Some of the flavors making the rounds these days are those which include cookie dough and swirls of peanut butter cookie butter. Cinn-Dough-rella! is cinnamon and caramel ice cream with cinnamon bun dough, shortbread cookies and oatmeal cinnamon cookie swirls. 

Ice cream will always be a favorite desert for millions of people and with all the new and delicious flavors that it comes in, ice cream will no doubt become a favorite treat for many more people in the future.  

Perhaps the best thing about ice cream is how available it is. Ice cream can be found at virtually any grocery store and convenience store. Ice cream will even come to you in a truck or cart that will visit your neighborhood from time to time.  

So, the next time you feel like having some ice cream, just find the nearest ice cream vendor and have a good time. 

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There are a few places in southern California where one can go to enjoy the beauty of nature and its colors.  

At the Whittier Narrows Recreational Facility in South El Monte you can get a feel for nearly every ecosystem. From swamps, to forests, to desert, they are all represented here, where the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo Rivers diverge. Stop by the ranger station any day from sunrise to sunset for information on the plant and animal life that inhabit this nature reserve. 

Near Mt. Baldy there Stoddard Peak. This is the place for fall colors and nice views in southern California. Stoddard Peak located right below Mount Baldy.  The hike itself is just over 6 miles and just under 1,000 feet in elevation. A National Forest Adventure pass is required to park. 

Big Bear Lake is only a short drive from Los Angeles and in the fall, offers views of the changing colors that contrast against the evergreens. There are family friendly trails in the area that offer the best views of the fall foliage and the lake below.  

Grass Valley Lake, Lake Arrowhead is a reservoir near Lake Arrowhead where there is beautiful scenery, especially in the fall.  

Although seasonal changes aren’t as pronounced in southern California as they are in other parts of the country, there are still plenty of places to see the natural colors of the season.

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People have had the idea of sweet icy deserts to cool off with for centuries. In the modern era the idea of what is commonly known as a popsicle came about with its invention in 1905 by an 11-year-old boy named Frank Epperson. The invention was an accident that came about after Frank left a stick in his drink and left it outside his house all night where it froze solid.  

Since then, people have taken the popsicle idea to many extremes. In Russia there are ice-pop sculptures made to look like famous people with special flavors to go along with them. Blueberry & Licorice for Darth Vader, Mate & Rum for Che Guevara and Strawberry & Cream for Marilyn Monroe just to name a few. 

World famous chefs have also been known to create specialty popsicles. in the coastal town of Rimini, Italian chef Gian Paolo Raschi features a Lemon & Basil version, and Giuliano Baldessari astounds his diners with Popsicles in flavors like beer, white chocolate, chestnut and coffee.  

At the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas you can get a popsicle that is made from tequila, cucumber, coconut, and chili powder. They also feature a gourmet popsicle store called Las Paletas that offers popsicles with interesting flavors. At the rooftop restaurant Metropole of Cincinnati’s Century Museum Hotel, you can enjoy flavored ice to melt into your glass of bourbon. 

There are even popsicles for those who seek out the reassurance that their Popsicles are “vegan, gluten free, made with no preservatives, no additives, environmentally friendly and always delicious”, at Suckit Sweets and Treats in Los Angeles. 

Popsicles are enjoyed by people around the world and there will always be new fun ways of making them. 

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A recent survey finds that more Americans are drinking a daily cup of coffee today than they have been for the past six years. 

According to Reuters, the study, commissioned by the National Coffee Association conducted a survey in which 3,000 Americans were interviewed regarding their coffee drinking habits. What the survey found was that 64 percent of Americans drink a cup of coffee every day. In 2017 similar studies found that the number was 62 percent with the new figure being the highest since 2012. 

You would think that the increased coffee drinking would be due to all the new coffee shops, but you’d be mistaken. most people still enjoy making coffee at home despite the popularity of cafés like Starbucks; 79 percent of participants said that they had brewed a cup of coffee at home the previous day, while only 36 of people said they had bought a coffee from an outside location. 

Americans are known to consume the most coffee in the world. Coffee is a booming industry in the United States with around 83 percent of Americans drinking it. The average American spends a surprising $1,110 on coffee every year. With these kinds of figures, it’s no wonder coffee exporting is valued at $20 billion globally.  

So, the next time you think there’s a lot of people drinking coffee, that’s because there are. 

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Many consider the Labor Day holiday to signal the end of summer but as we know, there are still weeks left of summer after Labor Day.  

Summer officially ends at the autumnal equinox, when the sun is at zenith, or directly above, the equator. After the autumnal equinox the sun moves south of the equator, leaving behind a chilly autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and beckoning in spring to the Southern Hemisphere. 

As most people know, the year is divided into four seasons. These seasons are based on the two equinoxes and the two solstices. The two solstices which denote summer and winter, typically land around June 21 and December 22 and mark the shortest and the longest days of the year. Then there are the autumnal and vernal equinoxes, which fall around September 23 and March 21, these mark the points in the year when the day and the night are of equal lengths. Hence the word equinox, from the Latin roots meaning “equal night.”  

We separate the year into meteorological seasons which reflect the average temperature patterns and climate. 

The summer solstice tends to fall a little way into summer vacation, the autumnal equinox typically falls at the end of September, a few weeks into the school year. 

So, since the school year is beginning now are you ready for the start of autumn? If you’re not, you can always move to the Southern Hemisphere where spring is about to begin. It all depends on your point of view. 

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