Christmas Cakes in the Trenches

From the Library of Congress: Poster shows a Christmas tree decorated with candles in front of a red cross. Text: Christmas in the field! 1914. Donate gift packages for our warriors!

When Europe went to war in the fall of 1914, many were sure that soldiers on both sides would be "home by Christmas."  Then the first ugly battles took place, and that thinking changed.  World War I would see not one but four Christmases, and many soldiers were still in France and Germany for the Christmas after Armistice Day in 1918.

Guess Who Came to Dinner (at the White House)?

This February post to Hands-on-Books reminds us that we celebrate both Black History Month and President's Day. It's also a wonderful time to do some stargazing! The constellation Orion is still easily visible in the night sky.

Shortly after Theodore Roosevelt unexpectedly became president and moved into the White House with his big family, a guest came to dinner.  The man’s name was Booker T. Washington.

Make Some Campaign Buttons

        Looking ahead the presidential election -- are you talking with your kids about the process?  Do they have a favorite candidate?

        
        Buried deep in my dresser drawers are campaign buttons I kept from when I was a kid and when I first voted.

        
 The oldest is a great big one with a rose on it and the name Margaret Chase Smith--one of the first women to run for the presidential nomination. My mother was on her campaign committee in 1963.  
        
      There are others -- Rocky, HHH, McGovern…and of course a whole group of them for Theodore Roosevelt that I used in my book Theodore Roosevelt for Kids.

       
      TR’s campaign buttons are collectibles now.  Some of them are quite fancy and still have ribbons attached to them, though they are now more than 100 years old. Click on the photo to see them in detail.

        
       As Chicago Review Press publisher Cynthia Sherry was looking through my manuscript, she wrote up an activity for the book -- something she’d done with her two daughters.  Thanks to Cynthia, here’s a recipe for making your own campaign button!

Create A Zen Garden

My world grew much larger this summer when our family visited Korea to meet my daughter-in-law’s father in Seoul. First though, my daughter Meredith and I flew to Japan to meet up with a longtime friend from our kids’ days at Blue Ash Elementary School here where we live. Meredith and Yumi Terai were in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade together. It’s always been our dream to visit Yumi’s family in Japan. She’s in Tokyo now, very busy in medical school, but her parents Tetsuje and Miharu hosted us for a memorable four days in central Japan in Kobe, Kyoto, and Nara.