Wednesday, December 19, 2012
If you've got wit, add your caption to Patch's weekly comic challenge and win a personalized print.
Are you blessed with insight and good humor? Or just bored today? Share your wit with your neighbors by entering Patch's comic caption challenge. Just add your dialogue for today's comic in the comment section of this post. Our only requirement is that you keep it clean! At week's end, we'll pick the winning punchline based on how many of us here at Patch giggle and smile at your contribution. The user who produces the winning punchline will get a personalized proof of the comic, with the winning words and a credit line, from cartoonist Chuck Ingwersen and Patch. Congratulations to Louis W. Sagan, who provided the winning punchline to last week's Doctor and Bear cartoon: If you think I'm letting you anywhere near me with a scalpel, you can…
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Parents, Patch wants to hear from you on the questions that get families talking.
Welcome to Hey Mom and Dad—a weekly feature in which we ask our Facebook fans to share their views on parenting. Every week, we get the conversation started by taking a look back at a question we asked parents the week before on Patch Facebook pages from around the area. It's a rite of passage for nearly every child: Begging your parents for that first cat, dog or guinea pig as a holiday present. The debate on our local Facebook pages took many different turns this week, and we want to hear from you too. Take a look at what people had to say and join the conversation in the comments section. Katie Herrmann: Please don't surprise kids or other people with puppies as presents. I foster for a rescue and the shelters see an influx of puppies a…
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Do you craft the most perfect Christmas cookie in town? Do your family and friends drool at the sight of your sugary creations? Enter your cookie in Patch's contest for a chance at a $100 gift card and other sweet prizes.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
How much will we spend this year? And what's the best-selling Christmas song of all time? Find the answers below.
We know that there were three Wise Men, 12 days of Christmas and that Santa delivers all his presents around the world in one night. But did you know... $23,439.38 How much it would cost to buy your "true love" all the gifts in the 12 Day of Christmas . 12.9 billion hours, $447 billion How many hours Americans were expected to spend shopping, wrapping and returning gifts last year. That was about 42 hours and $688.87 per person. Get your postman/postwoman a gift According to Hallmark, Christmas is the largest card-sending occasion . Nearly 1.5 billion cards are sent to friends and family every Christmas Season. (That's actually down 400 million cards since 2004.) $983 million The value of U.S. imports of Christmas tree ornaments from …
Sunday, December 25, 2011
By the night ending Christmas, there's no need to roam. Santa's knocked down a cold one and snoring at home.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Shopping local is easier, and the tax dollars stay in your community—my experiences this year have taught me as much!
Last week I realized I had about 90 minutes to shop for 24 people, including travel time. On the way to the Oak Brook mall, I stopped in a local shop, Clever Girl, to make some pre-selected purchases. It's one of those stores where you can buy the stocking, and the stuffers in the same place. The owner knows me by name, as do all of the women who work there. Even though my dog has never spent a red cent in the store, he is always welcome to browse as long as he promises not to chew the merchandise. For his self-control he is awarded an organic dog biscuit. As I lack his self-control I usually walk out biscuit-less and with a small haul of unique merchandise. I have some fun memories of the day I met Matt Damon at that store (although …
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
When I wasn’t paying attention, department store Santas evolved from obviously fake to scarily authentic.
The first time I took my daughter to see Santa Claus she was about 20 months old. She hadn’t yet been diagnosed with autism, but she had been diagnosed as a major fussbudget pain-in-my-hump. I knew that she wouldn’t be able to handle big crowds or long lines, so I set out to find the most abandoned mall with the lousiest selection of off-brand stores and the fewest patrons. I was living in California at the time and was looking for the equivalent of Brementowne Mall, if anyone remembers that gem from Tinley Park circa 1973. (You know, one of those dead malls that are anchored by a Walgreens and a Jo-Ann Fabrics with battery kiosks and sock outlets in between.) That way, if my daughter decided to have an epic meltdown, there would be no …
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Trying to live up to holiday car commercials will only drive you to depression.
I just don't understand Christmas, I guess. I like getting presents and sending Christmas cards and decorating trees and all that, but I'm still not happy. I always end up feeling depressed. Poor Charlie Brown. He really is the Charlie Browniest. But he’s not the only one having a blue Christmas, just the most famous. We all know that Christmas can be a stressful time of year, what with all the gift buying, card writing, cookie baking, tree decorating, and party-going. There’s a free-floating anxiety in the air that is very specific to this time of the year—the pressure to be ever-so-very-merry and for your life to resemble as closely as possible the picture-perfect scenes that we are bombarded with in television specials, commercials, …
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
The Holiday Homecoming Electric Christmas Parade will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 26.
Traffic will be detoured for the St. Charles Holiday Homecoming Electric Christmas Parade later this month. St. Charles police are urging people to be extra careful around the parade route. Drivers are advised to find other routes around the parade in order to avoid possible heavy traffic. The parade starts its march at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 26 at Sixth Street, traveling east to Fourth Avenue. Follow St. Charles Patch on Facebook! Traffic from Main Street and Second Street will be detoured to Seventh Street by way of Illinois and State streets. The detour begins at 5:15 p.m. Parking also will be banned along this route and on Main Street from 3 to 7 p.m. Additional parking bans will take place in the parade staging area:
Mickey
12:46 pm on Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Great video!! I put it on my favorites! He spoke what has been on my mind for a long time now. more ›