 What’s happening this week at the Library
- Monday and Tuesday Closed – We will be closed for the Christmas holiday, but we will reopen for normal hours on Wednesday the 27th from 9:00 a.m.- 8:00 p.m.
- Wednesday at 2 pm Lego Day – Kids, come use your imagination to build something great!
- Thursday at 2 pm Craft – Kids, make a holiday themed craft.
- Thursday at 6 pm Storytime – Listen to stories, sing songs, and do a craft. Storytimes are open to children of all ages.
- Friday at 1 pm Games and a Movie – Play board and card games at 1:00 p.m. followed by a fun new family friendly movie at 2:00 p.m.
Christmas at the Library
We’ve had lots of fun at the library over the last couple of weeks. The Liberal High School Redskin Singers came to the library to perform a holiday concert. They performed contemporary and classic selections under the direction of Tony Claus.
Santa also came to the library. He sang songs with the children and read them stories. The kids enjoyed getting their pictures taken with Santa and telling him their Christmas wishes.
 For the adults, there was an Ugly Christmas Swe ater Party with games and snacks. We also had a White Elephant gift exchange. At the end of the party, we gave out prizes for the winners of the best ugly Christmas sweater contest.
Our most popular event of the season by far was the Gingerbread House Decorating. People asked weeks ahead of time if we would hold it this year and when could they sign up for it. Seating was limited to fifty kids total including the morning and afternoon sessions. All fifty seats were reserved within a couple of days of registration opening.
 The kids had lots of fun decorating their houses and front yards with their own unique styles. There were marshmallow driveways and chocolate bar piece shingles. They decorated their upside-down ice cream cone evergreen trees with cinnamon red-hot Christmas tree bulbs and licorice garlands.
The library supplied the houses, frosting, and toppings and the kids supplied the imagination.
History & Genealogy online
Did you know that as a Kansas resident, you have free access to several online databases to help you learn more about your family history? If you visit https://kslib.info/221/Online-Databases you will find a section marked History & Genealogy with several helpful resources that are free to Kansas residents courtesy of the Kansas State Library. Two of these free resources are HeritageQuest and Genealogy Connect.
HeritageQuest, powered by Ancestry.com, includes access to U.S. Federal Censuses, digitized Genealogy and local history books, Revolutionary War records, and Freedman’s Bank Records. HeritageQuest Online provides genealogical and historical sources for more than 60 countries, with coverage dating back as early as the 1700s.
Gale Genealogy Connect includes over 1,500 reference works formerly available only in print or on CD-ROM. It allows you quickly search across multiple books and view the full text of the results. It also includes ebook versions of reference books that will help genealogy beginners learn how to get started.
Since Christmas is coming fast, I thought I would tell you about a few of the newest Children’s Christmas picture books in our collection:
 The Littlest Reindeer by Brandi Dougherty: Dot is the littlest reindeer at the North Pole. Too little to jump. Too little to kick. And too little to fly with Santa. But she’s not too little to help save the day!
 Pick a Pine Tree by Patricia Toht: With warm joyful art and a rhythmic, read-aloud text, here is a celebration of every festive step in taking home and decorating a Christmas tree.
 The Christmas Star by Marcus Pfister: From the author of the beloved classic The Rainbow Fish comes a book where various people and animals are drawn by a magnificent star to Bethlehem to see the newborn Christ.
December is a great time to check out a book you can snuggle up with or attend one of our fun, holiday-themed events. Here’s what’s happening at the library through the end of December:
- Santa is coming to Storytime this week! Join us on Tuesday at 10 am or Thursday at 6 pm to visit with Santa and listen to a story.
- Library & Lunch is Tuesday at noon! Bring your lunch and join us for a discussion of Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.
- Tuesday at 6 pm, come enjoy Christmas music at the Library! The library will be hosting the Liberal High School Redskin singers under the direction of Tony Claus. Contemporary and classic selections will be performed.
- Our Ugly Christmas Sweater party is on Thursday at noon. Wear an ugly Christmas sweater for this fun party for adults! Bring a White Elephant gift that costs $10 or less, play games, and eat snacks. Adults only. Sign up on our website, lmlibrary.org or at the front desk.
- If you signed up, don’t forget to bring your kid(s) to our Gingerbread House Decorating, this Saturday at 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm! Children ages 4-11 and their parents can come decorate a gingerbread house! Frosting and all kinds of toppings will be available.
- Come to our Beginner’s 3D Printing Workshop on Monday the 18th at 6:30 pm to learn how to use the library’s 3D printer. We will walk through the process of finding a print-ready file online that you can print as is or alter to fit your needs. Sign up online at https://lmlibrary.libcal.com/event/3541376 or at the front desk.
- Don’t forget our regular storytimes, every Tuesday at 10 am and Thursday at 6 pm! Stories, songs, crafts, and more! Plus, every child gets a free book to take home at every storytime.
- Do your kids need something to do over the long Christmas break? Don’t worry, the library has you covered:
- On Friday the 22nd at 2 pm, we will be playing video games! Play the library’s Playstation 4, Xbox, or Wii.
- On Wednesday the 27th at 2 pm, build something great on Lego Day!
- Thursday the 28th at 2 pm, make a fun craft!
- Friday the 29th, we will be playing board games at 1 pm, followed by a Children’s animated movie at 2 pm! Free popcorn and drinks will be served during the movie.
- The Library will be closed on Dec. 25 & 26 for Christmas. We wish all of you a very happy holiday season!
What’s happening at the library this week
- Monday – The Library will be closed on Monday for the holiday, but will reopen for normal hours on Tuesday at 9 am.
Every day during the winter break, we will have an activity for the kids at 1 pm followed by an animated movie at 2 pm.
- Tuesday at 1 pm Activity and Movie – Crafts or board games followed by the movie “Turbo” at 2 pm.
- Tuesday at 6 pm Storytime – If you can’t make it to the morning storytime on Thursday, you can come to the evening Tuesday one instead.
- Wednesday at 1 pm Activity and Movie – Crafts or board games followed by the movie “Shaun the Sheep” at 2 pm.
- Wednesday at 5 pm Lego Day – Kids, come use your imagination to build something great!
- Thursday at 11:15 am Storytime – Listen to stories, sing songs, and do a craft. Storytimes are open to children of all ages.
- Thursday at 1 pm Activity and Movie – Crafts or board games followed by the movie “Aristocats” at 2 pm.
- Thursday at 5 pm Teen Create and Game – Come play our Wii, Xbox, PS4, or one of several fun board games. Our craft this week will be making rainbow snowflakes.
- Friday at 1 pm Activity and Movie – Crafts or board games followed by the movie “Finding Dory” at 2 pm.
More Christmas themed books
Just in case you haven’t had enough of holidays, here are a couple more mood setting books from our Christmas book display.
Christmas days : 12 stories and 12 feasts for 12 days
by Jeanette Winterson.
From the book description
For years Jeanette Winterson has written a new story at Christmas-time and here she brings together twelve of her brilliantly imaginative, funny and bold tales, along with twelve delicious recipes for the twelve days of Christmas.
 Twelve Days of Christmas
by Debbie Macomber
From the book description
Continuing a festive annual tradition, #1 New York Times bestselling Debbie Macomber returns with a new holiday novel full of romance and cheer—and the magical prospect of finding love in even the most guarded hearts.
Friendly and bubbly, Julia Padden likes nearly everyone, but her standoffish neighbor, Cain Maddox, presents a challenge. No matter how hard she tries to be nice, Cain rudely rebuffs her at every turn. But when Julia catches Cain stealing her newspaper, that’s the last straw. She’s going to break through Cain’s Scrooge-like exterior the only way she knows how: by killing him with kindness.
To track her progress, Julia starts a blog called The Twelve Days of Christmas. Her first attempts to humanize Cain are far from successful. Julia brings him homemade Christmas treats, and the disagreeable grinch won’t even accept them. Meanwhile, Julie’s blog becomes an online sensation. Julia continues to find ways to express kindness and, little by little, chips away at Cain’s gruff façade to reveal the caring man underneath. Unbelievably, Julia feels herself falling for Cain—and she suspects that he may be falling for her as well. But as the popularity of her blog continues to grow, Julia must decide if telling Cain the truth about having chronicled their relationship to the rest of the world is worth risking their chance at love.
 The holidays are almost here, and we have a lot of fun stuff planned at the library to keep you busy!
- Don’t forget about our weekly storytimes, Tuesdays at 6 pm and Thursdays at 11:15 am. Children and their parents can join us for stories, songs, and a craft!
- Our Library and Lunch program is this Tuesday at noon. Bring your lunch and join us for a discussion of “The Christmas Note” by Donna VanLiere.
- Teens can tell the library what to do at our Teen Advisory Meeting, Tuesday at 6 pm! Plan and execute teen events and earn easy community service hours. Plus, we’ll do a fun craft.
- Lego Day is every Wednesday at 5 pm. Use your imagination and learn engineering concepts as you build something great!
- The library closes at 5 pm this Thursday, Dec. 15, so there will be no Teen Create & Game that evening.
- This Saturday brings our yearly Gingerbread Houses event! If you’ve already signed up, don’t forget to come decorate a Gingerbread House at 12:30 pm or 2:30 pm. Frosting and all sorts of toppings will be available. This is a really fun event, so don’t miss it!
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If you want to learn how to use a 3D printer, you should come to our Beginner’s 3D Printing Workshop, Monday the 19th at 6 pm. Learn how to use the library’s 3D printer. We will walk through the process of finding a print-ready file online that you can print as is or alter to fit your needs. Seating is limited, so sign up on our website or at the front desk.
- Santa Claus is coming to Storytimes next week! Tuesday Dec. 20 at 6 pm and Thursday Dec. 22 at 11:15 am, Santa will be our special Storytime guest. Come see Santa and tell him what you want for Christmas.
- Teens can join us for movie and craft time on Tuesday Dec. 20 at 6 pm! We’ll watch a fun movie while making an ugly sweater craft.
 Teens can also come to Teen Create and Game, every Thursday at 5 pm. Play our Wii, Xbox, Playstation 4, one of our many board games, or do a fun craft! On the 22nd, we’ll be watching anime. On the 29th, we’ll be making rainbow snowflakes.
- Every weekday over Winter Break (Dec. 22-23 & Dec. 27-30), kids of all ages can join us for a craft and board games at 1 pm, followed by a movie at 2 pm! Make fun holiday and winter crafts and/or play one of our board games, then watch a fun movie. You can find which movies will be shown on the December Calendar available at the library or through our email list. Popcorn and lemonade will be served during the movie. Keep your kids busy while they’re out of school with our fun activities and crafts!
The library will be closed Sat. Dec. 24 and Mon. Dec 26 for Christmas. I hope that you all have a lovely holiday season. We will also close at 1 pm on Sat., Dec. 31 for New Year’s Eve. Come to the library in December for holiday and winter fun!
 We’re gearing up for Christmas here at the library, with all sorts of fun activities. So if your kids (or you) need some relief from Cabin Fever during their long Winter Break, I have the perfect remedies – here’s all the fun stuff the library has in store for the rest of this month:
Santa Claus Storytime – Dec. 17 at 11:15 am and 6 pm – Santa himself will read us some Christmas stories, and of course there will be a Christmas craft.
 If you signed up for one of our Gingerbread House decorating sessions on the 19th, don’t forget to come at 9:30 am or 11:30 am (whichever one you signed up for). Don’t worry, you will receive an email reminder the day before. These sessions are by registration only, and all spaces are now full.
Star Wars Day – Dec. 18 – Just in time for the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens! All ages are welcome at these events. Star Wars crafts and prizes at 1 pm, movie at 2 pm with Star Wars posters for everyone who attends, Star Wars games and prizes at 4 pm. Wear or bring your favorite Star Wars gear!
THEME DAYS FOR KIDS’ WINTER BREAK (there will be movies, along with crafts, stories, and other fun):
Solstice crafting & celebration – Dec. 21 – Learn about the shortest day of the year. Movie at 2 pm.
Teddy Bear & PJ Day – Dec. 22 – Party at 2 pm. Come to the library in your most comfortable jammies and bring along your favorite stuffed animal.
Christmas crafts – Dec. 23 at 4 pm, make some fun Christmas crafts. Also, there will be a Christmas movie to get you in the holiday spirit at 2 pm.
Disney Day – Dec. 28 – Wear your favorite Disney gear! Disney movies at 2 and 4 pm. Enjoy some Frozen-themed fun!
Music, Drama & Musicals Day – Dec. 29 – Enjoy watching some great musicals, and even sing along if you want to!
Anime and Art Day – Dec. 30 – Enjoy an anime movie at 2 pm, and/or make some art.
Noon Year’s Eve – Dec. 31 at noon – Come celebrate the New Year while we’re all still awake.
And if you & your fellow adults need some stress relief, try our Stress Management session with Leslie Bissell on Dec. 16 at noon. Learn some techniques to relieve the stress of the holidays.
Also, don’t forget that we’re forgiving library fines this week when you donate new, unopened, unused, and non-perishable food, toiletry, clothing, and sundries, all of which will be given to the Stepping Stone Shelter. See our website at http://lmlibrary.org/fine-forgiveness-2015/ for suggested donation items. Even if you don’t have any fines, you can still contribute to helping the homeless here in Liberal by donating.
And if you didn’t yet receive a copy of this year’s Kansas Reads to Preschoolers book, Is Your Mama a Llama?, we will have free copies available at the front desk. This classic picture book is a great gift for the preschooler, baby, or toddler in your life.
It’s the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the leftovers are just about gone and all of the Black Friday madness is over. Time to start giving serious thought to putting up the Christmas decorations and planning the holiday dinner. If you’re looking for some inspiration, you might try a few of these books.
Leisure Arts presents
The spirit of Christmas: creative holiday ideas book four
Full of Christmas recipes and craft ideas, The spirit of Christmas is a great help when it comes to creating your own gifts and decorations. The cranberry muffins and fudge pound cake recipes look like they would be particularly yummy.
 Trash to treasure Christmas
From the Book Description
This edition of Trash to Treasure is packed with resourceful ideas for holiday home decor, tree trimmings, gifts and gift-wrappings. From fun and simple, to fancy and elegant, the more than 100 economical, easy-to-make projects pave the road to thrifty, yet exciting, holiday crafts.
Stories behind the great traditions of Christmas
by Ace Collins
If you’ve ever wondered where all of those Christmas traditions, such as hanging stockings, came from then this little book can explain them.
From the Book Description
Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas reveals the people, places, and events that shaped the best-loved customs of this merriest of holidays. Here are spiritual insights, true-life tales, and captivating legends to intrigue you and your family and bring new luster and depth to your celebration of Jesus’ birth. Discover how
- after eighteen centuries of all but ignoring the event, churches began to open the door for believers to commemorate Jesus’ incarnation.
- the evergreen tree, once a central theme in the worship practices of pagan cultures, came to represent the everlasting love of God.
- the magi’s three gifts—gold, frankincense, and myrrh—are filled with spiritual symbolism.
The Santa Claus Book
by E. Willis Jones
From the Book Description
The Santa Claus Book presents a worldwide view of the jolly gift-giver from his start as an early Christian miracle worker—his 1,200 years as St. Nicholas, patron of sailors, virgins, pawnbrokers, and all kinds of children—to the hearty and ubiquitous benefactor of nineteenth and twentieth-century America.
Another option is to checkout and download magazines for free using your Liberal Memorial library card and Zinio. December’s issues of food and cooking magazines and craft magazines have a lot of helpful holiday tips.
- EatingWell offers must-make cookies and holiday salads
- Every Day with Rachael Ray has a special holiday cookie blowout
- Taste of Home shows us how to make extra cheesy casseroles and super quick holiday sides
- Even Weight Watchers magazine weighs in with “Desserts with a Sweet Secret”.
These are a few of the magazines offering recipes and decorating tips that are available for download through Zinio. If you haven’t created your free account yet, just follow these instructions, http://www.lmlibrary.org/about/zinioinstructions.pdf, or call or come by the library for help.
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