The long winter's nap

otto christmas tree

AOA is getting ready for its annual (not so) long winter's nap. So here are a few things from this holiday season, and those past. We also have some interesting stuff lined for later this week!

+ The first Christmas card in the US was printed in Albany, as was the first advertisement featuring Santa.

+ You know Virginia, from the "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" editorial? She ended up living in Valatie. (The village, as it also happens, had the nation's first Santa Claus Club. )

+ The poem A Visit from Saint Nicholas -- you know, "'Twas the night before Christmas and..." -- first appeared in 1823 in The Troy Sentinel.

+ What are you thankful for this year?

+ Ask AOA: Good local charities for donations?

+ The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany has caroling and midnight mass Christmas Eve. (From an earlier Ask AOA question.)

+ Great local foods to bring to holiday gatherings (from 2010, but many still apply).

+ Ask AOA: How to get rid of a Christmas tree? (2011)

Holiday wish lists from this year:
+ Albany Jane from Albany Eats
+ AOA contributor Casey Normile
+ "Temporary" Lark Street resident Bill Pettit
+ Laura Glazer from Hello Pretty City
+ Man about Troy Duncan Crary
+ Laura McCarthy from Audubon New York
+ The Albany Society for the Advance of Philanthropy's Jim Larson
+ Jenny Witte from Mamatoga
+ Deanna Fox from Silly Goose Farm
+ Storyteller and photographer Tim Dawkins
+ YNN anchor lady Kate Welshofer and AnchorCat Brian Williams

Comments

Another Albany connection to the celebration of Christmas:

http://www.albanylaw.edu/alumni/news/spotlight/Pages/Francis-Gannon.aspx

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