[photopress:candy_cane_1210.jpg,thumb,pp_style] by Dave Ellis
On June 26, 1948, British planes commenced the Berlin Airlift (Operation Vittles, seriously) to provide much needed supplies to the West Berliners being held hostage behind the Iron Curtain. The Allies flew over two hundred thousand flights in one year to overcome the blockade by the Soviets. This is the same strategy I use to get candy canes into my house each year. Yes, I am the Allies and my wife is the Soviets. Charming, eh?

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[photopress:decorating_cookies_1210.jpg,thumb,pp_style] by Annette Lyon
Some of my happiest Christmas memories from childhood center around the kitchen, namely around making the traditional Finnish sweetbread pulla. The smell of cardamom spice always brings back images and feelings of making pulla with my father—rolling out the dough into long strips and then braiding them together; brushing on egg wash to create a beautiful golden brown top when the bread baked; and finally cutting fresh pulla and savoring every bite.

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[photopress:Caroler_1208.jpg,thumb,pp_style]by Dave Ellis
Let me start off by saying that I really love Christmas music. The only problem is that I hate it too. Not the forty good songs, but the good songs that have been re-arranged and re-recorded over and over again. Really, what else can be done with the same song?

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[photopress:Christmas_secret_1208.jpg,thumb,pp_style]By Sherrie Mackelprang
Christmas is like magic. The unexpected can brighten and beautify a heart.

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[photopress:red_ornament__1208.jpg,thumb,pp_style]by Lu Ann Brobst Staheli
Nearly sixteen years ago, Rick Evans wrote a book—The Christmas Box—as a present for his daughters, Jenna and Alyson. But like all good things, this story soon took on a life of its own. Passed from hand to hand among friends and neighbors, the book was an instant favorite with those who read it, and soon they were begging for copies to give to their friends

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