The Holidays Start Here

Well, here we are, Thanksgiving behind us, and hurtling headlong into the holiday season. Gifts to buy, cookies and other goodies to bake – in our house, fudge is the goody of choice – lights to put up, dead trees to decorate. All the fun stuff that will fill our spare time over the next month.

Where to start??

Good news is, we have the library’s annual Holiday Book Sale coming up at the end of this week! All year long, people drop off their used books for the library to sort and catalog; twice a year, the Friends of the Library take all those books and hold a sale, selling perfectly good books for a mere fraction of what you’d pay on Amazon. The bigger sale happens on the lawn in June, but their winter sale is just as fabulous, and is a great place to pick up unique books to give as gifts.

For the Holiday Book Sale, the sorters choose books that are only lightly used, so you don’t look like a cheapskate when you give them away. They cover all genres, from coffee table books to miniature books that fit nicely in a stocking, from biographies to cookbooks to mysteries to kids’ and teen books. They’ll even have some books with author signatures. Plus they’ve paired Beanie Babies with appropriate books, making a lovely gift bag, all ready to go under the tree or by the menorah.

The cool thing is, it’s like a treasure hunt: You never know what great book you might find. In fact, there’s a line at the door opening morning, with people in the know angling to be the first to get a crack at the books. But the truth is, new books are being brought up throughout the entire three days, so there’s always a chance you’ll find that rare one, no matter when you show up.

The sale runs Friday, Nov. 30, and Saturday, Dec. 1 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 2 from 1 to 4 p.m., in the lobby of the Main Library. As usual, proceeds go to support all the great programs at the library, so it’s kind of like two gifts in one. Brought to you by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library.

Art for Sale

Books aren’t the only things being sold this coming weekend: Emerson Umbrella is also holding their annual Winter Market from Friday through Sunday. I do love this event – both resident artists and invited guest artists bring out their finest arts and crafts. And they have seriously beautiful, one-of-a-kind wares that you’ll want for yourself, never mind those hard-to-please people on your gift list.

I think this is such a great way to support local artists, that in fact I have several pieces of art that I’ve gotten in years past at this event. The hardest part, for me, is deciding which items to buy, and which I’m willing to part with.

And conveniently, you can park once and hit both the Winter Market AND the Holiday Book Sale, since they’re right next to each other. Hours for the Winter Market are Friday from 1 to 6 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.

Concord Health Survey

Remember that time when I told you a survey would be coming out about ways to make Concord a healthier place to live? Well, it’s here, and everyone who lives in town should take a minute and fill it out. You can find it online by clicking here, or by going to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HealthyConcord. You’ll also be able to find paper copies around town, at different public places, if you prefer putting actual pen to paper. Either way, make your thoughts known; the more people they hear from, the better the actual results will be.

Do you have something you would like to share? Contact me at stefanieac@comcast.net and I will be happy to help you spread the good news. And follow me on Twitter: @stefanie3131.