Vintage Village of Lights at the Cumberland Heritage Museum

By Wendy Sure, you can find Santa in just about any mall these days, but one of my favourite places to find him is at the Cumberland Heritage Museum Vintage Village of Lights.  The Museum, which depicts rural life in a circa 1920s-30s village setting (think Upper Canada Village on a smaller scale), is located at 2940 Old Montreal Road; just 30 minutes from downtown Ottawa – and mere minutes from Orléans.

Since November 30, when the switch for the thousands of twinkling lights adorning the heritage buildings was flipped on, the Museum has been open to welcome the young and young-at-heart on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings from 3:00-8:00pm.   There are still two more weekends to enjoy the magic of the Village (December 13, 14, 15, 20 and 22 – note that the Museum does not seem to be open on Saturday, December 21).  The cost of admission is $7 per person or $18 for a family.  Having enjoyed our visit last year, our family will be heading out this weekend to experience the festivities once again!

Last year, upon arrival, the kids (then ages 2 and 6) were given pennies to purchase vouchers at the General Store for cookie decorating and two crafts, as well as a map to find the buildings on the village site where the activities would take place.  Before leaving the main reception building, they were given the opportunity to send a Santagram at the Village telegraph office, but opted out of this activity, having already written and sent letters to Santa via snail mail!

Dashing through the snow (from building to building - it was cold that night!), enjoying the warm glow of the lights, the kids decorated and devoured gingerbread cookies, made tree ornaments from buttons and pipe cleaners, and built and painted wooden planes with the help of friendly museum staff.   We toured the site in a horse-drawn wagon while singing Christmas songs, and enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate by a bonfire.  And, of course, we had a visit with the man in red himself – no line-ups, and no photographer or fee – definitely bring your own camera!

The actual program of activities for this year’s Vintage Village of Lights may vary from those described above; let me know if you make it there and what you think! I will be sure to check back in with a report on our visit too.  Nevertheless, if the Museum follows last year’s winning formula for a magical night, a visit to the Cumberland Heritage Museum will definitely make many spirits bright!

For more information, including directions to the Museum, visit:  http://ottawamuseumnetwork.com/index.php?page=cumberland-heritage-village-museum ; or   https://www.facebook.com/cumberlandmuseum .

The Awesome Authors Youth Writing Contest

Our new sponsor, The Ottawa Public Library, is once again launching The Awesome Authors Youth Writing Contest! Children and teens between the ages of 9 and 17 are invited to submit their original, previously unpublished poems and short stories in either French or English to any branch of the Ottawa Public Library You can submit either in person or online.

You can find all the contest details and submission form on the Ottawa Public Library website. The contest deadline is February 9, 2014 and winners will be announced in the spring and you can win lots of awesome prizes! Local authors Tudor Robins, Michel Lavoie and JC Sulzenko will judge all the submissions.

In order to help Ottawa's young authors get ready to write, the contest judges will be offering English and French workshops to share their knowledge and experience with young authors. Registration for workshops begins January 10, 2014.

Get your kids ready to write and help them share their words with the world! Good luck to all.

GivingTuesday

Have you heard about the new movement that encourages people everywhere to band together and support those charities and organizations that they feel are worthy? GivingTuesday, initiated in Canada by CanadaHelps, GIV3, and several other partners, marks the opening day of the giving season. After you've done all your holiday gift buying on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it's time to pay it forward  on GivingTuesday.

Giving Tuesday is a day for each and every one of us to really make a difference. It's also a great way to get your kids involved in learning about helping those who are less fortunate.

Be a part of this new tradition of generosity and give back to a cause that matters to you.

Who will you support today?

Giving Back at the Holidays

Now that December is upon us, many people are starting to get into the holiday spirit. For some, that means thinking about what they are thankful for during the year and wanting to pay it forward in the season of giving. Over the past year, my girls have volunteered in a few ways. Both have visited the Ottawa Food back and learned that not everyone in Ottawa has enough to eat each and every day. They've visited residents in nursing homes to play games and sing with them and have shared their allowance with the typhoon victims in the Philippines.

Giving back doesn't need to be big. It just needs to be meaningful. For kids, learning that there are people who need a helping hand is a great lesson in empathy and kindness. There are so many ways to get your kids involved. Here are a few ideas for you and you kids:

• Donate to a charitable organization
• Invite an elderly neighbor or someone who lives alone to join your celebration 
• Deliver a meal to a family in need
• Write a thoughtful note to someone special
• Donate clothes you've outgrown
• Donate food to a local charity or food bank
• Volunteer at a soup kitchen
• Send a care package to a soldier
• Visit hospital patients
• Foster a dog or cat
• Adopt an endangered animal through a zoo
• Shovel snow for a neighbor
• Help pick up trash at a local park
• Join a church or school group that does community service projects

Giving back is a great thing to do all year round, but the holidays tend to bring out the charitable side in most people. Try some of these ideas with your family and make a difference this holiday season.

How does your family give back at the Holidays?

Easy Peasy Sufganyiyot for Chanukah

Tonight is the first night of Chanukah, the 8-day Jewish Festival of lights.  Chanukah commemorates the victory of a small band of Jews called Maccabees over the pagan Syrian-Greeks who ruled over Israel. After regaining control of their temple, the Jews went inside to find it dirty and destroyed so the began to to clean it and rededicate it to G-d (in Hebrew, Chanukah means to dedicate). In the Temple, there was an eternal flame that had to stay lit all the time. But when the Jews came into the Temple to light the flame, there was only enough oil to keep it burning for one day. After they lit it, however, a second miracle occurred — the lamp remained lit for eight days until the new oil arrived. This is how Hanukkah became known as the "Festival of Lights." To commemorate this miracle, during Hanukkah Jews light the menorah. We light one candle each night of Hanukkah and give thanks for the miracle of the oil. And we also eat lots of stuff fried in oil.

One of my favorite things to eat are little fried donuts called Sufganyiot. They're yummy to eat but can be tricky to make. I found an easy recipe that's great to do with kids.

Ingredients

• One roll of store-bought biscuit dough
• Canola oil for frying
• A small bowl of sugar, white or powdered
• About 1/2 cup of any red jam 

Step-by-step:

1. Let dough sit at room temperature for 20 minutes so that it's easy to roll out.
2. On a floured surface, roll out dough until it's 1/2-inch thick. Cut out 2 1/2- or 3-inch circles.
3. Fill a pot with 2 inches of oil and heat it to 360-375 degrees so it's nice and hot.
4. Fry the dough until each side is a deep brown. test one to make sure they're not doughy in the middle.
5. Transfer donuts to a paper towel, pat off any excess grease, and then coat with sugar.
6. Fill with jam using a squeeze bottle. If the jam is being difficult, warm it for 30 seconds in the microwave.

That's it. Eat up and Happy Chanukah!