5 Other Holidays To Celebrate During the Christmas Season

Hanukkah-

Hanukkah is considered a Jewish holiday that is celebrated for 8 days and nights. It is celebrated in either November or December. This holiday celebrates rededication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem following the Jewish victory over the Syrian-Greeks in 165 B.C.E. Jewish families celebrate by lighting the hanukkiah, one candle per light, from left to right.

Kwanzaa-

Kwanzaa is a seven day holiday that celebrates African culture. This holiday begins on December 26th and ends on January 1st. This holiday is celebrated with dancing, singing, gifts, and feasts. Families also decorate their homes with fruits, a black, red, and green flag. A Kinara is also used as a decoration (a candle holder that holds seven candles).

Winter Solstice-

Winter Solstice is on December 21st, which is the shortest day and longest night of the year. The purpose of this holiday is to celebrate the rebirth of the sun because days get longer. Winter Solstice symbols are fire & light, and are celebrated with long feasts.

Las Posadas-

Las Posadas is celebrated from December 16th- December 24th. Las Posadas is a hispanic holiday celebrated in the United States. Families celebrate for 9 days before christmas, and each night is celebrated with gifts, pinatas, songs, tamales, parties and prayer.

Diwali-

Diwali is a five day long Hindu holiday that celebrates life and the victory of good over evil. This holiday usually occurs during the end of November, but the date is based on the Hindu lunisolar calendar. Diwali is celebrated with fireworks, feasts, and family.

14 GOOD Things About 2020

It’s safe to say that 2020 has not been exactly anyone's year. However, even with its ups and downs, 2020 is a year to remember all not only for the bad. So to end the year on a good note, I present to you our 2020 countdown to the new year of only a couple of great things that resulted from this highly eventful year.

14. Crayola released a new collection of crayons named the “Colors of the World”. Coming in packs of 24 and 32, the collection displays a variety of skin tone shades aimed at displaying different skin tones of people around the world.

13. Sandra Lindsay, a nurse at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, is the first American to receive the COVID-19 outside of clinical trials on December 14, 2020

12. REACH Member Kelley Stone started business Quick2Health

11. We, LeadOne, hosted our first virtual game night

10. The U.S.’s carbon emissions decreased by 12%

9. Distilleries, automakers (GMC and Ford) , and big tech companies (Apple) used their resources to make pandemic necessities such as hand sanitizer, masks, and ventilators.

8. REACH Member Desmond Thompson won the Stax Music Academy sponsored SongWriting Challenge: Protest Song

7. NASA named it’s Washington D.C. headquarters after their first female black engineer Mary W. Jackson, or as you may know her, a “Hidden Figure”

6. Across the U.S., people of various backgrounds and identities joined protest for the Black Lives Matter movement

5. As the year draws to an end, we get closer to having our first female Vice President

4.Tik Tok was not banned and our pandemic entertainment continues

3 Virtual learning may not be how we envisioned our 2020 school year, but never before have we had the opportunity to wear pjs for our daily lessons (I won’t tell if you don't)

2. We have taken up a million hobbies and become pro banana bread bakers, master artists, small business owners, etc. The possibilities have been endless.

1 You made it through 2020. Regardless of every obstacle thrown at you, you have survived a pandemic, stayed strong even as you wake up to open a screen for school over Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meets, etc., 5 days a week, celebrated birthdays over a drive through party, and much more. You can proudly say I made it through 2020, it may not have been my best year, but I made it! Congratulations and Happy New Year!!

3 Thanksgiving Recipes That Will Have Your Folks Drooling

It’s November! Which means the Thanksgiving cooking is right around the corner. Most of us have reached that level in our family where we are in charge of either helping prep the turkey or cooking a side dish such as the mashed potatoes for the grand dinner. Some of us don’t know what to do in the kitchen and/or would like to add something new to the menu. Here’s 3 recipes that will bring cheesy-ness, gooey-ness and/or sweet-ness to your dinner table this year!

All recipes were rewritten from their respected sources.

Martha Stewart’s Creamy Scalloped Potatoes

Lifestyle chef, Martha Stewart , is bringing the best of both worlds with her creamy scalloped potatoes : cheese and potatoes. This easy casserole consists of sliced potatoes with a rich cheese sauce with hints of thyme that will be leaving plates clean. It’s perfect for picky eaters and vegetarians.

Here’s what you’ll need :

● 1 clove garlic, lightly smashed and peeled

● Unsalted butter, room temperature, for pan

● 4 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes (8 medium)

● 2 cups heavy cream

● 2 cups whole milk

● 1 tablespoon lightly packed fresh thyme leaves

● Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

● 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

● 6 ounces Gruyere, coarsely grated (2 1/4 cups)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rub the bottom and sides of a 3-quart baking dish with garlic; reserve garlic. Brush pan generously with butter. Peel potatoes, then cut into 1/8-inch-thick rounds.

2. Transfer potatoes and garlic to a large pot with cream, milk, thyme, 1 tablespoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil over high. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 1 minute. Let cool slightly, about 10 minutes.

3. Spoon one-third of potato mixture into prepared dish. Sprinkle with one-third of cheese. Repeat layering twice more. Loosely cover dish with parchment-lined foil. 4. Bake until potatoes are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove foil; turn oven to broil. Broil until potatoes are bubbly and browned in places, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes before serving.

This recipe was taken from Martha Stewart’s blog. For more recipes & information : https://www.marthastewart.com/1133591/creamy-scalloped-potatoes

Stove Love Kiss’s “Brown Sugar Swirled Honey Butta Cornbread”

Chef & YouTuber, Stove Love Kisses , AKA Danni Rose, humorously instructs and gives us the huge craving of southern food on her YouTube channel, Stove Love Kisses. She recently shared a gooey, sweet and savory recipe for a Brown Sugar Swirled Honey “Butta” Cornbread that gives cornbread a whole buttery twist ! This dish may be an option for dessert and/or cornbread lovers.

Here’s what you’ll need :

Cornbread Mixture

● 3 cups prepared cornbread mix (regular, not sweet)

● 4 eggs

● 2 cups buttermilk ( if the batter seems a little stiff add an additional 1/2 cup more) ● 1/2 cup melted buttered shortening ( plus 1/4 cup more to add to skillet to cook cornbread. Plus, an additional 1/4 cup shortening to heat the skillet.)

● 1 stick of butter

Brown Sugar Mix

● 1 ½ sticks of melted of butter

● 1 cup brown sugar

1. First, preheat the oven at 400F. Let the cast iron skillet heat up with the shortening butter in the oven. Then, put the prepared cornbread mix, buttermilk, and eggs in a large bowl to mix until it’s all combined. Add 1/2 of the melted butter flavored shortening in the mix and grate the cold butter into the mixture. This creates little pockets in the batter to keep everything moist.

2. Next, once the cornbread mixture is finished, take the skillet out of the oven with the leftover melted shortening. Pour the cornbread mixture into the hot skillet and lay the brown sugar butter mixture on top. Take your butter knife and swirl it until it’s mixed. Bake the cornbread for about 25-30 minutes.

3. Once it’s finished, add salted butter on top and drizzle honey all over the cornbread. Let it rest for about 10-15 minutes before cutting. This would let all of the butter and honey soak right into the cornbread.

This recipe was originally in form of video. The contents above were rewritten from the diyjoy blog. They provided the written instructions for this recipe. For the video version check out Danni Rose’s youtube channel :

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjBaM8gCNWKXDqU5g8mTNKw

For the written version of the recipe check out diyjoy blog :

https://diyjoy.com/brown-sugar-swirled-honey-cornbread-recipe/

The Spruce Eats’ Sparkling Cranberry Punch ( Non - Alcoholic )

For legal reasons, we may not be able to join our older family members on the ~special~ drinks. Though that doesn’t mean we can have our own version of a cocktail. Blogger, Colleen Graham shares a quick and refreshing non- alcoholic sparkling cranberry punch on The Spruce Eats.

Here’s what you’ll need :

● 2 quarts cranberry juice (chilled)

● 1 6-ounce can frozen pink lemonade concentrate (thawed)

● 1 liter sparkling water (chilled)

● Optional garnish: 1 cup fruits (sliced oranges, lemons, firm berries, or seasonal fruits)

1. Gather the ingredients.

2. In a large punch bowl, combine the cranberry juice and lemonade concentrate. 3. Stir in sparkling water.

4. Serve immediately and garnish with citrus or seasonal fruits to taste, if using.

This recipe was taken from The Spruce Eats. For more information & recipes check out their website :

https://www.thespruceeats.com/sparkling-cranberry-punch-non-alcoholic-recipe-760363