Monthly Features & Lots of Stuff

December 2007 Happy Holidays!
MyLibraryDV Kids Shows MyLibraryDV has added some great kids show to its lineup of downloadable programs. There will be 15 episodes of each series for kids to download. Series include Caillou (ages 3-6), Boohbah (ages 3-6), Liberty Kids (ages 7-12) and coming soon Cyberchase (ages 8-11). Try MyLibraryDV now!	Holiday Story Hour Wednesday, Dec. 19th at 4:00pm Join for the 10th annual Holiday Story Hour with Senator Brewer plus enjoy a short performance of holiday music by the Monson Bow & Arco Club. For Children of all ages!
DeSantis Room Winter Wonderland Thanks to Joan Roebuck and the artistic talents of Sharon Casavant the library has a new winter wonderland display in the DeSantis Room. The display features a selection of Monson replica building from the collection of Jason Roebuck and beautiful painted backgrounds by Sharon Casavant. Take a look at this sneak peak at the right, then come on down to the library to check out the real thing!
Don't forget.... Open Pantry The library has a drop-off box for the Open Pantry. Toys for Tots For the holiday season we also have a box for Toys for Tots! You may drop off your toy donations up to noon on Friday, Dec. 14th.	Local Author Local author Andrew Verrocchi debuts his novel Global As-salt at the Monson Free Library on Thursday, December 6th at 6:30 p.m. with a reading and book signing. Global As-salt tells the story of Oliver Bumkins, an anxiety-ridden history teacher experiencing a mid-life crisis. He and his wife go to a little known island in the middle of the Atlantic and unexpectedly encounters a group who have been planning for centuries to annihilate the human species. With an unlikely quirky cast of supporting characters, Oliver Bumkins is about to change the cliché expression "nice guys finish last" to "you never want to test a good guy's wrath."
Holiday Shopping at the Monson Free Library We have some great items for your holiday shopping at the library this year including: - Book Beads by Joi Lynn Keller - The Friend's Gift Shoppe with new MFL baseball caps, holiday cards with historic scenes of Monson, Season's Readings sweatshirts and kids long sleeve t-shirts, plus lots more... - The Friend's annual holiday raffle will be going on until Dec. 14th. This year's raffle items are a queen size quilt by Barbara Beaulieu, woodland puppet set, hand-knitted prayer shawl by Cathy Plouffe and a painting of the Library & First Church by Virginia Midyette. Tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5
Holiday Recipe Crabby Bites These crab bites are so easy to make, and this recipe makes enough for 48 appetizers, you can also make them ahead and freeze them on a flat pan and then remove them into a plastic bag for use later. Just garnish after you remove them from freezer. INGREDIENTS: · 6 English muffins, split · 1 roll (6 ounces) garlic cheese, or a small jar (5 ounces) of Old English Cheese Spread, room temperature · 3 tablespoons butter · 1 tablespoon mayonnaise · 1/2 teaspoon onion powder · 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, if not using garlic cheese · 1 teaspoon freshly chopped parsley · 1 can (6 to 7 ounces) crabmeat, drained, flaked · sliced green onions and tomatoes for garnish, if desired PREPARATION:Heat oven to 350°. Arrange split muffins, cut side up, on a baking pan lined with foil. In a medium bowl, mash the garlic cheese or cheese spread with butter, mayonnaise, onion powder, garlic, and if using parsley. Stir in the crabmeat. Spread evenly over the split muffins. Bake for 10 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. Cut into quarters and serve warm, garnished with green onions and diced tomatoes, if desired. Makes 48 Crabby Bites
Friends of the Library Happy Holidays from the Friends! Whew! What a whirlwind of activity November has been for the Friends! Thank you to all of those who joined us this year for our Gourmet Evening of Fine Food and Wine! Moving the event to the Quaboag Country Club allowed us to welcome almost twice as many guests this year. Chef Pamela Yahn and local wine expert Tom Brown, along with an incredible corps of volunteers put together an evening that won't soon be forgotten. The five course gourmet meal was perfectly paired with an array of fine wines, and expertly served by amazing volunteers. We were also very fortunate to have Ingo King share his professional talents as maitre' d this year, perfecting the ambience and making sure all ran smoothly. Attendees bid generously on a great variety of Silent Auction items, with top bids coming in on a Patriots Tickets and Tailgate package for last Sunday night's game and a unique steel cast cribbage board donated by Pathfinder Vocational School. The Friends offer their sincere thanks to all of the local businesses that donated items for the Silent Auction - we raised over $2,000 just from the Auction! We are already talking about next year... With the generosity of local lia sophia jewelry hostess Kathy Walsh as our inspiration, we hosted an open house Jewelry Party on Friday 11/16. A number of folks got a jump on the holiday shopping and a portion of proceeds will benefit the Friends. Those of you who placed orders will be notified when they arrive at the library - Thank you for coming out to shop! And then of course there was the Craft Fair! What great fun we had this year, and for the first time in several years our table raised more than $1,000! A special thank you to the Knitting Group at the Senior Center for donating those beautiful and popular dishcloths, hats, mittens and muffattes! No one could resist those darling baby mittens! Also a very special thank you to the incredibly talented women who donated items for our raffle: Barbara Beaulieu for the queen size quilt; Cathy Plouffe for the hand knitted prayed shawl and Virginia Midyette for the watercolor of the Library and First Church. Please note that the raffle will be drawn on December 14, so there is still time to drop by the library and take a chance! The Friends' Holiday Shop is also open during Library hours; if you are looking for unique Holiday cards the Friends are selling some with historic scenes of Monson, and those great Seasons Readings sweatshirts and t-shirts are on sale too! In this season of Thanksgiving, I am honored to be able to thank all of you on behalf of the Friends, for your incredible support of our fundraising efforts. Together we can bring so much to the wonderful resource that is our library! December will find us all taking a break and enjoying the holidays with friends and family, and come January we will be meeting on Thursday, the 10th to plan our activities for 2008. We would love to have you join us! New Friends are always welcome! Happy holidays and the Peace of the Season to you and yours! Sandy CourtneyPresident of the Friends
From the Kid's Room 'Tis the season to be jolly, and we'll be having a jolly good time at the library. Check out our collection of holiday DVDs and videos, including "Madeline's Christmas", "A Christmas Story" (my personal favorite and a don't miss for family movie night), "Polar Express", "It's a Wonderful Life" and "The Nutcracker". We also have a great selection of family CDs, from classical to pop, and books, books, books celebrating the holiday observances of every culture and religion in the world (with great recipes). Here's holiday fun for the whole family: a craft using all those empty aluminum pie tins left from Thanksgiving: You will need: aluminum pie plate cookie cutters scissors chopstick or wooden spoon ribbon acrylic jewels sequins glue dots tape monofilament 1. For each ornament, trace a cookie cutter onto an aluminum pie plate. 2. Cut out the ornament, then use a chopstick or the end of a wooden spoon to emboss a swirl pattern onto the aluminum. Add decorations, such as ribbon acrylic jewels, and sequins adhered with glue dots. 3. Finally, tape a loop of monofilament to the back as a hanger. The Library Lounge lives! The DeSantis Room is the after school place for middle-schoolers and high schoolers every Tuesday and Thursday from 2:30 to 5:00 p.m. to socialize, computerize, plan activities or just chill out. Check it out!
Upcoming Events Dec. 1st ~ Dads and Donuts Story & Craft Hour. Dads, bring your favorite kids! Kids, bring your favorite Dad! At the Library 10:30 a.m. Dec. 14th ~ Midnight Madness for Quilters, Knitters & Needleworkers. Space is limited please call to register. At the library 6:00pm-Midnight Dec. 18th ~ Scrabble Night. Everyone welcome! At the Library 6:00-8:00 p.m.	Book Discussion Group Monday, Dec. 17th at 7:00pm December's choice is The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror by Christopher Moore. Copies are available to be picked up at the library. When a seven-year-old boy witnesses the murder of a portly, Scrooge-like real-estate developer, he believes the victim is Santa Claus and wishes for the man's recovery, and when the haphazard angel, Raziel, grants the wish, unexpected occurrences result.
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