20 Ways to Give

20 Ways to Give

Being a philanthropist can be an expensive venture. But charity isn’t always about big checks or canned soup or bake sales. In fact, it means different things for different people and different organizations. Proving that anyone can help drive the greater good, 20 different local nonprofits let you know how you can help lend a hand this holiday season—from wigs to pies and more...

Businesses That Care

St. Vrain Valley Credit Union 777 21st Ave., Longmont, 303.772.7776; 1444 East 3rd Ave., Longmont, 303.772.7776, svvcu.org “She was our inspiration. She spearheaded this. We have stayed true.” —Julia Davis, business development and community advocate The community involvement didn’t start out so personal. Five years ago, the employees at St. Vrain Valley Credit Union decided it was...

Locavore Gift Guide

Santa never used to look like this… He’s traded in his reindeer for Crescent Moon snowshoes He’s wearing GoLite and Crocs This winter, you’ll also want something you never had… Cause Santa’s got a brand-new bag! This winter, Santa has outsourced the North Pole to your neighborhood. No, that doesn’t mean your kids will soon be whittling rocking horses in a giant new tinkering...

The Hanukkah Fairy

Perhaps no character in history has evoked more controversy or provoked more heated discussion than the Hanukkah fairy. Mostly because he doesn’t really exist—and not even in a “Santa Claus doesn’t exist” way. He doesn’t exist in a much more...

Giving the Gift of Booze

Stashing for the holidays The stealth gift that will reap huge rewards is an aged case of imperial beer. Like fine wine, high alcohol beers age and mellow with time. Varieties brewed now will taste much different in March or April—and even better a year from now—as hops, malts and other flavors mellow, meld and combine into a delicious maturity. Buying a case (or mixing varieties) and...

Dear Santa…

There are a lot of things I’d like for my >INSERT APPROPRIATE SECULAR HOLIDAY HERE< gift this year. So, I decided the fair thing to do would be to list them all here, so my legions of readers and fans (ahem, um, talking to you, Mom) don’t have to rack their brains only to come up with the ugliest sweater known to man as a gift FOR YET ANOTHER YEAR (really, who even makes reindeer sweaters for...

Breaking Bread

The holiday sights matter, the lights and trees, as does the sound of carols and the aroma of pine, but it’s the traditional goodies that make the season sweet. Taste takes us back to our childhood and that early seasonal wonder. A slice of fruitcake on Christmas morning can trigger memories of the old country—even if you grew up in Texas...

Everything’s Coming Up Pink

I thought the Paris Hilton fad was done. I thought we were over her, and by “we,” I mean whoever found her worthy of attention in the first place. I thought it was now uncool to dislike her, passé even. Abhorring Paris Hilton is soooo 2002. Shouldn’t we be making fun of Miley Cyrus instead? But then the FedEx man walked into our office with a box—a Pandora’s box of synthetic...

Pine Away

When I was a kid, I knew it was Christmas when after going to church on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, my parents loaded up my brother, Danny, and I (and later David) into the blue, ’60s vintage Buick Skylark station wagon and drove out to Santa’s Christmas Tree Farm. It seemed like it was in the boonies of Jackson County, Mo., and to a little kid, the acreage seemed huge...