A piano, a gentle drum shuffle, a children’s choir: The opening notes of A Charlie Brown Christmas, scoring a lightly falling snow, are not just familiar, they’re iconic. The 22-minute television special, which debuted in 1965, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, five decades worth of festive feeling, holiday transportation and warm nostalgia. JazzEast’s […]
Holiday Planner
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Card candy
Screen printed gift tag by The Quarrelsome Yeti Seaport Farmers’ Market, 1209 Marginal Road (Saturdays and Sundays) and Halifax Crafters’ Winter Show, Dec 4-6, Olympic Community Hall, 2304 Hunter Street Letterpress card by Inkwell Press Inkwell Modern Handmade Boutique, 1658 Market Street Shimmery screenprinted card by Double Dare Print Kept, 127 Portland Street and Halifax […]
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The ice cometh: 10 places to go skating
The Oval, 5775 Cogswell Street, 902-490-2347 You’re not alone if you’re counting down the minutes until Oval-time. Are we there yet? Not quite. The first skate of the year is weather dependent but currently pencilled in for December 15. Stalk halifax.ca/skatehrm and @skatehrm for the latest on Halifax’s backyard rink. Scotiabank Centre, 1800 Brunswick Street, […]
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Season’s readings
We’ve got a read on who ended up on your list this year, and we’re telling you it doesn’t matter—there’s a book for that. Make your life easy and channel your inner Oprah this holiday season: “You get a book, and you get a book, and everybody gets a book!” It’s one-stop shopping at its […]
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Independence holiday
In September of last year, I entered some search terms into an app called Skyscanner. Travelling from: Halifax. Travelling to: New York. Departure date: December 23, 2014. Return date: December 30, 2014. The price it spat back at me: $332.96 For years, I’d been working up the courage to leave at Christmas. My parents split […]
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It’s the ho-ho-Holiday Planner
‘Tis the season to go shopping, listen to crappy music, navigate an endless list of frosty fun times, over-do it on the egg nog lattes, wish for snow to fall and then curse it as soon as it arrives. We’ve got the answers to all of these seasonal struggles—plus a special look at the local […]
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Rappers unwrapped
CAM SMITH This is going to sound so corny but when I was in high school I documented every day of December in a notebook and gave it to my then-girlfriend. Here comes the icing on top of the cake—I left Christmas Day blank and included a pen so we could fill it in together. […]
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Oh snow you didn’t
Ice crystals, better known as snowflakes, make for a whimsical winter tale—but this is one fable founded in cold hard fact. Apart from perpetuating Canadianisms and a subconscious love of holiday commercialism, snow is complicated, close to home and, of course, icy cool. “It’s a story of many facets,” says snowflake specialist Kenneth Libbrecht, professor […]
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The nog whisperer
Egg nog is a weird and wonderful thing. Basically a drinkable custard, the milk-sugar-egg mixture—which, in carton form, contains a serious lack of eggs—traditionally exists mostly as a way to make drinking spiced rum at all hours of the day acceptable, and more recently to transform the traditional latte into a religious experience. But it’s […]
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Twelve days of holiday events
1 Xmas Hamper Edition of Grab That Dough Don’t be a holiday drag, celebrate the season with everyone’s favourite queen, Mz. Vicki! Come out to the festive edition of Grab That Dough at Menz Bar (2182 Gottigen Street). This gay old time features a silent auction, X-mas gift giveaway and variety show. Performers entertain the […]
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Present sense: local gift ideas
1 The BFF The rad, and radical, creations of Taylor Made come from the hands of Anna Taylor, who aims to “empower, encourage and softly redefine norms” with her work. She freehand embroiders great things like Not Sorry, Feel No Shame and Fuck This Shit onto hand-dyed fabrics, and you can find her work at […]
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Christmas albums that don’t suck
Sleigh-fulls of Christmas albums have been released since the capitalization of the holiday in the 1950s, which has resulted in some truly terrible records. Like in 2012, Scientologist John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John put out a creepy X-mas cringe-fest, and this year, Hootie (Darius Rucker) came Home for The Holidays with pure country Christmas crap. […]