Here Are Some Holiday Fire Prevention and Home Fire Safety Tips

FEMA offers some ideas for a safer holiday season.

About 3,500 Americans die each year in fires and about 20,000 are injured. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, live Christmas trees account for about 240 fires each year in the United States, resulting in more than $16 million in property damage and about 13 deaths.  Typically, shorts in electrical lights, open flames from candles, lighters or matches cause the tree fires. While well-watered trees usually are not a problem, dry and neglected trees easily can go up in flames. Here are some tips from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) on how to stop a fire before it starts and what to do if you have a fire: The above video from the Building and Fire Research Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology …

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Allegheny County Parks Department Offers Holiday Gift Certificates

Ice skating, ski, pool and golf passes are available for purchase.

The Allegheny County Parks Department is offering holiday gift certificates for the outdoor-loving people on your Christmas lists. Gift certificates for ice skating sessions, senior season ice skating permits, season ski passes, season pool passes, rounds of golf and senior golf permits are available. Ice Skating Sessions & Senior Skating Permits The county’s ice skating rinks are located in North Park and South Park. Skating sessions are $5 for adults (ages 18 to 59) and $3 for children (ages 5 and younger), youth (ages 6 to 12), juniors (ages 13 to 17), and seniors (ages 60 and older). Shoppers can purchase gift certificates for skating sessions. Senior season ice skating permits are also available for purchase for $25. For more …

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Ask Dr. Paula

Balancing the Ups and Downs of the Holiday Season

Dr. Paula suggests five stressors to avoid and five attitudes to embrace that will help to deal effectively with the highs and lows of a season filled with fun and festivity, yet often marred by stress and sadness.

No matter which of the winter holidays you celebrate, they all seem to share the ying and yang of ups and downs; fun and festivity; and stress and sadness. The season of lights sometimes brings on a personal season of darkness. The time of giving frequently results in feelings of loss and emptiness. Everything just results in higher highs and lower lows when we’re surrounded by the chaotic activity of a time when so much is expected of us and there seems to be so little time and energy to fulfill those expectations. Couple that with the memories and experiences of the past year, and it can result in what seems to be a dark cloud overshadowing our best efforts to focus on the season’s joy. Holiday blues can result from a number of things …

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PHOTOS: Sugar Plum Days 2011

Plum Borough's Sugar Plum Days offered fun for all ages, right in time for the holidays.

Sleigh rides, train displays and 101 Dalmations. Those are just a few of the ways the community came together to celebrate Sugar Plum Days, a favorite from Holiday Park to Renton. The festivities ran from Dec. 7 through Dec. 17. Here are some photos of the events. Did you attend any of the events? Submit your own photos!

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Military Connections Collects Holiday Cards For The Troops

The group will be sending holiday cards to military troops stationed overseas.

Hundreds of thousands of military soldiers and Marines will not make it home this holiday season, and Military Connections is sending them cards. Military Connections operates out of Penn Hills and is run by Summer Tissue, Plum resident and Oakmont Chamber of Commerce director. Anyone who wants to brighten the holiday of someone in the military can write a card addressed “Dear Soldier” or “Dear Marine” and give it to Military Connections. The organization will send the cards to local soldiers and marines that are stationed in Afghanistan and Germany. Cards will be accepted at: Military Connections, 312 Auburn St., Pittsburgh, PA 15235; or The Oakmont Chamber of Commerce, 504 Allegheny River Blvd., Oakmont, PA 15139. Monetary donations also…

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Ask Dr. Paula

Marketing and Materialism Muddle the Meaning and Message of the Season

Dr. Paula considers ways to demote materialism and promote memories with Abraham Maslow's Needs Hierarchy. The theory might be retro, but the thinking behind it can offer a new perspective on the quest for the best presents to celebrate.

It’s that time of year again: the holidays! Well, actually, the holidays seem to have begun earlier than usual this year. The black and orange of Halloween made a rapid transition to the red and green of the winter holiday season. Whether it’s Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or the Winter Solstice, it just seems to come too fast and furious each year.  Once the Black Friday advertisements hit the door step, it’s all over.  Children start circling pictures of the items they crave and parents start tallying the mounting dollar signs. No one wants to be Ebenezer Scrooge, but not many of us are King Midas either. So what are some ways to put materialistic pursuits aside and make family time, family talk and family traditions the focal point?  …

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Oakmont Carol Walk to Be Held Sunday

The 31st annual Oakmont Carol Walk will take place on Sunday, Dec. 11.

The community is invited to visit four of Oakmont churches to hear host choirs in a celebration of lessons and carols on Sunday night. The 31st annual Carol Walk begins at 6 p.m. at Oakmont Presbyterian Church. The walk then will continue to St. Thomas Episcopal Church at 6:30 p.m., St. Irenaeus Catholic Church at 7 p.m. and will conclude at Oakmont United Methodist Church at 7:30 p.m. At each church, there will be appropriate scriptures read, the  singing of congregational carols and seasonal anthems performed by the host choirs. At the final church, all the choirs will unite to sing  several traditional carols ending with Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. A social time follows with refreshments.

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Holiday Vendor and Craft Fair to Benefit the American Cancer Society

The craft fair will be held on Saturday, Dec. 10, at Oakmont Presbyterian Church.

Get ready for Christmas at the Holiday Vendor and Craft Fair and support the American Cancer Society.   The fair is sponsored by the Riverview Relay for Life Teams, “The Circle of Friends” and “Angels of St. Francis.” It will be held Saturday, Dec. 10, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Oakmont Presbyterian Church, 415 Pennsylvania Ave.  Products will include Mary Kay, Traci Lynn Jewelry, Pampered Chef, Send Out Cards, Embroidery from the Heart, Scentsy Flameless Candles, Sarris Candy, Homemade Soups, Novelty candies, Vintage crafts, and more.   There also will be a food/bake sale, Chinese auction and raffles. For more information, call 412-828-8593 or 412-828-4718.

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