How To Throw an Inexpensive New Year's Eve Party

Five easy steps to throw an easy and inexpensive New Year's Eve party at home.

  Want to avoid the hectic crowds this New Years? Invite a few close friends over and throw your own party at home. Here are five simple steps to having your own New Year's Eve party: 1. Food. Start your party at 7 p.m. or later so your guests will eat dinner before they come over. That way, all you have to provide is snacks. Pick up a vegetable platter and some sweet treats for dessert. Want to make something yourself? Here is a quick an easy recipe for a snack everyone will love: Ingredients you'll need for salsa dip: Spread the whole package of cream cheese on the bottom of a deep plate. Pour a little more than half of the jar of salsa over the top and spread. Sprinkle a layer of shredded cheese on top of the salsa. Heat in the …

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Patch Snap: Santa Visits Burlington Council on Aging

Patch Snap is an occasional post that features pictures from around Burlington or Burlington residents out and about.

Welcome to another edition of Patch Snap, where we highlight a picture or pictures of around Burlington or of Burlington residents out and about. Today's Patch Snap comes from Council on Aging Director Marge McDonald, who states: "Santa visited the senior center last week thanks to the Burlington Mall.  It was part of an afternoon with ice cream and the Singing Trooper who sang Santa into the room with Santa Claus is Coming to Town.  WGBH, Steve Wasserman and Barb Davis from Edward Jones also helped make the afternoon magical for those in attendance." Do you have a picture that would make a great Patch Snap? Email it with a brief description to Richard.Hosford@Patch.com.

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How Will You Celebrate New Year's Eve?

With friends or family? Reveling or making resolutions?

New Year's eve is upon us! At midnight, we'll be ringing in 2013. What a year 2012 was. From our balmy winter last year to a busy election season this fall, 2012 was a unique year. I always enjoy New Year's eve and the countdown to midnight. The last few years I've spent the night with friends, gathering casually to cook a yummy meal, then wearing silly hats and sounding noisemakers at midnight. Everyone has their own New Year's eve traditions — or, are you planning to start a new tradition this year? Tell us in the comments below how you'll spend the last hours of 2012.

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TELL US: Is Your Holiday Shopping Done?

Or are you a last-minute gift-getter?

  This year, for the first time, I took advantage of Cyber Monday to get a few gifts knocked off my list. The sales on things I was looking at for family and friends weren't incredible, but the 10 percent off here or free shipping there certainly helped. What also helped me out this year was going as simple as possible when it comes to gift giving. Instead of buying my sister and brother-in-law individual gifts, I proposed that my husband and I get them one gift, and they get us one, with a $30 limit.  We also instigated a Yankee swap with my inlaws this year, so we don't end up with a ton of gifts that we really don't need. So it'll be a pared-down holiday for us. The best part of holiday giving, I think, is watching a loved one's …

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Open on Christmas or New Year's? Tell Us!

We're compiling a list of Burlington stores and restaurants that will be open during the holidays.

Burlington business owners: Is your store or restaurants open during the holidays? We're making a list and checking it twice. If you'd like to be included, leave your business' store hours in the comments below for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. You can also email your store or restaurant's hours on those days to Richard.Hosford@Patch.com. Please provide your store's hours no later than Friday, Dec. 14 so we can give everyone advance notice of your store's hours during the holidays.

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Want Patch to Pay Your Electrical Bills? Enter Our Deck the House Contest for a Chance to Win

Did you decorate your house for the holidays this year? Enter our "Deck the House" contest and you could win $100,000 for the Burlington Public Schools and $500 to pay your electric bills!

5 Things To Know About Hanukkah

Learn more about the history and meaning behind this Jewish holiday, which starts at sundown Saturday and stretches for eight day.

  While Christmas is among the top two Christian holidays in terms of importance, Hanukkah is considered a minor holiday for the Jewish people. Nevertheless, it has become one of the more widely celebrated Jewish holidays and is certainly a favorite among children. Hanukkah commemorates the victory of the Jews over the Syrian Greeks in 164 BCE (Before Common Era) and is celebrated by lighting one additional candle in a candelabrum, called a hanukkiah (or menorah) for eight days. The holiday is also known as the Festival of Lights. Hanukkah means rededication and refers to the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its defilement by the Syrian Greeks in 164 BCE (or BC). As the website MyJewishLearning.com notes, "Beginning in 167 BCE…

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Holiday Foods on the 'Nice' List

Enjoy these snacks during the busy holiday season.

The following text was provided by the Dana Farber Cancer Institute: The holidays are here and so is all the festive food. Some of it is naughty but much of it can be nice. “When party planning during the holidays, it’s important to have variety,” says Stacy Kennedy, MPH, RD, CSO, LDN, a nutritionist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. “Many of the foods we enjoy around the holidays are not only delicious to eat, but they may also contain cancer-fighting nutrients.” Kennedy says it’s easy to include them in any menu when you know what to look for. Here is a list of foods and recipes from Kennedy and her colleagues that belong on anyone’s “nice list.” Ho-ho hummus Skip those holiday dips that are buried in excess fat and calories. …

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Enter Patch's “Deck the House” Contest For a Chance to Win $100,000

Did you decorate your house for the holidays this year? Enter our "Deck the House" contest and you could win $100,000 for the Burlington Public Schools and $500 to pay your electric bills!

Enter Patch's “Deck the House” Contest and Try to Win $100,000 for Burlington Schools

Did you decorate your house for the holidays this year? Enter our "Deck the House" contest and you could win $100,000 for the Burlington Public Schools and $500 to pay your electric bills!