A joyous view of Whoville is the focus Joe Daigle's featured gingerbread house at Hagley. (Hagley photo)

Whoville, more Christmas traditions in gingerbread at Hagley

Ken MammarellaCulture, Headlines

Brandywine Hundred resident Joe Daigle is sharing his gingerbread artistry across Delaware this year. He became known for it after he won the Food Network’s “Holiday Baking Championship” in 2022, with friend Sean McGovern, pastry chef at the Urban Outfitters headquarters in Philadelphia. Now, Daigle has created the featured house for Hagley’s sixth annual gingerbread house contest. He’s creating a display …

Irv Boyd helps finish a gingerbread version of Winterthur’s Enchanted Woods for Yuletide at Winterthur. (Ken Mammarella photo)

Winterthur’s Enchanted Woods, in whimsical gingerbread

Ken MammarellaCulture, Headlines

Winterthur has moved its Enchanted Woods indoors this season – as a delightfully detailed miniature form in gingerbread – for Yuletide at Winterthur. The 150-pound creation features gingerbread, chocolate, fondant and icing. That’s all edible. On this day of Christmas: Holiday events to mark on your calendar The construction sits on a hardwood platform, edged with red ribbon, with styrofoam …

Recycle your Christmas tree at any of Delaware's 25 yard waste sites.

How to recycle your Christmas tree into rich soil

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Culture

Stay in the holiday spirit this last week of 2022 and help conserve and improve Delaware’s soil by recycling your Christmas tree.  The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) is asking First Staters to give their real trees to a yard waste recycling site rather than dumping them off in landfills.  According to DNREC, 176,000 tons of grass, …

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Get into the holiday spirit with these local craft brews

Charles MegginsonCulture, Headlines

It’s official: Christmastime is here. But if you’re anything like many of our readers, you’ve been so busy working, shopping for presents and buying groceries that you’re just not feeling the holiday spirit yet. Not to worry. For such a small state, Delaware is chock-full of local craft breweries, and many of them have curated unique winter warmers that (after …

Ursuline Academy performed their Christmas pageant Tuesday, telling the story of Jesus Christ's birth. (Jarek Rutz/Delaware LIVE News)

Ursuline’s Nativity kickstarts celebration of Christmas

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

Ursuline Academy’s second grade routinely offers a Christmas pageant at the end of the year, but this year’s was a bit fluffier. In addition to 13 students, the cast for the first time included animals – several goats, a calf, an alpaca and a donkey –  to tell the story of Jesus’s birth. “When Jesus was born, there were plenty …

Delaware is expected to see a 3.3% increase in travelers compared to last year's holiday season.

On the go? Your guide to end-of-year holidays

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

Hitting the road for the holidays? You are not alone: 33% of First State residents are expected to travel more than 50 miles to celebrate the holidays. That’s 3.3% more travelers than last year. Here’s what to know about Christmas and New Years weekends in Delaware.  Travel Gas prices in Delaware are the lowest they’ve been since October 2021, according …

Longwood Gardens Christmas Display

Longwood Gardens to bring holiday cheer, botanical splendor

Staff WriterCulture, Headlines

Visitors to Kennett Square’s Longwood Gardens this holiday season will be met with glimmering botanical ornaments, more than half a million dazzling lights artistically accenting the landscape, strolling carolers bringing holiday cheer, and crackling firepits adding warmth to cozy winter evenings. The holiday display will be around from Nov. 18 until Jan. 8. Tickets are available online. This year’s theme …

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Traveling for Christmas? Here are some things you should know

Charles MegginsonCulture, Government, Headlines

Photo by Nadezhda/Getty Images. Suspending planned lane closures The Delaware Department of Transportation has announced that it will suspend planned lane closures on I-95, Route 1, US 13, and US 113 to minimize the effect on holiday traffic. The closed lanes will be reopened beginning at 12 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 23 and will remain open until 12:01 a.m. on …

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New Catholic bishop to visit four Delaware parishes at Christmas

Charles MegginsonCulture, Headlines

Bishop William E. Koenig Bishop William E. Koenig of The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington will tour the state for his first Christmas as Bishop. This will be the new Bishop’s first Christmas as shepherd of the more than 240,000 Catholics who live in Delaware and on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. On Christmas Eve, Koenig will preside at the 4 p.m. Christmas …

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Postal Service’s Operation Santa is now accepting letters

Terry RogersCulture, Headlines

  Photo courtesy of United States Postal Service. The Postal Service is now accepting letters for its USPS Operation Santa program. Letters must be postmarked by Dec. 10, and will be uploaded to USPSOperationSanta.com through Dec. 15 for potential adoption. The nondenominational program is intended to help as many deserving families as possible experience a happy holiday season. Since the program …