Winter comforts
It is near midnight in late December. I have just returned home from a country schoolhouse. It is a very old building with uneven floors and drafty windows. The doors do not close as tightly as they did 50 years ago when a teacher and children spent time in the building.

Stumped for gift ideas?
As is often the case, there are, again, more folks in need of presents than time to shop. Just figuring out what to get everyone is more than half the battle, and so, in an effort to prove useful, below are some helpful suggestions for holiday giving. Sorry, no returns.

Power harassment indifference
That’s bad enough, but adding insult to injury, prevailing conventional wisdom blames women for this! They’re not “career-oriented,” or they’re too thin-skinned, or they’re not aggressive enough, or they’re too moody, and they need to “lean in” more. The core cause of this deep and pervasive discrimination is the glaring inequality of power.

LETTERS
A SUCCESSFUL BICENTENNIAL The Illinois Bicentennial Coordinating Committee of Springfield worked intently to make the Illinois Bicentennial a celebration that Springfield would be proud of.

Illinois does it our way
But the two are very different states. In 2016, when Arizona’s legislature approved a pension reform bill to limit first responders’ pension benefits and then-voters approved amending their constitution to match that legislation by a 70-30 margin,...

Escape winter in Illinois’ indoor gardens
The Washington Park Botanical Garden in Springfield is a free oasis in the park, open noon to 4 Monday through Friday (except for state holidays) and an hour later on weekends. The garden’s 50-foot glass dome, built in 1972, holds more than 150 species.

’Tis the season
What with relatives you can’t wish away and kids rip-ripping open packages, then bangbanging drums and bleep-bleeping electronic gadgets while Mannheim Steamroller blastblasts new age tripe that sensible folk can’t stand but once a year, you need a cocoon.

Four new holiday films
“Everything old is new again” seems to be the mantra at Disney Studios where their movies are concerned. Never mind the Marvel Films and Star Wars franchises, when it comes to Disney properties, the powers that be at the Mouse House are plumbing the vaults, plucking out previously successful projects and repackaging them for a new generation.

Mocktails
As a kid I never understood why grownups would talk about “getting through the holidays” like it was some sort of difficult trial. What could be difficult about a time filled with presents and snow days and candy canes? A lot, as it turns out.

The Favourite a wicked delight
This film is based on the life of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman), who, for most of her adult life, suffered from gout and any number of imaginary ailments. As a mother, she suffered a great deal of tragedy having been pregnant 17 times, though none of her children survived into their teen years.

Present the presents
Wow! How did we get here now? Who knows, but here we are, rapidly approaching Christmas Day and the holiday festivities surrounding the big event. Fortunately for us partygoers and lovers of live music, Christmas falls on a Tuesday, providing a full weekend of preholiday fun just in time.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | The Mud Bugs
Originating in southern Illinois as a band of hometown friends in 2000 playing “hard-edged blues rock,” The Mud Bugs were a thing.

PUB CRAWL
Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters.

HISTORY | A ‘Tales from the Vault’ presentation
On Thursday, Dec. 20, take in a “Tales from the Vault” program titled “Marshall Field’s Christmas” moderated by Betsy Dollar, director of the Springfield Art Association.

THE CALENDAR
Christmas Eve Candlelight Worship Celebration.

CHILDREN’S CORNER | The power of perseverance
When Justin, magician extraordinaire, visits Sesame Street to perform a magic show for the neighborhood, Elmo desperately wants to be part of the big show. The problem is, Elmo cannot perform magic, so he teams up with Abby and Justin to “discover the power of yet.

HOLIDAY | Shop local for the holidays
Shop local to find delicious ingredients for your holiday meal during the December Springfield Holiday Farmers Market on Saturday, Dec. 22 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The State House Inn.