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Wednesday, December 19, 2007 The Braselton News Page 5B Unique holiday traditions abound throughout the state The magic of the Christmas season can be found throughout Georgia. Our mild winter tem peratures offer opportunities for a variety of outdoor activities, including holiday lights displays and festivals. Explore our decorated town squares, take in a holiday per formance or enjoy one of our many unique traditions that have become so popular among locals and visitors. Grab your friends, family and significant others and spend some time in Georgia this holiday season. The ideas below are just a snap shot of all Georgia has to offer. Visit www.georgia.org for more information on these and many more happenings around the state. Looking for unique gifts this holiday season? In Georgia, the possibilities are endless to sup port Georgia made, Georgia grown artists, growers and crafts men. Celebrate the holidays with Georgia grown food items by using our world famous pecans, peaches or Vidalia onions in your favorite holiday recipes. Enjoy a day trip or a weekend getaway to the North Georgia Mountains, Metro Atlanta or the Coast and discov er the per fect gift. Take a trip to Santa Claus, Georgia, located 72 miles west of Savannah. Give your friends and family a treat and have your Christmas cards postmarked at the Santa Claus City Hall. The city of Santa Claus boasts Christmas themed streets such as Candy Cane Lane, December Drive and Reindeer Street. Head to the North Georgia Mountains and check out Tallulah Falls’ Floating Christmas Tree on Tallulah Lake. Finish up your Christmas shopping along the way in our mountain towns or visit a local winery for special gift items. www.tallulahfallsgeorgia.org Take a ride on the Pink Pig at Macy’s Lenox Square. From its 1952 debut as a children’s ride at the downtown Rich’s store to its brief stint at the Egleston Children’s Hospital Festival of trees, four generations of Atlantans have ridden Priscilla into the holi day season. Millions more have worn “I Rode the Pink Pig” stickers with pride! Now, an all-new Priscilla will carry on the fam ily tradition beneath a 170-foot, 1950’s-themed Pink Pig tent at the Lenox Square upper-level parking deck. For more information, go to wwwl.macys.com/campaign/ pinkpig/index.jsp. Marvel at the 2007 Festival of Trees at the Atlanta History Center through December 19. New to the Atlanta History Center this year is a boutique version of Atlanta’s beloved holiday tradition the Festival of Trees. More than 60 designer trees and wreaths will be on display and for sale, and an on site holiday gift shop also provides the opportunity to purchase gifts. A portion of admission proceeds benefit Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. For more information, go to www.atlantahistorycenter.com/ template.cfm?cid=853. Ring in the New Year at the 19th annual Peach Drop at Underground Atlanta with country superstar Miranda Lambert and Atlanta’s own 800 pound peach! The Peach Drop is the largest New Year’s Eve Countdown celebration in the entire southeast and this year’s celebration is set to be the best one yet! The festivities will kick off at noon with family friendly activi ties throughout the day, including face painting, basketball throw, moon walk and balloon art on Upper Alabama Street. The party will continue well into the morn ing hours with various live perfor mances on multiple stages at one of the many bars and nightclubs in Kenny’s Alley. For more infor mation, go to www.underground- atlanta.com. What better way to kick off 2008 then at the annual Possum Drop in Tallapoosa. This New Year’s Eve celebration including live enter tainment will take place in down town Tallapoosa on December 31. For more information, go to www. TallapoosaGA.gov. Angela Gary is an editor with MainStreet Newspapers Inc. She can be reached at AngieEditor@ aol.com. On the Road with Angela Cary AngieEditor@aol.com Plenty of work involved in cataloging thousands of library books The Braselton Library contin ues to see our numbers grow as circulated 6,567 items in November compared to 4,146 items in November 2006. Of the 11 libraries in the Piedmont Regional Library System (PRLS,) Braselton Library was third highest in the number of items circulated and second highest in number of new patrons registered last month. Considering we have one of the smallest collections of books, audio and video items, this is quite an accomplishment. A question asked by many patrons is why it takes so long for the newest items to appear on our shelves. There are many reasons why the newest James Patterson, Karen Kingsbury or Stuart Wood books may not be on our shelves — these include budget restrictions and our not cataloging new items in our library. First, items to be purchased must be chosen. Feedback from patrons, reading the book sec tion in the Sunday newspapers, checking “The New York Times ” bestseller list and publications on popular web sites, such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble, all factor into placing orders for books and audio items. After Library Manager Bev Adkins and her staff members determine what to order, funds must be in place to pay for the items. Money comes from the state, as well as other venues (Bucks for Books, county dollars and area clubs and organizations.) “The hardest thing is balancing what to order with the very lim ited amount of money we have to spend,” Adkins said. “Everyone wants best sellers, DVDs and young adult books. We have to keep items on the shelf that will continue to be circu lated, not just items that will be popular for six months.” When new books are received in the Braselton Library, each must be marked on top and on the title page with the library’s property stamp. Each item is also hand- marked inside with the library’s BRL initials and an indication noting if the item is a gift or donation. Books are then taken by cou rier to PRLS headquarters in Winder to be cataloged. PRLS Director Alan Harkness says books bought with state money on each library’s behalf get to the shelves more quickly than books puarchased with other monies. “The best sellers we routinely buy get out to each library as fast as we can process them. Other library systems have book budgets and staffing to put new books on the shelf at street date. There is room for improvement in this area at PRLS and we are looking into that,” he says. Each of the region’s 11 librar ies has a shelf in Winder where items waiting to be cataloged are stored. Our courier continues to keep our shelf supplied each week, picking up as many new items from us as will fit on the shelf in Winder. “For the non-state books, there is the problem of making every one’s book a priority. We try to be fair and not show prefer ence for one library over another. Unfortunately, we have a back log. Right now we have hundreds of Braselton’s books waiting to be processed, not to mention the other cit ies. If the regional office had additional staffing, we could catalog and pro cess all the books faster. We actually had to cut staff in FY 2008,” Harkness explains. Cataloging is also very time consuming and requires a great amount of training. Items must be input into the PINES catalog after verifying the ISBN and Library of Congress cataloging information. Books, audio and video materials are assigned a bar code number and covered to withstand the rigors of cir culation. When this is complet ed, items are sent back to our library, scanned in on computers and placed on the shelves ready for patrons to borrow. Donated items require a little more research by our library staff before they are sent to Winder. Items are researched against the library’s collection of hard back and paperback books using both the card catalog and a visual check as criteria. Duplicates of what is already on the shelf are placed for sale in the Friends of the Library store or saved for the Friend’s semi-annual book sales, both of which benefit the library. If items are not duplicates and fit our collection, they are sent to Winder for cataloging, just like new items. Paperback book are processed in-house and placed on the paper back shelves without a barcode. VHS-formatted videos are also no longer cataloged by Winder. We have been doing some minor in-house cataloging of VHS movies using pockets and cards that are recorded manually when items are checked out. While we welcome donations of books, as well as audio and video items, we can only place on our shelves items that are in excellent condition and are not duplicates. Books need to be current (no older than 10 years) and have no yellowing pages, no markings and no odors. We appreciate every dona tion we receive, however some come in with company - spiders, crickets and other crawlies. If your books have been stored in a location (garage, shed, base ment) where they may have “crit ters” living with them, we cannot use them. We also cannot use old encyclopedias and reference items; however the Friends may sell them in the library store. “We got overwhelmed with all the donations that went to Haverty’s warehouse while we were in the process of build ing the new library. We are still trying to sort through all those books, as well as those we continue to receive from our patrons,” Adkins notes. The library will be closed Dec. 22, 24 and 25 for the holidays. In observance of the new year, we will close at 2 p.m. Dec. 31 and reopen Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008, at 10 a.m. Story time will run as sched uled 10 a.m., Dec. 26, and Jan. 2; and 11:30 a.m., Dec. 28 and Jan. 4. Regular library hours are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Our phone number is 706-654-1992. Ann Marttinen is an assistant library manager at the Braselton Library. Notes from the Braselton Library with Ann Marttinen ‘Share the Blessing Feast’ set for Christmas Day in Winder The fifth annual community Holiday Share the Blessing Feast will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 25, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Winder-Barrow Middle School. The event will include a hot meal, toy shop, food pantry, clothes closet and information available in the community. To volunteer, or to make a donation, contact Cassandra Harris at 770-725-8159 or e-mail cassandraharris@windstream.net. The school is located at 163 King Street, Winder. Northeast Georgia Bank to host Santa on December 20 Northeast Georgia Bank, Braselton, will host Santa Claus in the lobby of the bank on Thursday, Dec. 20, from 3-5 p.m. Children and families are invited to stop by to visit. Parents are encouraged to bring their cameras. The bank is located at 5045 Hwy. 53 in Braselton. Hospice of NGMC offering free grief support group for parents Hospice of Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) is offering a free six-week grief support group for parents and guardians called “Surviving the Loss of a Child” from 4-5 p.m. each Wednesday during the weeks of Jan. 9 through Feb. 13. The support group will meet at the Hospice of NGMC office, located at 2150 Limestone Parkway, Gainesville. This support group is open to any parent or guardian who has experi enced the loss of a child, regardless of the child’s age. Topics that will be addressed during the group meetings include what grief looks like, suggestions for coping, grief’s effects on relationships with others and caring for your emotional and physical health. The support group is provided at no charge, but space is limited, and registration is required. To register, or for more information, contact Jennifer Sorrells, LMSW, at 770-533-8528 or 1-888-572-3900. Spay and neuter discount offered to qualified owners The Humane Society of Hall County will hold its Beat the Heat Spay and Neuter Campaign Jan. 1 through March 31. Those who qualify to have their animals fixed using the humane soci ety’s clinic can qualify for an offer. Owners who schedule their animals’ surgery between Jan. 1 and March 31 will save $10 off the $50 per- animal fee. Owners of both male and female animals are asked to have the surgery done. Anyone receiving any form of government assistance, such as Social Security, qualifies for the offer. To schedule a date, call Frankie at 770-532-6617, and mention the Beat the Heat Campaign to receive the $10 discount. Bring one for chipper event set Now that you’ve got that Christmas tree up, Keep Jackson County Beautiful says it’s not too early to start thinking of how you will dispose of it when all the gifts are a distant memory. The organization will hold its Bring One for the Chipper recycling event Saturday, Jan. 5, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Trees will be recycled into mulch or used as wildlife habitat. Drop-off sites include the Lanier Technical College parking lot on South Elm Street in Commerce, the Jefferson Civic Center, the Jackson County Transfer Station, and the First Baptist Church of Hoschton. Those participating will receive a free dogwood seedling while sup plies last. For information, call Susan Trepaganier, executive director of Keep Jackson County Beautiful at 706-708-7198 or visit online at www.keep- jacksoncountyeautiful.com. Braselton approves permits The following business permits were recently approved by Braselton officials: •Houndstooth Grill (restaurant), 6323 Grand Hickory Drive. •Sonic Drive In (restaurant), 7425 Spout Springs Road. •Subs of Cornelia (restaurant), 6072 Hwy. 53. •Prestige Petals, Inc. (retail/wholesale of faux florals), 2302 Autumn Maple Drive. Mended Hearts chapter, hospital gets national recognition The partnership between Gainesville-based Mended Hearts Chapter 302 and Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) was recently one of four finalists for the national Mended Hearts, Inc. Hospital Award. The award recognizes outstand ing relationships between Mended Hearts chapters and their partner hospitals. This year, Mended Hearts chapters from around the country nominated 33 hospitals for the sec ond annual award, and NGMC was chosen as one of the top four. Although the award went to St. Joseph Oakland and Mended Hearts Chapter 230 in Pontiac, Mich., the nomination speaks volumes about the cooperation between local vol unteers and NGMC, according to Lynne Allen, director of Volunteer Services at NGMC. “It’s obvious that our staff and physicians have a lot of respect for our volunteers. They’ve made them part of the team, and it’s been that way since Day One, ” Allen said. “Our Mended Hearts volunteers are truly dedicated to what they do, and they have such compassion and empathy for our patients.” Mended Hearts, Inc. is a nation al non-profit organization affili ated with the American Heart Association. Each chapter is made up of heart patients and their family members. Mended Hearts volun teers who have had heart surgery can receive training to visit heart patients before and after surgery. The local chapter also has regu lar meetings to provide support to heart patients, their families and others who have been affected by heart disease. The local Mended Hearts chapter formed before the Ronnie Green Heart Center opened at NGMC in 2002. In six years, the volunteers have given almost 16,000 hours of service. Last year, they made 3,477 visits to patients at the Ronnie Green Heart Center. Bob Ledford, Gainesville, has been a Mended Hearts volunteer from the chapter’s founding. He says he has made many friends through volunteering and enjoys sharing his experiences with heart patients. “Every day we visit, we see people who say, ‘Well, you made it through, maybe I can, too,”’ Ledford says. NGMC provides meeting space, free valet parking, free lunch, and newsletter printing for the volun teers. “Mended Hearts volunteers truly make a difference in relieving anxi ety and offering hope and encour agement,” Allen said. “They are such positive examples of how well heart patients can do following pro cedures. They are an integral part of the care we offer.” For more information on becom ing a Mended Hearts volunteer, call 770-535-3394. NOW OPEN AT DUNCAN’S CORNER! f, Complete Nail Care for Ladies & Gentlemen HOLIDAY DISCOUNTS 7421 Spout Springs Rd. #102 w Dec. 1-31 20% OFF all services with this coupon. Flowery Branch, GA 30542 Across Kroger, behind Waffle House 770-965-5110 Walk-Ins Welcome Mon. - Fri. 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. • Sat. 9 a.m. - 7 p.m. • Sun. 12 p.m. - 6 p.m. at the atlanta HA IR st <9 \ 100,00 Gift Certificate Pssst...Santa’s Secret ~ purchase for only $80.00 ■■ I $50.00 Gift Certificate Pssst...Santa’s Secret ~ purchase for only $45.00 115 Towne Center Parkway Hoschton, GA 30548 706.824.0380