Share Your Photos With Santa Claus

Stoneham Patch would love to share your photos with jolly old St. Nick!

Have you told Santa Claus your Christmas list this year? Did someone photograph the moment you whispered you wanted the new iPad or a cashmere sweater? With all the Santa sightings and photo opportunities, Stoneham Patch would like to share your photos for all to see!  All photos are welcome! Whether Santa is giving a candy cane to your greyhound or cat, or your best friend's child! Just click the "Upload Photos and Videos" button (videos are welcome too!). 

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Holiday Shopping: Spending Limits For Kids’ Presents?

How much is too much to spend on children and teens? We want to hear your thoughts, Stoneham!

  As the holiday shopping season goes into full swing, some people are maxing out their credit cards to pay for presents and others are setting budgets and sticking with them. Scour just about any Facebook stream or stop in a local coffee shop and chances are you’ll hear parents debating the merits of setting spending limits. Or, you'll hear them lamenting about just how much they've already spent. The ideas for a perfect limit do seem to vary rather greatly. Some parents say $100 per child is more than enough. Others tend to lean toward much more generous figures. After all, there’s nothing like seeing a child’s eyes light up as they unwrap gift after gift. And that’s what we want to hear from you about, Stoneham! Do you set spending …

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How to Track Down the Hottest Toys

Tips for getting the presents they want without having to hoof it from Stoneham to the North Pole.

  Santa’s awesome, but he doesn’t always deliver the hottest toys of the season on demand to Stoneham, no matter how nicely we ask. If the kids – or wannabe kids – in your life happen to have their hearts set on presents that are hard to come by, it can be torturous running from store to store only to find what they really want just isn’t available. Whether your little girl has her sights on the latest Lalaloopsy, your son wants a Hot Wheels R/C Terrain Twister or that “big baby” in your life is yearning for a copy of Halo 4, here are some ideas on how to track down what’s in demand without putting miles and miles on your vehicle in the process: Tips for Shopping in Town If you hate ordering online and love the gratification of being able …

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POLL: What's Your Favorite Holiday Song?

With Christmas right around the corner, we want to know what you'll be listening to during the holiday. Let us know by taking our poll and posting a comment with your top pick.

Now that Christmas is upon us, we want to know: What is your favorite holiday song? Do you like "Silent Night," "O' Holy Night," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree?" Or maybe you have another song we didn't mention in our poll? Let us know your favorite song by taking our poll and posting a comment as to why it's your top pick. Happy holidays!

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Kasey Hariman

1:11 pm on Friday, December 23, 2011

I'm another vote for "All I Want For Christmas Is You," though I'm less discerning. I'll take any version, only because it's so catchy. Another song I think is worth mentioning is Wham!'s "Last Christmas," though I'm not sure if I actually -like- it...but, again, catchy. A song I do genuinely like is Lennon's "Happy Xmas/War Is Over." When I worked at a program for adults with special needs that …   more ›

PAWS Pet of the Week

Tweedledee, Tweedledum Need Caring Owner

A pair of kitten sisters are looking for a place to call home.

My name is Tweedledee and I'm a beautiful, sweet four-month-old tortie kitten with a winning purrsonality.  As you can see from the photos, I loved my first Christmas. Are all these presents for me? I pride myself on my honesty, so l would like to mention right off that I'm unique, as I'm missing several toes on a hind foot. This isn't an obstacle in my mind and shouldn't be in yours.  I can do anything any kitten can do (maybe even better), including climbing. I must admit I do love to shimmy up arms and shoulders, all the better to look at you nose to nose and rub your face. And, not to be immodest, I do have an amazing purr. So you can see, I'm a resilient girl who is willing to take on any challenge, especially if I do it with my …

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Patch Facts

Five Things You Need to Know Today: Dec. 25

Need updates on what's going on in Stoneham? Here's a quick summary.

1. ZooLights and Stone Zoo, 149 Pond St., is closed for the holiday, but reopens Dec. 26. 2. Stoneham Public Library, 431 Main St., is closed for the holiday. 3. Saint Patrick Parish, 9 Pomeworth St., will provide three Christmas masses at 8 a.m., 10 a.m. and noon. The masses are free and open to the public. 4. The Boys & Girls Club of Stoneham, 15 Dale Ct., won't be hosting Bingo because the facility is closed for the holiday. 5. Want to see a Christmas display with more than 30,000 lights and other features? Then take a trip over to The Lights at Wolf Hill, 83 Franklin St., that will be lit up from 5-10 p.m. However, the display won't be lit up if there is heavy rainfall. For more activities, visit the events calendar.

Follow Saint Nick's Flight Around the World with the Santa Tracker

The government is keeping tabs. Now, so can you.

Sure, he sees you when you're sleeping. But now it's your turn to keep tabs on the Man in Red. This season you can track Santa's flight using Google Earth, receive mobile phone updates on his whereabouts, and check in regularly for high-speed photography and video footage of his reindeer and sleigh as they deliver presents around the world. He's also on Facebook and Twitter.  How, exactly? The Colorado-based North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is charged with keeping the United States and Canada safe from dangers originating from the sky or space. So it stands to reason they would use radar, satellites, Santa Cams and fighter jets to track Santa's flight path from the North Pole, across North America. According to …

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Holiday Tradition Returns to Stone Zoo With A Quarter-Million Lights

Stone Zoo's annual holiday-inspired ZooLights event will be on display until Jan. 2.

A local family tradition returned to Stone Zoo this past Thanksgiving: ZooLights. ZooLights is an annual festive holiday-themed event known for its decorations and dazzling lights display. But, what does it takes to create this large urban oasis of holiday festivities? Since 1996, Stone Zoo has organized this event, adorning tree-lined paths with all the sparkling illuminations of the holiday season. Faced with such a huge undertaking annually, the Zoo begins preliminary planning as soon as the previous season's ZooLights festival ends. "The lights are ordered in the spring and work begins right after Labor Day," said Brooke Wardrop, director of communications for Stone Zoo. Wardrop said event preparation involves getting all the …

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Police Chief Offers Tips for Keeping Safe This Holiday Season

From keeping the lights on at your house to locking the doors of your car, Stoneham Police Chief Richard Bongiorno provides several ways to keep safe during the holidays.

With just a couple days left to wrap up the presents and the last-minute Christmas shopping, now perhaps more than ever residents need to take precautions to safeguard themselves, their homes and their gifts or personal possessions this holiday season. With that in mind, Stoneham Police Chief Richard Bongiorno tackles the subject of safety and provides several tips the community can use to prevent or deter thefts, break-ins and other crimes from occurring. Conceal The Holiday Deals Bongiorno recommends keeping large shopping bags filled with gifts "out of view of a passerby, and if you're going to be storing any presents or gifts you're buying from the stores put them in the trunk of your vehicle out of view." "It's always a red flag and …

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