DECEMBER 2016
Volume 4. 16
The Fox Runner Newsletter
www.thefoxrunner.com email: thefoxrunner@yahoo.com SERVING THE PARKFARM COMMUNITY SINCE 1985 The Parkfarm Housing Co-operative Housing Newsletter is issued 7 times per year.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER, JANUARY/FEBRUARY, MARCH/APRIL, MAY/JUNE, JULY/AUGUST and a SUMMER ISSUE
NEWS FROM THE EDITOR Jay Jamwant Please read inside this edition for snowflakes project by Kim Madden and very thought provoking articles by Adrian. Also there are many holiday related articles.
Ho Ho Ho….Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to all our readers and friends. I am sure you are celebrating the achievement and successes of 2016. Let us give thanks for all that was the past year. I encourage you to be thankful for all you have gained over the past year. Being thankful is the message of the season.
Yes folks our little ones are so looking forward to Santa’s miracle come Christmas morning and rightfully so. The million-dollar flicker in their eyes and the smiles on their little faces when they open their gifts are incomparable. Whether they believe in Santa or are old enough to believe otherwise is not in contention, but Santa needs to deliver on the annual promise. For us the holidays give us a wonderful opportunity to celebrate tradition, from Hanukkah to Kwanza to Christmas all around the same time, let’s take the opportunity to celebrate, in whatever way you know. What is Christmas without those mouth-watering dishes? Well Joanne have it all covered with some excellent recipes that will tantalize those taste buds.
It’s CHRISTMAS time again…and before we know it, it will be soon gone. The New Year is also quickly rolling in and with it the promises of a new beginning. A new year marks new challenges, new people to meet, new adventures to enjoy and new memories to create. Sometimes we forget how many experiences can be packed in a short 365 days. The members of the Newsletter Committee wishes you and your family a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a Prosperous New Year. We are looking for new members to join our committee. If you are interested in becoming a member please contact me at TH 9 or email thefoxrunner@yahoo.com. If you have an article, ad, announcement that you will like to publish please send it in also.
Jay Jamwant Editor
The ParkFarm Co-op Christmas party was held last weekend. It was a worthwhile experience. Lunch was awesome with several choices including good old poutine. We had an excellent time at the Kortright Centre for Conservation. The General membership meeting was very well attended and we do have one change to the board of directors. I will like to congratulate Elina on becoming the newest board member.
From the team at
Newsletter Committee
By Kim Maddin
Happening at the Central Library Board Game Fun Tues. Dec. 27 2:00-4:00pm Drop by to play some great games “off-line” Rainbow Magic Fairies Ages 6-8 years – 20 tickets Wed. Dec. 28 2:00-3:00pm Magical games and crafts based on the book series. LEGO Block Party Thurs. Dec. 29 – 2:00-3:30pm Drop by to build and create with the library’s LEGO collection. French Movie - Le Cinéma Français Thurs. Dec. 29 – 2:00-3:30pm Amenez vos amis et votre famille à regarder un film français sur un grand écran.
What do you call a snowman in the summer? – A Puddle! –
Star Wars Snow Flakes Many designs to choose from and down load from this site: http://www.anthonyherreradesig ns.com/starwarssnowflakes I picked my favourite – Yoda
Get Outside
FOOTPRINT TAG Play tag as you normally would...but stepping only in others' footprints. HULA HOOP CHALLENGE! Have you ever tried using 'Hula Hoops' all bundled up in winter clothing? Have a contest to see who can last the longest! SCAVENGER HUNT Freeze colored water in ice cube trays. Hide them outdoors for a wintertime scavenger hunt. Too Cold out there? Check out Today’s Parent’s list of 20 indoor games to play as a Family http://www.todaysparent.com/toddler/20-fun-indoor-games/
COOKING WITH JOANNE
By Joanne Murak
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR From Joanne and Katie #7
Candy Cane Marshmallows Homemade treats that are great with hot chocolate…… Peppermint Marshmallows are easy to make……
Hot chocolate always hits the spot after a cold winter day outdoors. This easy recipe the kids can make themselves. EASY HOT COCOA(microwave) What you need: 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 tablespoon baking cocoa 1 cup milk quarter teaspoon vanilla extract Directions: In a cup mix sugar and cocoa. Add enough milk to make a paste. Add the rest of the milk and microwave on high for one minute or until hot. Stir in vanilla extract.
INGREDIENTS
1 teaspoon peppermint extract 2 cups sugar 2 teaspoons Food colouring Vegetable cooking spray 2 large egg whites 1 tablespoon light corn syrup 4 packages unflavored gelatin PREPARATION:
1. Coat an 8 inch pan with cooking spray, line with parchment paper. Coat the parchment with cooking spray as well. Set aside. Put sugar, corn syrup and 3/4 cup water in a small pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Let mixture come to a boil. It should be 260 degrees on a candy thermometer. 2. Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatine over 3I4 cup water in bowl. Let stand about 5 minutes to soften. Put the bowl with the gelatine mix over a pan of simmering water, whisk constantly untilgelatine is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in extract. Set aside. 3. Beat egg whites in a bowl until stiff. Whisk gelatine mixture into sugar mixture; with mixer running gradually add to egg whites. Mix on high speed 12 to 15 min. 4. Pour mixture into lined pan. Working quickly, drop dots of red food coloring into mixture. 5. Using a toothpick, swirl to create a marble effect. Let stand at room temperature for at least 3 hours or overnite. Cut into squares.
Please take note of the Richmond Hill Winter Carnival, Millpond
February 3rd, 4th and 5th, 2017 See you there !! http://www.wintercarnival.net/
Holiday Candy Cane Pie My favourite new pie…………… It is a quick and easy delicious perfect pie for the holidays. INGREDIENTS
Chocolate Oreo graham pie crust 2 Cups cold milk 2 boxes (4oz) instant pudding (1 chocolate and 1 vanilla) 1 Tub (8oz) Cool Whip whipped topping, thawed Crushed candy canes, mini candy canes, peppermint balls
PREPARATION:
1. Pour 2 cups of milk in a bowl. Whisk in pudding about 2 minutes,(mixture will be thick) Gently fold in ½ cup Cool Whip mix completely. Spoon into crust. You can add crushed candy canes to pudding mixture or just keep it plain 2. Place in fridge for 5 minutes or just to set. Top with remaining Cool Whip. Put back in fridge for 4 hours. Garnish with mini candy canes or peppermint balls (you can make this pie a day ahead but do not put the candy canes or balls on top as they will weep a little)
GINGER BEER – Guyanese Style Submitted by Jay Jamwant Ginger beer is a light refreshing drink made from Ginger. It’s Popular around Christmas time. Ingredients: 1. 1 oz piece fresh ginger root, peeled and crushed 2. Peel of a medium lime 3. 1/3 cup fresh strained lime juice 4. ½ cup sugar 5. 3¾ cups boiling water 6. 1 teaspoon active dry yeast 7. ¼ cup lukewarm water (110°F to 115°F) Instructions: 1. Starting one week ahead, combine the ginger, lime peel, lime juice and sugar in a large bowl, and pour a boiling water over. Stir until the sugar dissolves completely, and let the mixture cool to room temperature. 2. In a small bowl or cup, sprinkle the yeast over the lukewarm water. Let stand for 2 – 3 minutes, then stir to dissolve the yeast completely. Set this small bowl in a warm, draft-free place for about 5 minutes, or until the mixture begins to bubble and almost double in volume. Add the yeast to the ginger mixture and stir thoroughly. 3. Cover the bowl tightly with foil or plastic wrap, and place it in a warm, draft-free place. Let the mixture ferment for a week, stirring every other day. After a week it will be mildly carbonated. 4. Strain the ginger beer through a fine sieve and, using a funnel, pour the liquid into a 1-quart glass or ceramic bottle and cork it tightly. 5. Let the beer ferment at room temperature for an additional 3 or 4 days, then refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. 6. Serve the ginger beer in chilled tumblers, with or without ice cubes. 7. Pound the ginger root. 8. Combine with the boiling water, lemon juice, lemon zest, cream of tarter, 3 cups sugar, and sugar, stirring constantly. 9. When lukewarm, add dissolved yeast, stir and pour into a jar. Cover tightly and leave for 2 days. 10. Strain ginger liquid and bottle. 11. Keep at room temperature for a further 3 to 4 days. 12. Store in a dark place to ripen. Chill before serving.
This Christmas story gives a biblical account of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ. The Christmas story is paraphrased from the New Testament books of Matthew and Luke in the Bible. Matthew 1:18-25; Matthew 2:1-12; Luke 1:26-38; Luke 2:1-20. The Conception of Jesus Foretold Mary, a virgin, was living in Galilee of Nazareth and was engaged to be married to Joseph, a Jewish carpenter. An angel visited her and explained to her that she would conceive a son by the power of the Holy Spirit. She would carry and give birth to this child and she would name him Jesus. At first Mary was afraid and troubled by the angel's words. Being a virgin, Mary questioned the angel, "How will this be?" The angel explained that the child would be God's own Son and, therefore, "nothing is impossible with God." Humbled and in awe, Mary believed the angel of the Lord and rejoiced in God her Savior. Surely Mary reflected with wonder on the words found in Isaiah 7:14 foretelling this event, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." (NIV) The Birth of Jesus: While Mary was still engaged to Joseph, she miraculously became pregnant through the Holy Spirit, as foretold to her by the angel. When Mary told Joseph she was pregnant, he had every right to feel disgraced. He knew the child was not his own, and Mary's apparent unfaithfulness carried a grave social stigma. Joseph not only had the right to divorce Mary, under Jewish law she could be put to death by stoning. Although Joseph's initial reaction was to break the engagement, the appropriate thing for a righteous man to do, he treated Mary with extreme kindness. He did not want to cause her further shame, so he decided to act quietly. But God sent an angel to Joseph in a dream to verify Mary's story and reassure him that his marriage to her was God's will. The angel explained that the child within Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit, that his name would be Jesus and that he was the Messiah, God with us. When Joseph woke from his dream, he willingly obeyed God and took Mary home to be his wife, in spite of the public humiliation he would face. Perhaps this noble quality is one of the reasons God chose him to be the Messiah's earthly father. Joseph too must have wondered in awe as he remembered the words found in Isaiah 7:14, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." (NIV) At that time, Caesar Augustus decreed that a census be taken, and every person in the entire Roman world had to go to his own town to register. Joseph, being of the line of David, was required to go to Bethlehem to register with Mary. While in Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to Jesus. Probably due to the census, the inn was too crowded, and Mary gave birth in a crude stable. She wrapped the baby in cloths and placed him in a manger. The Shepherd's Worship the Savior: Out in the fields, an angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds who were tending their flocks of sheep by night. The angel announced that the Savior had been born in the town of David. Suddenly a great host of
heavenly beings appeared with the angels and began singing praises to God. As the angelic beings departed, the shepherds decided to travel to Bethlehem and see the Christ-child. There they found Mary, Joseph and the baby, in the stable. After their visit, they began to spread the word about this amazing child and everything the angel had said about him. They went on their way still praising and glorifying God. But Mary kept quiet, treasuring their words and pondering them in her heart. It must have been beyond her ability to grasp, that sleeping in her arms—the tender child she had just borne—was the Savior of the world. The Magi Bring Gifts: After Jesus' birth, Herod was king of Judea. At this time wise men (Magi) from the east saw a star, they came in search, knowing the star signified the birth of the king of the Jews. The wise men came to the Jewish rulers in Jerusalem and asked where the Christ was to be born. The rulers explained, "In Bethlehem in Judea," referring to Micah 5:2. Herod secretly met with the Magi and asked them to report back after they had found the child. Herod told the Magi that he too wanted to go and worship the babe. But secretly Herod was plotting to kill the child. So the wise men continued to follow the star in search of the new born king and found Jesus with his mother in Bethlehem. (Most likely Jesus was already two years of age by this time.) They bowed and worshipped him, offering treasures of gold, incense, and myrrh. When they left, they did not return to Herod. They had been warned in a dream of his plot to destroy the child.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OUR READERS AND FRIENDS From the Editor and Staff of The FoxR FoxRunner Newsletter
FILL IN THE BLANKS
By Adrian Knaud
ONE BILLION: A VERY BIG NUMBER Amazing when it is put into perspective this way! If I give you $1 billion and you stand on a street corner handing out $1 per second, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, you would still not have handed out $1 billion after 31 years!! Now read on. A VERY BIG NUMBER This is too true to be funny. The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money. A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases. A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959. B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive. C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age. D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet. E. A billion Dollars ago was only 13 hours and 12 minutes, at the rate our present government is spending it. OMG!! NEW DINOSAUR A newly discovered species of dinosaur has been identified from an extraordinarily complete Chinese fossil almost destroyed by dynamite. It was preserved raising its beaked head, with feathered wings outstretched in the mud it was mired in when it died 72 million years ago. The new creature has been named Tongtianlong limosus, "muddy dragon on the road to heaven". The discovery is published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports. "It was found at a construction site by workmen when they were dynamiting, so they nearly blasted this thing off the hillside," said University of Edinburgh palaeontologist Dr Stephen Brusatte.
"We almost never knew about this dinosaur." A few small parts of the fossil were in fact blasted off, but considering the circumstances of its discovery, the fossil is remarkably complete. "It's about the size of a sheep, and it's part of a group of very advanced bird-like, feathered dinosaurs called oviraptorosaurs," said Dr Brusatte. "They were basically the last group of dinosaurs to blossom before the asteroid hit." The specimen comes from rocks belonging to the Nanxiong Formation in Jiangxi Province, southern China. The researchers, from China and the UK, say the fossil is particularly special for the insight it provides into the evolutionary transition from dinosaurs to birds. "Modern birds came from dinosaurs," said Dr Brusatte, "and its dinosaurs like Tongtianlong that give us a glimpse of what the ancestors of modern birds would have looked like. "Fossils like these capture evolution in action." By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC News
These are the people who make it all happen……. #9 – Jay Jamwant – Editor #54 - Kelly Kedistos Secretary/Treasurer #56 - Adrian Knaud - Something to think about #7 - Joanne Murak - Joanne's Cooking # 75 - Maria Bates - Health and Wellness #64 – Svetlana - Distribution #223 - Kim Maddin – Kids and Literacy
For more information on the newsletter or any comments please direct your enquiries to thefoxrunner@yahoo.com or call Jay at 647-383-8466. Got something you'd like to get published in the newsletter or share with us…….forward your ideas to the correct person listed. Simply write the person’s name or title of page in the subject line of your email. Send it to... thefoxrunner@yahoo.com If you do not communicate by email them you can simply drop off your ideas to the appropriate house number. Website address: www.thefoxrunner.com