Add a bit of greenery to your front steps, window box or patio with a winter container garden. You’ll find all the ingredients you need at your local garden center, craft store and maybe even a few in your backyard.

The holiday season is quickly approaching us, and I don’t know about you, but I get stressed out. Whether it is hosting, shopping for groceries or gifts or handling others’ emotions. It can be a lot and especially our children can sense our emotions. This week I am featuring a small part of Human Sciences Specialist Mackenzie DeJong’s latest press release that describes children’s temperament during the upcoming holiday season.

In just 2 1/2 weeks, all 60 of the families listed in the Spencer Reporter for the Holiday Family Adoption program have been adopted. The Reporter annually joins the effort led by Upper Des Moines Opportunity to ensure local families have gifts or needs met for Christmas. Last year, with a week to go, there were still more than 10% of the families awaiting adoption. This year, a full 2 1/2 weeks prior to the start of the gift drop-off, all of the families are booked.

We just called it the sunscreen song, and we thought it was hilarious.

This was back in the days of Y2K, when young people like my friends and I kept a blank cassette tape handy in case we wanted to copy a favorite tune when it came on the radio or in case a new chart topper was worth capturing.

Such was the sunscreen song.

It is apparent from the downtown decorations and the non-stop carols on FM radio that the Christmas season is officially here. “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!” Nope, we’re way past that one. What I need is more complicated and multifaceted: an end to hostilities, war and the divisiveness over who is right or wrong in political discourse. These may take more than one Christmas to make it to reality.

Revenue to the state of Iowa from legalized gambling are taking divergent paths in the new fiscal year. While casino gaming receipts are falling, sports wagering continues to grow.

Agriculture is the economic engine of Iowa, the livelihood of farmers and their families, and the lifeblood of our rural communities across the 4th Congressional District. Our producers work long hours in all types of weather conditions to grow the food and produce the fuel that our country and the world depend on. Their hard work is the reason that Iowa remains the breadbasket to the world and that our district in particular leads the nation in corn, pork, egg and biofuel production.

Whether the beginning of Christmas comes commercially (Black Friday), traditionally (no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving), or religiously (with the beginning of Advent), Christmas is upon us.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers.

What exactly does that mean?

It is my wish that you give thanks this week — and every week — with a joyful heart. And there’s so much to give thanks for.

We live in the greatest country on this planet, although some would try to convince you otherwise.

We live in a country where people volunteer to stand in harms way as police, firefighters, emergency responders and members of our armed forces.

Alphonse Wilson here, you know … yore pal Windy? And I’m here to set the record straight, once and forever more, on turkeys.

Q: What's your message for Iowans this Thanksgiving Day?

“Thank God for what we have left" — Rev. Martin Luther King Sr.

For many people, the Thanksgiving season is a time for expressing gratitude to God for our many blessings. I have been spending time this season reflecting on how grateful I am to have been raised by my parents, Rev. A.D. King and Dr. Naomi King. My father’s legacy lives on in his powerful sermons and writings, and in the work and lives of his children.

Tropical plants are filling our homes and workspaces, adding beauty, relieving stress and boosting creativity, productivity and focus. Keep these plants healthy and looking their best by providing for their basic needs.

With the holidays coming up, we thought it would be helpful to share this article from Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Food and Health Field Specialist Amy Jones. It provides tips for safe holiday cooking and food prep, as well as helpful phone numbers.

If you’re looking for a worthy cause to support next summer, consider donating to Northwestern College’s Christian outreach to the Czech Republic next summer.

A mighty mission by some mighty missionaries, Spencer Tiger wrestling alums Case Cauthron, Gabe Cauthron and Cole Rutter will be among those taking the Christ-sharing effort; along with Spirit Lake’s Jonathon Burnette and approximately 16 other Red Raider wrestlers.