News

With the urging of Vicky Cooper, the Mission and Action committee made promoting literacy a goal this year for the Christmas Giving Tree. With every gift tag on the tree, we asked for a book to go along with it. What follows is information about Jólabókafló∂…Yule Book Flood (pronounced yo-la-bok-a-flot) is a holiday tradition in Iceland…giving books to be read on Christmas Eve.
“Imagine: It’s Christmas Eve, and you’ve got that jittery feeling of wanting to fast-forward to Christmas morning, yet you’re too restless to fall asleep. Then—what’s this?—a family member hands you a slender, rectangular wrapped parcel. It can’t be anything but a book, but why are you receiving it the night before Christmas?
You unwrap it to discover which book a loved one has chosen specifically for you—because it was a favorite they wanted to pass along, or simply because it made them think of you—and then comes the best part of your night: You curl up in bed with some chocolate and/or a holiday drink and spend the rest of the night reading until you doze off. Congratulations, you’ve just experienced Jólabókaflóð!”
We would like to think that the Icelandic tradition crossed the ocean to Stockbridge and Berkshire County and that every person who received a book from us this Christmas was comforted by our selections.

The M&A committee would like to thank everyone who participated in the Christmas Giving Tree project this year. Your generosity helped gift recipients have a brighter holiday season. There were about 200 tags on the tree, which is the largest number of tags we have ever had. Every tag had a book, or sometimes two books, in keeping with our goal of promoting literacy. We found books through the Stockbridge Library (new or nearly new), we bought books and many were donated.
One giving organization was in tears from our generosity. Betsey McKearnan mentioned that the Gould Farm community was so touched by our gifts of garden tools that they put them all on a chair and did a holiday dance around the chair. The opening of the presents will be with the whole farming community there.
Thank you again for your generosity in helping gift recipients have a brighter holiday season this year.