Time's Top 10 Television Shows

The Shield
Talk about police brutality. The final season of FX's groundbreaking cop show outdid itself in emotional violence, as the bill finally came due for Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) and his years of rationalized corruption. As his partner in crimefighting and graft, Shane (Walton Goggins), turned on him, the ensuing spiral of revenge destroyed the very families that the Strike Team had been skimming drug money to provide for. (In Shane's case, his family's destruction was heartbreakingly literal.) After seven years, the staggering finale of this drama allowed us to see Mackey's history of misdeeds — and his complicated motivations for them — with fresh eyes. In a word: arresting.
(FX)

Mad Men
The phenomenon of 2007 returned just as poignant and wry, and more complex than ever. Adman Don Draper (Jon Hamm) began 1962 at the top of his field, yet feeling old and outmoded in an age of Camelot, youth and changing mores. His efforts to hold to a code of honor at work clashed with his falling off the fidelity wagon at home. But the best parts of season 2 — which unfolded like a series of John Cheever short stories — were the development of the peripheral characters. Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) proved not just a weasel but a lost, damaged young man; Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) rocketed ahead as a rare female copywriter, while dealing with giving away her out-of-wedlock baby; and January Jones added layer upon layer to Draper's wronged wife Betty, who could be both manipulative and sympathetic and turned out surprisingly strong. A banner year for mad men and women alike.
(AMC)

The Presidential Election
It had everything: sex (well, gender politics, plus that John Edwards scandal), controversy and out-of-the-blue plot twists. And from the debates to the conventions to Barack Obama's primetime infomercial, the yearlong campaign brought record audiences to a drama with real stakes. The Daily Show and Saturday Night Live were at the top of their satirical game, Katie Couric came into her own as an anchor, and for all their risible gimmicks (like Anderson Cooper talking to holograms election night), cable news found a way to drum up viewers with issues meatier than shark attacks.
(Network, cable and online)

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
The writers' strike, which began in November 2007, was the worst thing to happen to TV in 2008. But the best thing to come of it was this eccentric, tragicomic musical, which — like the strike itself — helped redefine what could be called "TV." Conceived as a strike-time diversion by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), it starred Neil Patrick Harris as the title character, a would-be supervillain applying for membership in the exclusive Evil League of Evil. Whedon released it online, where it became an iTunes smash and inspired a deluge of homemade Evil League of Evil application-videos by fans. Cramming hilarity, heartbreak and high notes into a half-hour, it reminded us that no labor dispute can keep a genius from using his powers for Evil, and for good.
(iTunes)

The Wire
The Wire's last season was not its best, but even subpar Wire blows the doors off 99% of TV. HBO's sprawling saga of Baltimore started off as a cop show and became a vast social-realist novel of all the systems that make, and fail, American cities. Season 5 expanded its focus to the press, examining how a newspaper (here a fictionalized version of the Sun) can become too blind and decimated to notice the tragedies that The Wire had laid out for years. At the same time, the show wrote a poetic coda to its story of cops and gangsters, honoring and mourning the detectives and street kids who kept hope alive amid hopelessness. A combination of boozy Irish wake and searing hip-hop tragedy, The Wire put its story to bed, while helping us better understand the ongoing story of America.
(HBO)

Breaking Bad
Hey, America, who's up for a bleak buddy dramedy about drug dealing and mortality? This drama — in which a chemistry teacher (Bryan Cranston) gets terminal cancer and pairs up with a delinquent ex-student to make crystal meth — sounds damn near un-pitchable. But thankfully, creator Vince Gilligan pitched and sold it, affording Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle's Hal) the opportunity to transform himself in a surprise-Emmy-winning role. As nerdy, abrasive Walter White acclimates to the drug world to provide for his family after his death, Bad captures both the absurdity and the emotional reality of his situation.
(AMC)

Lost
Season 4 of Lost audaciously told us up front where it was going to end: with the Oceanic 6 getting off the mysterious Island and returning to civilization (as revealed at the end of season 3). What we didn't know was how and when — when being the big question, on a series that complicated its time-and-space-travel story deliciously. (How does a Frozen Donkey Wheel work, anyway?) Having spent the first half of the series flashing back to the characters' pre-island lives, season 4 started flashing forward, revealing tantalizing glimpses of the post-Island future that we're still trying to piece together. At season's end, Jack learned that the Oceanic 6's escape had disastrous consequences, and he vowed to return. We can't wait to get back either.
(ABC)

Battlestar Galactica
The closer Galactica came to Earth, the closer it came to God — or gods, or the absence thereof. The space saga took an even more philosophical and religious turn in the first half of its second season, as human leader/traitor Gaius Baltar got a new start as a Messiah figure; President Roslin continued to pursue her prophesied vision of leading her decimated people to the Promised Planet; and Starbuck was tortured by her own vision of the route to Earth, which put her in conflict with her leader. Meanwhile, the monotheistic Cylons took a break from trying to exterminate their human creators and had a devastating civil war, after which one camp joined with their former enemies to find Earth. When they arrived — and found the planet a nuclear wasteland — BSG left us with questions: Do the gods speak to man or to machine? And do we really want to hear what they're telling us?
(Sci Fi)

Architecture School
Architecture is the field of creativity where art literally intersects with where and how people live. This reality series followed a group of idealistic Tulane students building a modernist house in a poor New Orleans neighborhood devastated by Katrina. The laying out of the creative process — from conception and design to driving nails — was interesting enough. What made the show special, and sometimes devastating, was how it also chronicled the residents of the neighborhood — some of whom would love to buy the house but could not qualify for even "affordable" loan terms, others of whom saw it as an unwanted avant-garde experiment imposed on a poor black neighborhood. More than any cable competition or makeover show this year, Architecture School was a blueprint of how theory collides with practice.
(Sundance)

Chuck
It was a tough year for primetime comedies, in part at least because of the writers' strike, which threw some sitcoms off their game in the spring (30 Rock) or forced them to compress their stories (The Office). So it's worth recognizing one comedy that came back from the strike tanned, rested and recharged. This spy comedy always had a meringue of a premise (an electronics-store clerk becomes a spy after an email turns his brain into a supercomputer). But season 2, following an eight-month hiatus, developed the show's characters and romantic heart while still keeping the funny. On the strength of Zachary Levi's nerd-babe appeal, the title character became a more competent supernebbish while retaining his everygeek charm.
(NBC)

Top Ten Movies According to Time Magazine

1) WALL- E

Most smart filmmakers want to parade their facility with all the tools in the modern movie box. Andrew Stanton, the director and cowriter of the Pixar animated feature WALL-E, experimented with what talking pictures could plausibly do without. Talking, for example: the first third of the movie has almost no dialogue. How about depriving the two main characters — the humble, lonely trash compacter WALL-E and his space princess EVE — of emotional signifiers like a mouth, eyebrows, shoulders, elbows? Yet with all the limitations he imposed on himself and his robot stars, Stanton still connected with a huge audience. Great science-fiction love stories (there aren't many) will do that. So will futurist adventures that evoke the splendor of the movie past. A dirt-of-the-earth guy hooking up with the ultimate ethereal gal, WALL-E and EVE could be the 29th century version of Tracy and Hepburn, or Seth Rogen and any attractive woman. It hardly matters that the movie is not-quite-silent, when it blends art and heart as spectacularly as WALL-E does.

2) Synecdoche, New York

Ambition. That's what most independent films lack, and what the directorial debut of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman has, ad infintum, ad gloriam. It's an epic tragicomedy about Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a Schenectady, N.Y., theater director who moves to Manhattan with the gigantic notion of putting on a realistic drama as big as all New York City. A self-styled truth-teller (his full name anagrams to Acted Candor), Caden manages to exasperate or repel the fascinating women (including Catherine Keener, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Michelle Williams) who cross his downward path. The project drags on — it's his life's work, and it may take that long to finish — but Kaufman's imagination never falters. The movie keeps getting bigger and weirder and denser and sadder and finnier, till all the pressure on Caden leads to a final implosion. A movie so human you'll want to argue with it, spank it, take it home or give it some Xanax, Synecdoche is the richest, most devious — I'll cut to the chase and say best — live-action film of the year.

3) My Winnepeg

In 1942 the city of Winnipeg held an "If Day," dressing its burghers up as Nazis to show the locals some of the terrors of life under the Third Reich. For Canadian deranged-genius filmmaker Guy Maddin, every day is an If Day: his movies transform his hometown reality into comedy-dramas of sibling rivalry and family life that would give Freud the creeps. So Maddin is not the most reliable reporter. In spite or because of that, My Winnipeg is a trip: a "docufantasia" that mixes the city's history with Maddin family values. He moves back into the home where he grew up, hiring actors to play his relatives — including Ann Savage, the notorious harridan of the 1945 cheapo-noir classic Detour, as his mom. Filming in black-and-white, streaking the frame, explaining the action with silent-movie intertitles, Maddin must want us to understand that, in movies, nothing is real, and everything is true. Oh, and My Winnipeg: it's weird-hilarious.

4) 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days

In Romania under the Ceausescu regime, abortion was banned, and within 20 years some half a million women had died from having botched illegal abortions. This severe thriller from writer-director Christian Mungiu focuses on Gabita (Laura Vasiliu), a pregnant college student, and her friend Otilia (Anamaria Marinca), who finds a man who'll do the job: a quietly thuggish fellow who calls himself Mr. Bebe (Vlad Ivanov). Remorseless long takes build the suspense as the young women secure a hotel room and, when Bebe explains how they'll have to pay, question whether it's worth the price. Strap yourself in for this minimalist, splendidly acted horror film — and count your blessings that you live in a country where choosing an abortion doesn't mean losing a life.

5) Milk

Affable and driven, Harvey Milk was a San Francisco politician who succeeded by inspiring crowds rather than making backroom deals. The country's first gay city supervisor, he used his energy and intelligence to help homosexuals secure civil rights. This exceptional docudrama — written by Darren Lance Black, directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Sean Penn — covers the last eight years of Milk's life, which ended when he was shot by fellow supervisor Dan White (Josh Brolin). Penn, who’s in nearly every scene, manages the neat trick of merging his star personality with the public figure well known from the 1984 documentary The Life and Times of Harvey Milk. Sunny, pushy and convincingly gay, Penn embodies a man hopeful for the future of his fellows but dreading what he believes is awaiting him. A how-to exercise in marshalling dozens of characters and one big political issue into exemplary, edifying entertainment, Milk is a must-see, right now.

6) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

"He was born old." That expression, referring to the prematurely middle-aged among us, must have been what spurred F. Scott Fitzgerald to create his puckish 1922 short story about Benjamin Button, who was born an old man and got a day younger every day. In this greatly expanded, much less frivolous film version, Benjamin's birth year is moved from 1860 to 1918; instead of fighting in the Spanish-American War, Benjamin sees action in World War II. What neither of those times possessed was the technological legerdemain that enables Brad Pitt to play Benjamin, through computer effects work (and old-fashioned makeup), for most of the character's long life. But the most satisfying tricks are performed by writers Eric Roth and Robin Swicord and director David Fincher. They give flesh and feelings to the essentially passive Benjamin and provide him with a willful, glamorous partner: the dancer Daisy (Cate Blanchett). Of all the movie's dazzling effects, the most special are the internal ones. Benjamin, a minority of one, can raise his resignation into wonder, and lift the viewer along with him.

7) Slumdog Millionaire

Who wants to be a millionaire? Not 18-year-old Jamal, though he'd like enough to live on, since he's been scrambling to survive since he and his brother Salim were brutally orphaned as children. But he's gone on a nationwide quiz show hoping that his brief celebrity will catch the attention of the ravishing, unlucky Latika, whom he's loved for most of his life. Simon Beaufoy's script tells the three lives in flashbacks that illuminate India's dynamic and troubled history over the past 15 years (though not, obviously, of the last few weeks). As gaudy wealth and abasing poverty coexist in Mumbai, so Danny Boyle's movie catches the contradictions of slum drama, love story, social document and Bollywood musical in its capacious embrace. With its nonstop pace and fearless dives into affairs of the heart, Slumdog Millionaire is a dervish delight.

8) Iron Man

The weapons designed by arms manufacturer Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) are no sleeker, and his bombs no smarter, than the narrative lines of this marvelous Marvel Comics movie. A tin man who realizes that, if he is to become human, he must build himself a heart — and then a big red metallic airborne suit for buzzing unsuspecting planes and vanquishing his enemies. What a kick it is to see the thing fly. Same with the movie, for, like Tony, Iron Man is the perfect expression of Hollywood's engineering ingenuity. In an excellent year for action films (Wanted, Hellboy II, The Dark Knight and, as you'll soon see, Speed Racer), this was the coolest movie machine.

9) Speed Racer

Opening the week after Iron Man, the Wachowski brothers' race-car movie flopped at the box office. What can we say? Not every avant-garde FX masterpiece receives instant audience validation. This tale of a family of racers — Racer is the family name — exists simultaneously in the 1950s and today, in a live-action world and its own complementary alternate cyber-universe. Operating a pitch of delirious precision, the movie is a rich, cartoonish dream: non-stop Op art, and a triumph of virtual virtuosity. Maybe a lot of civilians didn't go see the picture, but you can bet it attracted the smart boys in Hollywood. They will pilfer its effects and, by next summer, produce a domesticated, more palatable version. My advice: Don't wait for the rip-offs; accept no substitutes. Speed Racer is the future of movies, on DVD now.

10) Encounters at the End of the World

If the German director-explorer Werner Herzog were to write an autobiography, this could be the title, for his 40 years of movies record his need to chronicle the lives of people as obsessed as he. The dramatic movies Aguirre the Wrath of God, Heart of Glass, Nosferatu the Vampire and Fitzcarraldo, and documentaries like The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner, Grizzly Man and The White Diamond, are all about men with grand or deranged dreams, dizzied by the helium of their aspirations, which drives them to triumph or catastrophe. Even sane men, scientists in the remote clarity of Antarctica, have this intoxicating thirst. Encounters could be called a travelog: on a grant from the National Geographic Society, Herzog spent some time at the McMurdo Research Station, chatting up the scholars, technicians and workmen, following them on their expeditions across the ice and below it. Since Herzog has eyes as restless as they are acute, you'll see wonders here: active volcanoes, string band concerts, singing seals. The strangest, most affecting creatures are the men and women who've slipped down the modern world to end up here. They are adventurers, sometimes tearful with joy, and kindred souls to this great ecstatic filmmaker.

Top 10 Sites We Cannot Live Without 2008

Wikipedia.org
Despite repeated attempts to compromise its integrity, Wikipedia remains the most popular online encyclopedia on the Web. Since anyone can create or edit a Wikipedia page, both companies and individuals have been caught airbrushing and embellishing their own entries. The Wiki community usually intervenes, however — egregious edits get reported on WikiScanner and Wiki trolls are given the heave ho — or at least a Wiki humiliation. Now you can even enjoy Wikipedia's wisdom without ever clicking on it. The Microsoft Live search engine automatically pulls up the first paragraph of any relevant Wikipedia entry in its search results. And a new print-it-yourself travel guide called Offbeat Guides (still in beta as of June 2008) culls information from the site to create custom travel guides tailored to the exact dates of your trip. Now that's neat.

Yahoo Finance
A haven for armchair investors and money junkies, Yahoo! Finance has everything you need to keep up with business — news, stock-specific research, charts, even press releases. In late May, Yahoo! Finance resumed free real-time quotes instead of the standard 20-minute delays on rivals like Google Finance. (The service had been suspended a couple years ago in a dispute with the major stock exchanges.) Power brokers can shell out $10.95 a month for real-time stock charting. For all the criticism about Yahoo!'s failure to innovate, its finance site showcases the best of what the company has to offer.

CraigsList
Its elementary page design has barely changed in 13 years, even as newer, flashier competitors vie for a chunk of the $15 billion online classified market. But so what? Craigslist is a Web pioneer that will never go stale, and remains the essential site for want ads ranging from real estate and used furniture to jobs, romance and one-night stands. Craigslist launched in 100 additional cities this spring, making the site's services available in over 500 cities in 50 countries. To stay ahead of other newcomers with a strong international presence — including Kijiji, Oodle and OLX — the venerable Craigslist now makes its listings available in Spanish, French, Italian and German in some cities. This way, you can't blame the language barrier for fumbling your "missed connection."

ESPN
ESPN is synonymous with sports. Die-hard fans come straight to this megasite for scores, schedules and analysis, then hang around for the video highlights, games and podcasts. Over the past year, ESPN has beefed up its fantasy sports league offerings and high school football coverage, and it's now pulling in news from college fan sites too. If you can't bear to leave your sports news at home, sign up for "ESPN Alerts" by text message and download small-screen videos.

Yelp
If it's a restaurant, shop or business, it's probably been reviewed on Yelp — an independent site with millions of user-submitted evaluations. Yelp's got a gaggle of rivals — most notably Yahoo! Local — but it's the only one that lets reviewees talk back. After businesses complained about their reputation getting trashed by careless reviews, this spring the site began allowing proprietors to e-mail reviewers directly, make instant changes to their company details on the site and see how many people have visited their Yelp listing. For you, that means more rounded and accurate reviews.

FaceBook
If MySpace is a PC, then Facebook is a Mac. The former may have more users, but the latter is classier and cleaner in design. Facebook also makes it super easy to find people you know, and it has won more fans among professionals and the thirtysomething crowd. The site has more than 30,000 add-on applications — among them, games, interactive maps and quizzes — to bling out your personal page (or spam your friends), and a redesign planned for later this year will restore the tidy Facebook look that the add-on apps have begun to clutter up. If you're on the hunt for new social networks to ply, check out upstarts Bebo and hi5.

Digg
Say you stumble across a news story you like. You "Digg" it, by clicking a link at the end of the story. The more people who Digg the same story, the higher it rises in the popularity ranking on Digg.com, where other Diggers can read and comment on it. While comments often read more like rants, they serve as an excellent barometer of the issues Web surfers are most interested in. In May, Digg announced plans to collaborate with Facebook, to let users see which of their Facebook friends also have accounts on Digg — as well as which stories they Digg. Next up: a planned recommendation engine that will suggest stories you might like based on your past Diggs. Handy upgrades like these should help keep Digg from getting buried by competitors such as Mixx and Reddit.

Google
Much more than a search site, Google has become the Microsoft of the tech world. Google Docs offers free spreadsheets, word processing and presentations. Photo-based Google Earth now operates inside a browser plug-in, no longer requiring a lengthy download to your desktop. You can even run Google on your mobile phone, including the iPhone. Next Google wants to help you get more out of your online social networks: its Friend Connect system, due out later this year, will make it easier to interact with your network contacts, even on remote sites. So, for example, Friend Connect might show you which of your Facebook friends also use the community music site last.fm — with your permission, of course — allowing you to share your favorite music with them more easily.

TMZ
There's no better way to spread gossip than to put it online. Sure, it's tacky, rude and unreliable, but TMZ is the most popular gossip site on the Web because it is chock-full of juicy celebrity tidbits, photos and videos. Check it out — it can help your otherwise dreary workday go a little faster. TMZ also breaks more stories on Britney, Lindsay and the rest of the Hollywood gang than any other gossip site. If you're still thirsting for more, you can watch TMZ on TV (find local listings here. Or read on at E! Online, Perez Hilton and The Superficial.

Flickr
Digital photo–sharing sites have come and gone, but Flickr has remained. It offers some of the smartest tools for managing your ever expanding picture collection — from Photostream, which lets you scan your pics quickly, to a newly added video tool for pro users (who pay $25 per year). We also dig Flickr's photo-editing capabilities provided by Picnik. Our quibbles: users who do not pay the annual subscription fee can upload only 100 MB of content per month, and Flickr's Photostream doesn't arrange newly added pics by the date the photo was taken.

By Anita Hamilton

Here Come the Marathons

New Year's Eve Wednesday December 31 2008:

A&E: Dog the Bounty Hunter

Bravo: Project Runway

Cartoon Network: 6teen

Discovery Health: Untold Stories of the E.R.

E!: Keeping Up With the Kardashians

Food: The Next Food Network Star

Green: Living With Ed

GSN: $100,000 Pyramid

Logo: Sordid Lives

National Geographic: Earth: The Biography

Nickelodeon: Drake & Josh

Nick Toon: Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius

Science: Survivorman

Sci-Fi: The Twilight Zone

Spike: CSI

Sundance: Spectacle

TLC: Mystery Diagnosis

Toon Disney: Spider-man

TruTV: Most Daring / Speeders

TV Guide: Close Up

TV One: Divorce Court

TV Land: I Love Lucy

USA: Law & Order: Criminal Intent

Versus: Rocky movies

WE: Bridezillas / The Locator


New Year's Day Thursday January 1st 2009

A&E: The First 48

AMC: Rocky movies

BET: Notarized Top Video Countdown

Bravo: The Biggest Loser

Cartoon Network: Looney Tunes

CNBC: American Greed: Scams, Scoundrels and Scandals

Discovery: Mythbusters

DIY: Dream Home / Renovation Realities

ESPN 2: 2008 World Series of Poker

Food: Iron Chef America

Fox Reality: American Idol

G4: Spaceballs: The Animated Series / Human Wrecking Balls

Green: Living With Ed

History: Ice Road Truckers

MTV: Engaged and Underage Bridal Bowl

The N: What I Like About You

Science: Deconstructed / Weird Connections

Sci-Fi: The Twilight Zone

Soap: Private Practice

Spike: CSI: NY

TLC: Ashley Paige: Bikini or Bust / Inside Brookhaven Obesity Clinic

TNT: Bones

Toon Disney: Spider-man

Travel: Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations

TruTV: Speeders / The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest Criminals

TV Land: Brady Bunch

TV One: The Jeffersons

USA: Monk

Versus: World Extreme Cagefighting

We: Bridezillas / Momma's Boys

WGN: Honeymooners

New Year's Eve Battle for Viewers

Two men enter. One man leaves with Dick Clark's crown on his carefully coiffed head. It's Seacrest vs. Daly in a New Year's Eve showdown for viewers because, yes, it turns out that 27 million of us are too pathetic to be anywhere but on our couches watching television when the clock strikes midnight.

Seacrest has the obvious advantage - being grandfathered into the annual countdown tradition by Clark himself - with ABC's Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2007. Daly has the scrappier of the two operations at NBC - New Year's Eve with Carson Daly presented by Chevrolet. The two hosts are engaged in a rumored tiff over who will reign supreme once Clark has bowed out for good. Both are on record denying the rivalry with Daly's producers pointing out that Carson is, like, way hipper because he has OK Go on his show and not lame-i-licious Fergie - "I mean, how many times have I heard Fergie sing 'Superlicious' or whatever she sings?"

Both men are in for a big surprise when the numbers come in. PBS is poised to take the night in a major upset. When this battle goes down in the history books, Garrison Keillor is coming out on top.

Norad is Tracking Santa

Tracking Santa every Year has always been a BLAST for me. Just a Kid at Heart. NORAD

Favorite Christmas Recipes

EGG NOG

Ingredients

4 eggs, separated (use only Grade AA)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 C. (1 quart) homogenized milk
1 C. bourbon or brandy, optional
Nutmeg

Directions

In large mixer bowl, beat egg yolks until thick and light. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk, salt, vanilla, and milk. In small bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks; gently fold into sweetened condensed milk mixture. If desired, stir in bourbon or brandy. Chill. Pour into chilled punch bowl or serving cups. Garnish with nutmeg. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Yield: about 2 quarts
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MEXICAN WEDDING CAKES

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 2 sticks cold butter, cut into pieces
• 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1 teaspoon anise seeds

Cooking Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
2. Grind almonds and pecans in food processor, then add butter and continue to grind until smooth.
3. Add 1/4 c powdered sugar and vanilla, then mix again.
4. Add flour and anise seeds and grind mix until blended.
5. After flouring hands, roll the dough into small balls.
6. Place them about an inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until brown on the bottom.
8. Cool for 15 minutes, then roll the still warm cookies in the rest of the powdered sugar.
9. Let cool again, then add more powdered sugar.

____________________________________________________________________________

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

Ingredients

• ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ⅓ cup peanut butter
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1½ cups flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup sugar
• 24 Hershey’s® Kisses

Cooking Instructions

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. In large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium until smooth. Add peanut butter. Beat until combined. Add brown sugar. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg yolk until combined. Add vanilla. Beat until combined.

1. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined.
2. Using 1 level tablespoon dough for each cookie, form each into a ball. Toss in sugar to coat. Transfer to cookie sheet and flatten slightly. Continue with remaining dough. Make an indent in the center of each cookie with the base of a kiss.
3. Bake 13 minutes, or until lightly browned.
4. Remove from oven and place a kiss on each one. Cool on cookie sheet 5 minutes. Remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

Substitution(s)

Dark brown sugar can be used in place of light brown sugar.

Make-Ahead

Cookies can be made through step 2 and stored in the refrigerator up to one week or in the freezer up to 6 months.

Tips & Tricks

For a more festive look, use sanding sugar (the large sugar crystals) to coat each cookie instead of granulated sugar.

Preparation Time:

30 minutes

Servings:

About 18 cookies

Baking Time: 13 minutes per batch
____________________________________________________________________________

SUGAR COOKIES

Ingredients

• ½ cup unsalted butter
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1½ cups flour
• ⅛ teaspoon salt

Cooking Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium until smooth. Add sugar. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg yolk until combined. Add vanilla. Beat until combined.
2. Add flour and salt. Beat until combined, scraping down side of bowl occasionally.
3. Between two sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap with a rolling pin roll the dough to ¼-inch thickness. Cut out shapes. Reroll and use scraps until all dough is used.
4. Bake 15 to 20 minutes,depending on the size of the cookies, or until lightly browned.
5. Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet 5 minutes. Remove to cooling rack to cool completely. Decorate as desired.

Make-Ahead

These cookies can be made through step 3, wrapped well, and refrigerated up to 1 week, or frozen up to 6 months.

Tips & Tricks

These cookies are also the perfect consistancy for making spritz cookies.

Preparation Time:

25 minutes, not including decorating time

Servings:

About 2 dozen cookies, depending on the size of the cookie cutters

Baking Time: 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies

____________________________________________________________________________

CHOCOLATE CHIP & ORANGE COOKIES

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter, cold

• 1 tablespoon freshly grated orange peel
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 egg yolks, cold
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Cooking Instructions

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. In large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add orange peel. Beat until combined. Add brown and granulated white sugars. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg yolks until combined. Add vanilla extract. Beat until combined.
2. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping down side of bowl occasionally. Add chocolate chips. Beat to combine.
3. Drop by tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.
4. Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet 5 minutes. Remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

Substitution(s)

• Using all white sugar will result in a crisper cookie.
• 1 cup of toasted, or non-toasted, nuts may be added.
• Using whole eggs in place of the egg yolks will make a crisper cookie.

Make-Ahead

• Cookies can be made through step 2, wrapped well, refrigerated up to 1 week, or frozen up to 6 months.

Preparation Time:

20 minutes

Servings:

About 3½ dozen cookies

Baking Time: 10 minutes
____________________________________________________________________________

PISTACHIO CRANBERRY BISCOTTI

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter, cold

• 1 tablespoon freshly grated orange peel
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 egg yolks, cold
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Cooking Instructions

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. In large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add orange peel. Beat until combined. Add brown and granulated white sugars. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg yolks until combined. Add vanilla extract. Beat until combined.
2. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping down side of bowl occasionally. Add chocolate chips. Beat to combine.
3. Drop by tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.
4. Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet 5 minutes. Remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

Substitution(s)

• Using all white sugar will result in a crisper cookie.
• 1 cup of toasted, or non-toasted, nuts may be added.
• Using whole eggs in place of the egg yolks will make a crisper cookie.

Make-Ahead

• Cookies can be made through step 2, wrapped well, refrigerated up to 1 week, or frozen up to 6 months.

Preparation Time:

20 minutes

Servings:

About 3½ dozen cookies

Baking Time: 10 minutes
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SNICKERDOODLES

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces butter, softened (1 cup = 2 sticks)
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, more or less according to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Prepare baking sheets by lining with parchment paper or spraying with vegetable shortening.
3. In a large bowl, mix flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.Set aside.
4. Using a stand mixer, beat butter until creamy.
5. Add sugar and continue beating until fluffy. Scrape bowl.
6. Add eggs one at a time and mix well.
7. On low-medium speed, mix in dry ingredients two cups at a time. Beat well and scrape sides of bowl, making sure to get down to the bottom.
8. Chill the dough for 30-60 minutes before scooping and baking.
9. In another bowl, mix 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon together.
10. Using a cookie scoop or Tablespoon, measure out dough, roll into balls and coat completely in cinnamon sugar.
11. Place on prepared baking sheets, leaving room for the cookies to spread.
12. Bake at 350 degrees F for 13-16 minutes or until the outside of cookies feel slightly firm to the touch.
13. Remove and cool on racks before storing in airtight containers.
14. Makes 24-30 warm and delicious nickerdoodles!

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SOFT MOLASSES COOKIES

Ingredients

• 1/2 - 1 cup sugar for rolling cookies
• 6 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons baking soda
• 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 cups (one pound) butter, softened
• 3 cups brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 cup molasses, your choice
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup raisins, optional
• 1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Directions:

1. This is a large batch of 48 cookies. If you don't have at least a 5 quart mixer, divide the recipe in half.
2. Prepare baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper or give it a good spritz with vegetable spray shortening.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. An oven thermometer is a handy item to have to insure your temperature is where it should be. Adjust if neccessary.
4. Measure 1/2 - 1 cup sugar in a large bowl for rolling cookies and set aside.
5. Blend flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and ginger in a large bowl and set aside.
6. In a large mixing bowl with a beater attachment, beat butter until creamy.
7. Add brown sugar and molasses and beat until fluffy. Scrape bowl.
8. Add eggs, one at a time and beat until light and fluffy. Scrape bowl again.
9. Add flour mixture a few cups at a time and mix only until well blended and scrape once more.
10. Add optional raisins and/or nuts.
11. Cover dough and chill for 30 minutes.
12. With a cookie scoop or Tablespoon, scoop and roll into balls. Roll cookies in sugar.
13. Place cookies on prepared baking sheets leaving some spreading room between them.
14. Bake at 350 degrees for 11-13 minutes or until slightly firm.
15. Remove to cooling racks and cool completely before storing in airtight containers.
16. Makes 48 warm, soft molasses cookies.

Christmas Facts

Each year, 30-35 million real Christmas trees are sold in the United States alone. There are 21,000 Christmas tree growers in the United States, and trees usually grow for about 15 years before they are sold.

Today, in the Greek and Russian orthodox churches, Christmas is celebrated 13 days after the 25th, which is also referred to as the Epiphany or Three Kings Day. This is the day it is believed that the three wise men finally found Jesus in the manger.

In the Middle Ages, Christmas celebrations were rowdy and raucous—a lot like today's Mardi Gras parties.

From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was outlawed in Boston, and law-breakers were fined five shillings.

Christmas wasn't a holiday in early America—in fact Congress was in session on December 25, 1789, the country's first Christmas under the new constitution.

Christmas was declared a federal holiday in the United States on June 26, 1870.

The first eggnog made in the United States was consumed in Captain John Smith's 1607 Jamestown settlement.

Poinsettia plants are named after Joel R. Poinsett, an American minister to Mexico, who brought the red-and-green plant from Mexico to America in 1828.

The Salvation Army has been sending Santa Claus-clad donation collectors into the streets since the 1890s.

Rudolph, "the most famous reindeer of all," was the product of Robert L. May's imagination in 1939. The copywriter wrote a poem about the reindeer to help lure customers into the Montgomery Ward department store.

Construction workers started the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree tradition in 1931.

Found on History.com

Christmas Trees the Beginning

Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.

In the Northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year falls on December 21 or December 22 and is called the winter solstice. Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become sick and weak. They celebrated the solstice because it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well. Evergreen boughs reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return.

The ancient Egyptians worshipped a god called Ra, who had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a blazing disk in his crown. At the solstice, when Ra began to recover from the illness, the Egyptians filled their homes with green palm rushes which symbolized for them the triumph of life over death.

Early Romans marked the solstice with a feast called the Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Romans knew that the solstice meant that soon farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs. In Northern Europe the mysterious Druids, the priests of the ancient Celts, also decorated their temples with evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life. The fierce Vikings in Scandinavia thought that evergreens were the special plant of the sun god, Balder.

Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. Walking toward his home one winter evening, composing a sermon, he was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling amidst evergreens. To recapture the scene for his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lighted candles.

Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, although trees had been a tradition in many German homes much earlier. The Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as 1747. But, as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.

It is not surprising that, like many other festive Christmas customs, the tree was adopted so late in America. To the New England Puritans, Christmas was sacred. The pilgrims's second governor, William Bradford, wrote that he tried hard to stamp out "pagan mockery" of the observance, penalizing any frivolity. The influential Oliver Cromwell preached against "the heathen traditions" of Christmas carols, decorated trees, and any joyful expression that desecrated "that sacred event." In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts enacted a law making any observance of December 25 (other than a church service) a penal offense; people were fined for hanging decorations. That stern solemnity continued until the 19th century, when the influx of German and Irish immigrants undermined the Puritan legacy.

In 1846, the popular royals, Queen Victoria and her German Prince, Albert, were sketched in the Illustrated London News standing with their children around a Christmas tree. Unlike the previous royal family, Victoria was very popular with her subjects, and what was done at court immediately became fashionable—not only in Britain, but with fashion-conscious East Coast American Society. The Christmas tree had arrived.

By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas trees to reach from floor to ceiling.

The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with homemade ornaments, while the German-American sect continued to use apples, nuts, and marzipan cookies. Popcorn joined in after being dyed bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts. Electricity brought about Christmas lights, making it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days on end. With this, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country and having a Christmas tree in the home became an American tradition.

Found at History.com

Rudolph the Ninth Reindeer

Rudolph, "the most famous reindeer of all," was born over a hundred years after his eight flying counterparts. The red-nosed wonder was the creation of Robert L. May, a copywriter at the Montgomery Ward department store.

In 1939, May wrote a Christmas-themed story-poem to help bring holiday traffic into his store. Using a similar rhyme pattern to Moore's "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," May told the story of Rudolph, a young reindeer who was teased by the other deer because of his large, glowing, red nose. But, When Christmas Eve turned foggy and Santa worried that he wouldn't be able to deliver gifts that night, the former outcast saved Christmas by leading the sleigh by the light of his red nose. Rudolph's message—that given the opportunity, a liability can be turned into an asset—proved popular. Montgomery Ward sold almost two and a half million copies of the story in 1939. When it was reissued in 1946, the book sold over three and half million copies. Several years later, one of May's friends, Johnny Marks, wrote a short song based on Rudolph's story (1949). It was recorded by Gene Autry and sold over two million copies. Since then, the story has been translated into 25 languages and been made into a television movie, narrated by Burl Ives, which has charmed audiences every year since 1964.

Found @ History.com

The History of St Nicholas

The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas. It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around 280 A.D. in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey. Much admired for his piety and kindness, St. Nicholas became the subject of many legends. It is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick. One of the best known of the St. Nicholas stories is that he saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery or prostitution by their father by providing them with a dowry so that they could be married. Over the course of many years, Nicholas's popularity spread and he became known as the protector of children and sailors. His feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, December 6. This was traditionally considered a lucky day to make large purchases or to get married. By the Renaissance, St. Nicholas was the most popular saint in Europe. Even after the Protestant Reformation, when the veneration of saints began to be discouraged, St. Nicholas maintained a positive reputation, especially in Holland.
Found on History.com

History of Christmas

The history of Christmas dates back over 4000 years. Many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated centuries before the Christ child was born. The 12 days of Christmas, the bright fires, the yule log, the giving of gifts, carnivals(parades) with floats, carolers who sing while going from house to house, the holiday feasts, and the church processions can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians.

Many of these traditions began with the Mesopotamian celebration of New Years. The Mesopotamians believed in many gods, and as their chief god - Marduk. Each year as winter arrived it was believed that Marduk would do battle with the monsters of chaos. To assist Marduk in his struggle the Mesopotamians held a festival for the New Year. This was Zagmuk, the New Year's festival that lasted for 12 days.

The Mesopotamian king would return to the temple of Marduk and swear his faithfulness to the god. The traditions called for the king to die at the end of the year and to return with Marduk to battle at his side.

To spare their king, the Mesopotamians used the idea of a "mock" king. A criminal was chosen and dressed in royal clothes. He was given all the respect and privileges of a real king. At the end of the celebration the "mock" king was stripped of the royal clothes and slain, sparing the life of the real king.

The Persians and the Babylonians celebrated a similar festival called the Sacaea. Part of that celebration included the exchanging of places, the slaves would become the masters and the masters were to obey.

Early Europeans believed in evil spirits, witches, ghosts and trolls. As the Winter Solstice approached, with its long cold nights and short days, many people feared the sun would not return. Special rituals and celebrations were held to welcome back the sun.

In Scandinavia during the winter months the sun would disappear for many days. After thirty-five days scouts would be sent to the mountain tops to look for the return of the sun. When the first light was seen the scouts would return with the good news. A great festival would be held, called the Yuletide, and a special feast would be served around a fire burning with the Yule log. Great bonfires would also be lit to celebrate the return of the sun. In some areas people would tie apples to branches of trees to remind themselves that spring and summer would return.

The ancient Greeks held a festival similar to that of the Zagmuk/Sacaea festivals to assist their god Kronos who would battle the god Zeus and his Titans.

The Roman's celebrated their god Saturn. Their festival was called Saturnalia which began the middle of December and ended January 1st. With cries of "Jo Saturnalia!" the celebration would include masquerades in the streets, big festive meals, visiting friends, and the exchange of good-luck gifts called Strenae (lucky fruits).

The Romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and green trees lit with candles. Again the masters and slaves would exchange places

"Jo Saturnalia!" was a fun and festive time for the Romans, but the Christians though it an abomination to honor the pagan god. The early Christians wanted to keep the birthday of their Christ child a solemn and religious holiday, not one of cheer and merriment as was the pagan Saturnalia.

But as Christianity spread they were alarmed by the continuing celebration of pagan customs and Saturnalia among their converts. At first the Church forbid this kind of celebration. But it was to no avail. Eventually it was decided that the celebration would be tamed and made into a celebration fit for the Christian Son of God.

Some legends claim that the Christian "Christmas" celebration was invented to compete against the pagan celebrations of December. The 25th was not only sacred to the Romans but also the Persians whose religion Mithraism was one of Christianity's main rivals at that time. The Church eventually was successful in taking the merriment, lights, and gifts from the Saturanilia festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas.

The exact day of the Christ child's birth has never been pinpointed. Traditions say that it has been celebrated since the year 98 AD. In 137 AD the Bishop of Rome ordered the birthday of the Christ Child celebrated as a solemn feast. In 350 AD another Bishop of Rome, Julius I, choose December 25th as the observance of Christmas.

Top 5 Family Thanksgiving Traditions

1. Turkey and Trimmings From the first Thanksgiving to today's turkey burgers, turkeys are an American tradition dating back centuries. According to the National Turkey Federation, 95 percent of Americans eat turkey at Thanksgiving. Regional twists offer variations on the traditional roasted bird, including coffee rubbed turkey from Hawaii, salt encrusted turkey from New England, and deep fried turkey from the South.

2. Time Out for the Pigskin Throughout the United States, football on Thanksgiving Day is as big a part of the celebration as turkey and pumpkin pie. Dating back to the first intercollegiate football championship held on Thanksgiving Day in 1876, traditional holiday football rivalries have become so popular that a reporter once called Thanksgiving "a holiday granted by the State and the Nation to see a game of football."

3. Parading Around The first American Thanksgiving Day parade was held in 1920, organized by Gimbel's Department Store in Philadelphia, not Macy's as most people believe. The NYC Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade tradition actually began in 1924, and has grown into an annual event of balloons, bands, and floats, enjoyed by more than 46 million people each year in person and on TV.

4. Making a Wish Does your family fight over the wishbone from the Thanksgiving turkey? Known as a "lucky break" the tradition of tugging on either end of a fowl's bone to win the larger piece and its accompanying "wish" dates back to the Etruscans of 322 B.C. The Romans brought the tradition with them when they conquered England and the English colonists carried the tradition on to America.

5. Giving Thanks Last, but certainly not least, Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for the people and blessings of the past year. From pre-meal prayers to providing holiday meals to the homeless, the holiday is truly a celebration of praise and thanksgiving.

By Kimberly Powell

Thanksgiving Timeline in America

• 1541 - Spanish explorer, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, led a thanksgiving Communion celebration at the Palo Duro Canyon, West Texas.
• 1565 - Pedro Menendez de Aviles and 800 settlers gathered for a meal with the Timucuan Indians in the Spanish colony of St. Augustine, Florida.
• 1621 - Pilgrims and Native Americans celebrated a harvest feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
• 1630 - Settlers observed the first Thanksgiving of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England on July 8, 1630.
• 1777 - George Washington and his army on the way to Valley Forge, stopped in blistering weather in open fields to observe the first Thanksgiving of the new United States of America.
• 1789 - President Washington declared November 26, 1789, as a national day of "thanksgiving and prayer."
• 1800s - The annual presidential thanksgiving proclamations ceased for 45 years in the early 1800s.
• 1863 - President Abraham Lincoln resumed the tradition of Thanksgiving proclamations in 1863. Since this date, Thanksgiving has been observed annually in the United States.
• 1941 - President Roosevelt established the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day

William Bradford

Bradford was one of the leaders of the English Puritan Separatists who we now call "The Pilgrims." This history was his personal journal, completed around 1650, after he had served some 35 years as governor of the colony. The first excerpt describes his feelings as he is on The Mayflower in 1620, on the night before they land to start their puritan colony, the first utopian experiment in the Americas.
On the Mayflower 1620
How they sought a place of habitation 1620
The Mayflower Compact 1620
Treaty with the Indians 1621
New governor, first marriage 1621
First harvest 1621
Private and communal farming 1623
On the Mayflower
Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the fast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element. And no marvel if they were thus joyful, seeing wise Seneca was so affected with sailing a few miles on the coast of his own Italy, as he affirmed, that he had rather remain twenty years on his way by land than pass by sea to any place in a short time, so tedious and dreadful was the same unto him.
But here I cannot but stay and make a pause, and stand half amazed at this poor people's present condition; and so I think will the reader, too, when he well considers the same. Being thus passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before in their preparation (as may be remembered by that which went before), they had now no friends to welcome them nor inns to entertain or refresh their weatherbeaten bodies; no houses or much less towns to repair to, to seek for succor. It is recorded in Scripture as a mercy to the Apostle and his shipwrecked company, that the barbarians showed them no small kindness in refreshing them, but these savage barbarians, when they met with them (as after will appear) were readier to fill their sides full of arrows than otherwise. And for the season it was winter, and they know that the winters of that country know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search an unknown coast. Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men--and what multitudes there might be of them they knew not. Neither could they, as it were, go up to the top of Pisgah to view from this wilderness a more goodly country to feed their hopes; for which way soever they turned their eyes (save upward to the heavens) they could have little solace or content in respect of any outward objects. For summer being done, all things stand upon them with a weatherbeaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hue. If they looked behind them, there was the mighty ocean which they had passed and was now as a main bar and gulf to separate them from all the civil parts of the world. If it be said they had a ship to succor them, it is true; but what heard they daily from the master and company? But that with speed they should look out a place (with their shallop) where they would be, at some near distance; for the season was such that he would not stir from thence till a safe harbor was discovered by them, where they would be, and he might go without danger; and that victuals consumed space but he must and would keep sufficient for themselves and their return. Yea, it was muttered by some that if they got not a place in time, they would turn them and their goods ashore and leave them. Let it also be considered what weak hopes of supply and succor they left behind them, that might bear up their minds in this sad condition and trials they were under; and they could not but be very small. It is true, indeed, the affections and love of their brethren at Leyden was cordial and entire towards them, but they had little power to help them or themselves; and how the case stood between them and the merchants at their coming away hath already been declared.
What could now sustain them but the Spirit of God and His grace? May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: "Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice and looked on their adversity," etc. "Let them therefore praise the Lord, because He is good: and his mercies endure forever. Yea, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, show how He hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the desert wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them." "Let them confess before the Lord His lovingkindness and His wonderful works before the sons of men."
How they sought a place of habitation (1620)
Being thus arrived at Cape Cod the 11th of November, and necessity calling them to look out a place for habitation (as well as the master's and mariner's importunity); they having brought a large shallop with them out of England, stowed in quarters in the ship, they now got her out and set their carpenters to work to trim her up; but being much bruised and shattered in the ship with foul weather, they saw she would be long in mending. Whereupon a few of them tendered themselves to go by land and discover those nearest places, whilst the shallop was in mending; and the rather because as they went into that harbor there seemed to be an opening some two or three leagues off, which the master judged to be a river. It was conceived there might be some danger in the attempt, yet seeing them resolute, they were permitted to go, being sixteen of them well armed under the conduct of Captain Standish, having such instructions given them as was thought meet.
They set forth the 15 of November; and when they had marched about the space of a mile by the seaside, they espied five or six persons with a dog coming towards them, who were savages; but they fled from them and ran up into the woods, and the English followed them, partly to see if they could speak with them, and partly to discover if there might not be more of them lying in ambush. But the Indians seeing themselves thus followed, they again forsook the woods and ran away on the sands as hard as they could, so as they could not come near them but followed them by the track of their feet sundry miles and saw that they had come the same way. So, night coming on, they made their rendezvous and set out their sentinels, and rested in quiet that night; and the next morning followed their track till they had headed a great creek and so left the sands, and turned another way into the woods. But they still followed them by guess, hoping to find their dwellings; but they soon lost both them and themselves, falling into such thickets as were ready to tear their clothes and armor in pieces; but were most distressed for want of drink. But at length they found water and refreshed themselves, being the first New England water they drunk of, and was now in great thirst as pleasant unto them as wine or beer had been in foretimes.
Afterwards, they directed their course to come to the other shore, for they knew it was a neck of land they were to cross over, and so at length got to the seaside and marched to this supposed river, and by the way found a pond of clear, fresh water, and shortly after a good quantity of clear ground where the Indians had formerly set corn, and some of their graves. And proceeding further they saw new stubble where corn had been set the same year; also they found where lately a house had been, where some planks and a great kettle was remaining, and heaps of sand newly paddled with their hands. Which, they digging up, found in them divers fair Indian baskets filled with corn, and some in ears, fair and good, of divers colors, which seemed to them a very goodly sight (having never seen any such before). This was near the place of that supposed river they came to seek, unto which they went and found it to open itself into two arms with a high cliff of sand in the entrance but more like to be creeks of salt water than any fresh, for aught they saw; and that there was good harborage for their shallop, leaving it further to be discovered by their shallop, when she was ready. So, their time limited them being expired, they returned to the ship lest they should be in fear of their safety; and took with them part of the corn and buried up the rest. And so, like the men from Eshcol, carried with them of the fruits of the land and showed their brethren; of which, and their return, they were marvelously glad and their hearts encouraged.
After this, the shallop being got ready, they set out again for the better discovery of this place, and the master of the ship desired to go himself. So there went some thirty men but found it to be no harbor for ships but only for boats. There was also found two of their houses covered with mats, and sundry of their implements in them, but the people were run away and could not be seen. Also there was found more of their corn and of their beans of various colors; the corn and beans they brought away, purposing to give them full satisfaction when they should meet with any of them as, about some six months afterward they did, to their good content.
And here is to be noted a special providence of God, and a great mercy to this poor people, that here they got seed to plant them corn the next year, or else they might have starved, for they had none nor any likelihood to get any till the season had been past, as the sequel did manifest. Neither is it likely they had had this, if the first voyage had not been made, for the ground was now all covered with snow and hard frozen; but the Lord is never wanting unto His in their greatest needs; let His holy name have all the praise. . . .
The Mayflower Compact (1620)
I shall a little return back, and begin with a combination of made by them before they came ashore; being the first foundation of their government in this place. Occasioned partly by the discontented and mutinous speeches that some of the strangers amongst them had let fall from them in the ship: That when they came ashore they would use their own liberty, for none had power to command them, the patent they had being for Virginia and not for New England, which belonged to another government, with which the Virginia Company had nothing to do. And partly that such an act by them done, this their condition considered, might be as firm as any patent and in some respects more sure.
The form was as followeth:
IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN.
We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the faith, etc.
Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honor of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the llth of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 1620.
After this they chose, or rather confirmed, Mr. John Carver (a man godly and well approved amongst them) their Governor for that year. And after they had provided a place for their goods, or common store (which were long in unlading for want of boats, foulness of the winter weather and sickness of divers) and begun some small cottages for their habitation; as time would admit, they met and consulted of laws and orders, both for their civil and military government as the necessity of their condition did require, still adding thereunto as urgent occasion in several times, and as cases did require.
In these hard and difficult beginnings they found some discontents and murmurings arise amongst some, and mutinous speeches and carriages in other; but they were soon quelled and overcome by the wisdom, patience, and just and equal carriage of things, by the Governor and better part, which clave faithfully together in the main.
Treaty with the Indians (1621)
All this while the Indians came skulking about them, and would sometimes show themselves aloof off, but when any approached near them, they would run away; and once they stole away their tools where they had been at work and were gone to dinner. But about the 16th of March, a certain Indian came boldly amongst them and spoke to them in broken English, which they could well understand but marveled at it. At length they understood by discourse with him, that he was not of these parts, but belonged to the eastern parts where some English ships came to fish, with whom he was acquainted and could name sundry of them by their names, amongst whom he had got his language. He became profitable to them in acquainting them with many things concerning the state of the country in the east parts where he lived, which was afterwards profitable unto them; as also of the people here, of their names, number and strength, of their situation and distance from this place, and who was chief amongst them. His name was Samoset. He told them also of another Indian whose name was Sguanto, a native of this place, who had been in England and could speak better English than himself.
Being after some time of entertainment and gifts dismissed, a while after he came again, and five more with him, and they brought again all the tools that were stolen away before, and made way for the coming of their great Sachem, called Massasoit. Who, about four or five days after, came with the chief of his friends and other attendance, with the aforesaid Squanto. With whom, after friendly entertainment and some gifts given him, they made a peace with him (which hath now continued this 24 years) in these terms:
That neither he nor any of his should injure or do hurt to any of their people.
That if any of his did hurt to any of theirs, he should send the offender, that they might punish him.
That if anything were taken away from any of theirs, he should cause it to be restored; and they should do the like to his.
If any did unjustly war against him, they would aid him; if any did war against them, he should aid them.
He should send to his neighbors confederates to certify them of this, that they might not wrong them, but might be likewise comprised in the conditions of peace.
That when their men came to them, they should leave their bows and arrows behind them.
After these thing he returned to his place called Sowams, some 40 miles from this place, but Squanto continued with them and was their interpreter and was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation. He directed them how to set their corn, where to take fish, and to procure other commodities, and was also their pilot to bring them to unknown places for their profit, and never left them till he died. He was a native of this place, and scarce any left alive besides himself. He we carried away with divers others by one Hunt, a master of a ship, who thought to sell them for slaves in Spain. But he got away for England and was entertained by a merchant in London, and employed to Newfoundland and other parts, and lastly brought hither into these parts by one Mr. Dermer, a gentleman employed by Sir Ferdinando Gorges and others for discovery and other designs in these parts.
New governor, first marriage (1621)
In this month of April, whilst they were busy about their seed, their Governor (Mr. John Carver) came out of the field very sick, it being a hot day. He complained greatly of his head and lay down, and within a few hours his senses failed, so as he never spake more till he died, which was within a few days after. Whose death was much lamented and caused great heaviness amongst them, as there was cause. He was buried in the best manner they could, with some volleys of shot by all that bore arms. And his wife, being a weak woman, died within five or six weeks after him.
Shortly after, William Bradford was chosen Governor in his stead, and being not recovered of his illness, in which he had been near the point of death, Isaac Allerton was chosen to be an assistant unto him who, by renewed election every year, continued sundry years together. Which I here note once for all.
May 12 was the first marriage in this place which, according to the laudable custom of the Low Countries, in which they had lived, was thought most requisite to be performed by the magistrate, as being a civil thing, upon which many questions about inheritances do depend, with other things most proper to their cognizance and most consonant to the Scriptures (Ruth iv) and nowhere found in the Gospel to be laid on the ministers as a part of their office.
First harvest (1621)
They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl there was a great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to the proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports.
Private and communal farming (1623)
All this while no supply was heard of, neither knew they when they might expect any. So they began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better crop than they had done, that they might not still thus languish in misery. At length, after much debate of things, the Governor (with the advice of the chiefest amongst them) gave way that they should set corn every man for his own particular, and in that regard trust to themselves; in all other thing to go on in the general way as before. And so assigned to every family a parcel of land, according to the proportion of their number, for that end, only for present use (but made no division for inheritance) and ranged all boys and youth under some family. This had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any means the Governor or any other could use, and saved him a great deal of trouble, and gave far better content. The women now went willingly into the field, and took their little ones with them to set corn; which before would allege weakness and inability; whom to have compelled would have been thought great tyranny and oppression.
The experience that was had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years and that amongst godly and sober men, may well evince the vanity of that conceit of Plato's and other ancients applauded by some of later times; and that the taking away of property and bringing in community into a commonwealth would make them happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God. For this community (so far as it was) was found to breed much confusion and discontent and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For the young men, that were most able and fit for labor and service, did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without any recompense. The strong, or man of parts, had no more in division of victuals and clothes than he that was weak and not able to do a quarter the other could; this was thought injustice. The aged and graver men to be ranked and equalized in labors and victuals, clothes etc., with the meaner and younger sort, thought it some indignity and disrespect unto them. And for men's wives to be commanded to do service for other men, as dressing their meat, washing their clothes, etc., they deemed it a kind of slavery, neither could many husbands well brook it. Upon the point all being to have alike, and all to do alike, they thought themselves in the like condition, and one as good as another; and so, if it did not cut off those relations that God hath set amongst men, yet it did at least much diminish and take off the mutual respects that should be preserved amongst them. And would have been worse if they had been men of another condition. Let none object this is men's corruption, and nothing to the course itself. I answer, seeing all men have this corruption in them, God in His wisdom saw another course fitter for them.

William Bradford: History of Plymouth Plantation, c. 1650

Plimoth Plantation

Here you will experience life as it was like in 1627 New England as well as what we think it means now from a 21st-century perspective. Plimoth Plantation is Plymouth as it was in the 17th century. It is a centuries-old Wampanoag homesite. It is townspeople speaking the poetic language of Shakespeare's England. It is the salty breeze blowing across a wooden ship's deck.
In the 1627 English Village, talk with costumed role players who portray the Plymouth colonists (popularly known as the "Pilgrims") going about their daily lives in this small, re-created coastal village. Discover a different perspective at the Wampanoag Homesite, where modern-day Native staff practice and preserve traditional skills and speak about the history and culture of the Wampanoag People.
On the Plymouth waterfront, walk aboard Mayflower II, a full-scale reproduction of the type of 17th-century sailing vessel that made the famous voyage in 1620. In the Crafts Center, watch our skilled modern-day artisans as they fashion the period furnishings and clothing used in the 1627 English Village. At the Nye Barn, learn about the museum's rare and heritage breed livestock and their importance to global conservation efforts.
We offer two new indoor exhibits this season. Flight Path: Plimoth Beach showcases the beautiful photography of renowned nature photographer Jim Fenton. Chosen to Lead gives an historical perspective on this year's Presidential elections. In addition, two of our popular indoor exhibits continue -- 13 Moons: A Seasonal Food Cycle and Thanksgiving: Memory, Myth and Meaning.
In all of these locations, our engaging staff, thorough attention to detail, and carefully reproduced environments ensure a fun and fascinating visit. In the fall, Plimoth Plantation also offers a variety of unforgettable dining experiences to celebrate the season. Join us for themed historical dinners or luncheons as well as a variety of Thanksgiving dining options. For a complete listing, and information about reservations, see our Dining page