Every time I think about the Patch Deck the Halls contest, I hear a line from an old lottery commercial in my head - "you've got to play to win." That about sums up the Patch Deck the Halls contest. All you have to do is play. And, playing is pretty easy. Click this link and upload a photo of your home all decked out for the holidays. Once you do that, you have a shot at winning $500 toward your electric bill or $100,000 for East Penn School District. At the time of this writing, Emmaus Patch has NO ENTRIES in the contest. That has to change, which means I NEED YOUR HELP. Tell me who you …

Main Road East near Mystic Chain Park in my opinion is normally one of the more picturesque areas of Main Road East…it’s quite close to the section of Vera Cruz that I have been known to jokingly refer to as Emmaus Patch HQ and a stone’s throw from the place that my family and I call home. On Sunday night, that area of Main Road earned the dubious distinction of being the first (and hopefully only) failure within the Vera Cruz Sewer Project. Had you been driving through the area Sunday night as Patch columnist Jenae Holtzhafer had been, you would have been treated to all the sights and sounds…

The fact that taking some time to think about the good things in your life can lead to improved mental and emotional health is not a new idea. Nor is the concept rocket science.  Self-help gurus have been advocating it in one form or another for decades. Even TV personality Oprah Winfrey, in the 1980s during the heyday of the Oprah Winfrey Show, touted “gratitude journals” as a key step on the path to a more fulfilled life. We all know we should be doing this. And most of us, as we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of every our daily lives, completely forget to be thankful for the people…

The Second Annual Pokemon/Beyblade Party, held on Saturday to benefit Autism Speaks, made me proud to be an "Emmaus-ian." Organized by Lower Macungie Middle School teacher Alice Boulrice, the event was moved to St. Margaret's Church this year because last year's innaugural party all but busted out of its quarters in the Emmaus Public Library. I really got to know Alice as she was pulling together last year's event. We are both "Lincoln" moms and we were crossing paths weekly at one of the wonderful nighttime story sessions for elementary school children offered by the Emmaus library last year…

Kindergarten registration begins on Monday. Families with children who are five years old or will be five on or before Sept. 12, can get more information about registration on the district’s Web site. (I will be one of those wet-eyed mums standing in line at an East Penn elementary school next week, preparing my “baby” for the next phase of life.”) It’s also registration time at most of the preschools in the area and there are a lot of great options out there. Places like Emmaus Moravian Church, St. John’s and The Village School all offer preschool programs for little ones. And, I have heard …

It’s not yet Jan. 6 yet, but I have already had an epiphany of sorts this Christmas. Being cheap can be liberating. I am a mom of two young boys. We live in an old farmhouse with a creek on the property. We have a mid-sized long-haired dog. That means lots of things are pretty much standard in my life. Mud. Constant trips to the grocery store. And doing things, in spite of the best of intentions, at the last minute. My epiphany came, believe it or not, while wrapping a holiday gift for my son’s school bus driver. Getting the gift wasn’t a last minute thing – we actually made her chocolate-…

I can still remember the day I drove by the two-story white farmhouse in Vera Cruz with the for sale sign in front. It was late spring and there were flowers in bloom everywhere. “Wow,” I thought, “That place looks like paradise.” I was on my way to work, and running late as usual, so I kept driving. One the way home, I looked a bit more. Oh my! There’s a creek next to the house. And a barn…and that cute little building must have been an outhouse. And, the trees…look at those BIG beautiful maple trees. Fast-forward about three years. Past summers of muddy children frolicking in that creek. …