Christmas

Here in Boise, one woman is helping to spread holiday cheer by painting windows.

Holidays are fun, but they can also be stressful. Counselor Laurie Strand joins Idaho Matters to give us a little advice on how to handle that stress.

Julia Tai is one of the most dynamic young conductors on stages across the planet, conducting in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Mexico and here in the Northwest. This season, she'll be conducting the Boise Philharmonic's holiday performances of Messiah, the 281-year-old oratorio penned by George Frideric Handel.

Yes, you can make the holidays a bit greener … beginning with selecting an organic Christmas tree. In a recent interview with NPR’s Here and Now, Dawn Gifford, author of “Sustainability begins at Home” said more consumers are looking to reduce their eco-footprint.

The holiday fruitcake has been the butt of jokes for decades. But one professor in the Mountain West wants to clear its name.

Celebrating the holiday on television is as old as television itself. During TV’s so-called "golden age,” there wasn’t a single evening without at least one big variety show on the tube. And when it came to Christmas episodes, the series pulled out all the stops.

James Beard Foundation Award-winner and owner of the gone-but-fondly-remembered Doughty’s Restaurant, Joyce Doughty has spent the past several years sharing her gastronomical secrets with home cooks through her bestselling cookbooks. Her latest, "The Chef Within," includes a bit of everything.

It started 15 years ago – a few dozen refugee children came, many of them walking, to the Boise Bicycle Project. But they pedaled home with what likely became their first and best gift in their new home – a bicycle for the holidays. This year’s BBP Holiday Bicycle Giveaway will make 500 dreams come true.

Maybe the supply chain crisis has nudged artificial tree customers toward getting a live Christmas tree this year. Maybe more families are emerging from a horrible, pandemic-driven year to a more traditional holiday. Or maybe it’s just that amazing evergreen smell.

The so-called "Christmas Truce of 1914" is nearly mythological. But indeed, on Christmas Day, 1914 a German soldier stepped out into what was known as “No Man’s Land,” the narrow patch of battlefield between the many trenches, holding opposing troops, and began to sign “Stille Nacht (Silent Night).”