Kids Send Over 400 Letters to Santa
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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Santa and his elves must be very busy this week fulfilling gift requests. The Scarsdale Recreation Department’s call for “Letters to Santa” yielded 400 letters. Recreation Supervisor Kevin Blanden explained that the department read and mailed responses to 300 of these letters, where a return address was supplied. Given that the deadline for the letters was December 11 and we met Blanden on December 18, that’s impressive!
The letters included drawings, colorful ink, stickers and glitter and a wonderful display of creativity and talent. The writers were not limited to Scarsdale residents, and came from far and wide, including the Bronx, Yonkers and Beford.
What did the kids request –- and why did they think they were worthy?
Many of the writers reported that they had been good, in fact very, very good. One even listed her accomplishments, including not getting into fights every day with her sister, improving her handwriting, reading thicker book and even improving her executive function!”
Many of the kids asked after Mrs. Clause and the elves and offered to “leave some milk and cookies for Santa and “carets” for the “raindeers.” One child asked Santa to leave a photo of him and Mrs. Clause on his bed.
Another asked, “Can you get something for my dog?” One child even asked for a golden retriever.
Before a long list of requests, one wrote, “Please, Please, Please.”
One writer went beyond asking for gifts for herself and outlined what she planned to give to her parents, sister and grandparents, who were arriving for 16 days. She finished with, “I lov Christmas Day.”
What were some of the gift requests? Here is a list of some popular items, in no particular order:
A baby brother
Squishmallows
Plushies
Stuffed penguin
Stuffed shark
A “unikorn” pillow
Elsa dolls
A doll with a pretty pink dress
Barbie and Barbie Dream House
Rapunzel
Lego of all kinds
Pokemon cards
Play station 5
Nintendo Switch with Fortnight
Lots of LED lights
An Apple watch
iPad
a race track
ear buds
3D pen
20”bike
Gizzmo watch
A hover board
A vending machine
Hess truck
Water bottle
A bean bag chair
A microscope kit
Toy snake
Kitten sticker book
A kitchen and food
Ulta mini brands
Swifty Pack
Ultimate make-up kit
Happy shopping everyone and merry, merry to the children of Scarsdale.
15 Great Books on the Gift List at Bronx River Books
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- Written by Mark Fowler
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A book is a holiday gift you can open again and again. Jessica Kaplan and Mark Fowler, owners of the local independent bookstore, Bronx River Books at 37 Spencer Place in Scarsdale Village, recommend these season’s readings:
Percival Everett is surely having his moment. Last year’s Academy-Award-nominated film American Fiction was based on Everett’s novel Erasure. And this year, James, his satirical and terrifying response to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, will deservedly make many 10 Best lists. It’s eminently readable and worthy of discussion – the perfect book group choice.
Doris Kearns Goodwin’s An Unfinished Love Story revisits the memorable events in the Kennedy, Nixon, and LBJ years, as the much-admired historian recounts her husband’s and her own “we-were-there” stories. Those who avoid history because they fear it may be too dry should make a point of reading this vivid account of the 1960s.
Easily the buzziest novel of the year is All Fours by Miranda July, a droll, explicit, adulterous romp about midlife reinvention. The protagonist, a quirky “semi-famous” artist, plans a cross-country LA-to-NYC road trip, which abruptly ends in a nondescript motel room in a Southern California suburb just a few miles from her point of departure, where she pursues sexual and creative freedom. The prim and proper reader should beware.
Another funny, shocking novel is Rufi Thorpe’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles. Here, too, some readers may be put off by Margo’s occupation (a single mother supporting her baby as an OnlyFans performer), but it’s a book with a good heart and, interestingly, a strong moral compass. Highly praised by the authors Kevin Wilson and Nick Hornby.
The football team at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside, a state-run school with only 168 high school students, had endured 51 losing seasons. But suddenly, with a new coach in 2021, it was having an undefeated season. The Boys of Riverside: A Deaf Football Team and a Quest for Glory, by Thomas Fuller, dramatically explores “the mechanics and the mysteries of successful teamwork.” A GOAT nonfiction sports book.
Cornelia Funke, the terrific author of three middle school fantasies that began with Inkheart (2005), has finally written a fourth book, an addition to her trilogy, that is well worth the wait. The New York Times calls Inkworld The Color of Revenge “beguiling” and the Kirkus Review says its “a true feast for anyone who has ever been lost in a book.” Her earlier books, Thief Lord and The Dragon Rider series, are delicious as well.
Although Robert Munsch’s classic picture book, The Paper Bag Princess, for children ages four to seven, is not a new tale, its women’s liberationist message remains as important today as it was in 1980, when it was first published: Smart, strong, determined girls can rely on themselves and don’t need saving.
In Leaving, Roxana Robinson writes poignantly about college lovers who reunite decades after marriages to others, families, and careers. A mature, hauntingly memorable novel.
Perhaps 2024’s most discussed and most controversial book on public policy is The Anxious Generation by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt (the co-author of the equally controversial 2018 book The Coddling of the American Mind). Haidt explores the causes of the rising rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide among adolescents, focusing on the decline of play-based childhood and the rise of social media. A must read for parents.
For the reader who is all business, there is the Atlas of Finance, by Dariusz Wojcik, which explicates everything from the emergence of money to today’s high-frequency trading and cryptocurrency with scores of stunning graphics and maps.
House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng is a transporting novel set in colonial Malaysia and South Africa, an exotic tale of love, betrayal, revolution, and redemption. Read it together with the short story "Rain" by Somerset Maugham, who is a character in House of Doors.
At last Americans are discovering Katherine Rundell, the renowned British scholar and writer of children’s literature, that The Washington Post has called “this generation’s Tolkien.” Her new fantasy novel Impossible Creatures is great, but her earlier book for young readers, Rooftoppers may be even better. Rundell is astonishingly multi-talented, also writing adult non-fiction, such as the superb biography of the poet John Donne, Super-Infinite, and this year’s Vanishing Treasures a beautifully written homage to the world’s most extraordinary animals.
Do not read Liz Moore’s thriller God of the Woods while your kids are at 
summer camp. In Chapter 1, 13-year-old Barbara Van Laar goes missing, and she is not the first child in her family to vanish from her camp in upstate New York. This story will keep you on tenterhooks.
Finally, The Ministry of Time, by Kaliane Bradly, blends history, romance, and sci-fi. A time-travel story with a satisfying twist at the end. And it’s funny: shortlisted for the P.G. Wodehouse award for the year’s best work of comic fiction.
ODO: The Cuisine of Abruzzo in Tuckahoe
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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When I ventured south this weekend and found an inviting storefront restaurant in Tuckahoe I wondered why I hadn’t heard about it earlier. Was it new? Apparently it had opened three years ago and escaped my notice. Well better late than never! We were pleased to find friendly service, the freshest ingredients and home cooking at ODO, an innovative and young offering to the dining scene in lower Westchester.
We booked a table at 6:45 on a Saturday and felt lucky to score one of the last tables for the earlier dinner seating. The restaurant is not large but in addition to tables has ample seating at the bar, where many were enjoying their meals.
Our helpful, informed and welcoming server arrived speedily with our menus and provided a road map to ordering off the staged menu.
But first, drinks! There’s a nice variety of Italian red and white wines along with “bubbly “Frizzantes” and “Birras.” You can order the wine by the glass or by the bottle and they are happy to let you taste first. We considered Trebbiano and Gavi from the “Bianco” list and also noted the Montelpuciano Riserva, Nero D’Avola and a Super Tuscan from the “Rossos,” Also on the menu are 10 original cocktails that were really tempting.
The menu is divided into “Sputino” (light snacks), Starters, Pastas and Mains. Our waiter strongly recommended the Scarpetta, telling us it was house baked focaccia accompanied by a dipping sauce made with cream, butter, garlic, shallots, anchovies, capers and white wine. He claimed it pretty much starts the meal at every table. It was a good tip, and it proved hard not to fill up on the warm, crusty bread before the dinner arrived.
From the list of salads, we ordered the Bodega Salad, which is thinly sliced iceberg lettuce mixed with finely sliced prosciutto cotto and pecorino cheese in a creamy dressing. We recommend you split the generous portion with your companions.
There are five pasta selections on the menu and there were a bunch of specials as well. We had a hard time deciding between the Ragu Abruzzese, which is pasta in a tomato sauce with lamb, beef and pork and the Timballo, a lasagna made with crepes rather than pasta sheets. This weekend there were a variety of gnocchi preparations and we went for a house made gnocchi with tomato sauce and parmesan.
From the main courses, the Pollo Di Casa was a sumptuous roast chicken, again served with a white sauce and there was a cod special served over sauteed vegetables that looked delicious as well.
What came through in every dish was the fresh preparation in the open kitchen we could see behind the bar – and the artisanal ingredients.
The open floor plan, high ceilings and candlelight made it feel like you had stopped by a good friend’s place for dinner and we will be visiting again soon.
ODO
72 Main Street
Tuckahoe, NY
914-222-9248
Open:
Tuesday - Thursday 5 PM - 10 PM
Friday - Saturday 5 PM - 11 PM
Sunday 2 PM - 7 PM
Check them out on Instagram and book your table on Resy.
Scarsdale’s Women Suffragists Immortalized in New Film Premiering December 16th
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The Scarsdale Historical Society will premiere its newest documentary, Women Rising: The Scarsdale Suffragists, in partnership with the Scarsdale Public Library on Monday, December 16th at 6:15 PM and 7:30 PM in the Scott Room of the library. This half-hour film tells the little-known story of the courageous women behind the suffrage movement in Scarsdale and how their work shaped the community.
Women Rising features trailblazers like Florence Bethell who lectured, wrote, marched and lobbied for womens’ right to vote - at a village, state and national level. In the face of apathetic and sometimes hostile attitudes toward woman suffrage, the women used creative approaches to educate Scarsdale women on suffrage - from porch parties to suffrage dances.
Their cause was closely tied to service projects that left a lasting legacy on this village. Not only did they publish the Scarsdale Inquirer newspaper, but the women initiated many of Scarsdale’s most important civic and arts programs. Among the organizations the suffragists and committees of the Woman's Club sparked or expanded are the Scarsdale League of Women's Voters, the Visiting Nurse Services, the Scarsdale Foundation, the Scarsdale Ambulance Corp, Scarsdale Edgemont Family Counseling Services, the Girl Scouts, the Wayside Players, the Scarsdale Women's Exchange and the Scarsdale Art Association.
Women Rising is narrated by trustee and Associate Scarsdale Village Historian historian Leslie Chang and includes interviews with Barbara Davis, Director of the Westchester County Historical Society, Linda Leavitt, former Editor of the Scarsdale Inquirer, Scarsdale Public Library Local History Librarian, Daniel Glauber, and Nancy Horrigan, Archivist for the Scarsdale Woman’s Club. The film is written and directed by Lesley Topping and produced by the Scarsdale Historical Society.
Prior to making this film, very little was known about Bethell and her circle of like-minded friends, except for newspaper articles. “The Village archives had very few records and photos of the women, so Leslie Chang tracked down the women’s descendants all over the country; from California, to Mississippi to Martha’s Vineyard,” stated filmmaker Lesley Topping. “Thanks to the women’s descendants, Dan Glauber, and all of the film’s participants, the film unearths and preserves many untold stories and unseen photos.”
“Women Rising captures the spirit, bravery and resilience of the Scarsdale Suffragists,” stated Randy Guggenheimer, President of the Scarsdale Historical Society. “Their crusade was a pivotal step in the continued battle for equal women’s rights and suffrage.”
Following the screening there will be a Q&A with the film’s participants. Admission to the film is free. The event is co-sponsored by the Scarsdale Historical Society and the Scarsdale Public Library. The entire collection of the organization’s films can be viewed here.
The public can register for the premiere at: https://bit.ly/women-rising-scarsdale
About the Scarsdale Historical Society
The Scarsdale Historical Society exists to discover, preserve and disseminate historical information, as well as inspire others to learn about and contribute to the history of Scarsdale and the Central Mid-Westchester Region. The Scarsdale Historical Society accepts grant applications for projects that meet its mission, particularly those that will inspire others to learn about the history of Scarsdale and the surrounding communities. Learn more at www.scarsdalehistoricalsociety.org.
About the Library
The mission of the Scarsdale Public Library is to encourage the joy of reading, the exploration of ideas, and the pursuit of lifelong learning for the children and adults of our community. To learn more about the Library and the latest program and services available, visit scarsdalelibrary.org.
Halloween Splendor at SHS
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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As the sun rose over Brewster Road, a parade of leprechauns, smurfs, superheroes, palace guards, Super Mario Brothers, ballerinas, Marge Simpsons, monkeys, Teletubbies, Orphan Annies and the cast of Breaking Bad emerged from the parking lot. What was the reason for these character’s visits to the school?
Halloween of course. It was the annual Halloween breakfast for the senior class of 2025 on October 31, 2024 and it looked like everyone, including the staff, was in on the fun.
There were large groups of colorful crayons, cops, detectives, farmers and wizards along with groups of individual characters dressed as the characters of Alice in Wonderland and other popular stories and shows.
The spectacular warm weather was the perfect backdrop for the resplendent display.
Check out these photos of the Class of 2025 on parade.
And see the staff too:
And if you don’t see yours, send it to us at scarsdalecomments@gmail.com to include in our gallery.
