grongar, Wikimedia Commons Who can resist biting into a freshly-baked cinnamon roll? Most of us love the scent of spices, such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger, as evidenced by the popularity of scented candles, room fresheners such as sprays and potpourri, and the aroma of comfort foods like spice cake, cinnamon rolls and other such things. Does anyone remember the once-popular craft of making pomanders? Those were the fragrant oranges studded with whole cloves all the

Cat Campbell/For The Madera Tribune Try a platter of fresh corn chile relleno tamales for your holiday meal. A lot of people stick with family traditions for holiday meals, but I am noticing a willingness to explore beyond, and perhaps add something new. You never know when something will be a big hit and become a new tradition. I think I am right about in the middle, as I like to do both. It is also interesting to check out foods and ingredients from various cultures. I admi

So, it seems the U.S. Treasury has finally done it. They have decided to stop making the penny. I am curious to know what this transition will do for those of us who like to pay cash for things. Will we get the correct change back? Will they round up or will they round down? Who will get the benefit of the rounding, the customer or the store? These are all important questions.  The news about the penny made me think about how valuable a penny can be. I remember a time, early

The poem ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, which first published in 1823, has contributed to the feelings and excitement over the Christmas season. The poem described a household who had prepared for Christmas Day, and had retired for the evening in anticipation of a visit from Saint Nicholas, better known to us now as Santa Claus. In the story, the time came when Santa arrived at the house. He landed on the roof with his sleigh and all his reindeer, then went down the chimne

As we at The Madera Tribune prepare for our final Special Section of the year, a magazine called “2025 Year in Review,” it made me review my own personal year and what happened during this year that I want to remember. It’s been a quick year. It seems like it was only about four months long, but here we are at almost the end of 2025.  This year I lost a very dear member of my family, the wife of one of my cousins. Glenda died suddenly just a couple of weeks before our family

Courtesy of Nick Salinas Madera County workers put the County emblem on the County of Madera Christmas Tree, which will be lit on Friday at 6 p.m., just before the annual Christmas Parade, which will begin at 7 p.m. Christmas nostalgia is the sentimental longing for past Christmas celebrations, often triggered by sights, sounds, and traditions. Often, we spend time and effort to create these conditions that we long for, only to be disappointed by the less-than-optimal result.

‘Tis the season for gaining weight. It starts before Thanksgiving and lasts until after the ball drops in New York on New Years Day. There are parties and dinners, and get-togethers with spreads of appetizers and desserts, chocolates, cheeses, breads, chips, wines, and other spirits, cakes, pies, potatoes, egg nog, and much more.  The list goes on, and depending on the culture of the gathering, it could be much more extensive than what I have just described. Many years ago, w

Thursday is Thanksgiving Day, a special day set aside for recognizing and giving thanks for all the many good things in our lives. It is by far my favorite holiday of the year. I have many fond memories of Thanksgiving Days during my life. As I was growing up in central Florida, my family always spent Thanksgiving at my Aunt Sybil and Uncle John’s house in Dade City, which was about 40 miles from where we lived. Aunt Sybil was one of my grandmother’s four sisters. Her husband