December 2025 Newsletter

Announcements

The Library will be closed on Wednesday and Thursday, December 24^th and 25^th for the Christmas Holiday and also Wednesday and Thursday, December 31^st and January 1^st for the New Year's Holiday. Warmest holiday wishes to you all!

It’s that time of year again when we talk about that word people either love or loathe: SNOW! In the event that we have to close due to inclement weather, we will post on Facebook as well as the local news channels. Don’t forget—we have LL Bean snowshoes to lend out.

We are having a holiday pop-up shop downstairs in the community room from Monday, December 1^st through Saturday, December 6^th. All proceeds benefit the library.

Please join us on Thursday, December 11^th from 11am to 3pm in the Williams Reading Room for our Annual Holiday Tea. Our halls will be decked with boughs of holly and we will be serving tea, cookies, and cheer! Thank you to those who have volunteered to bake cookies, they are so appreciated!

From the Staff

2025 has been a big year! Dawn has welcomed her first grandbaby, and is even more semi-retired. We have welcomed Bob to our staff, who decided he didn’t want to completely retire from library world just yet. Lesley earned her Master’s degree! We have tried out several new programs, some of which were a great success like Christina Baker Kline, who came to Springvale in September.

We hope you all had something wonderful happen in 2025 and that there’s even more to look forward to in 2026. Sheila is getting ready to Bundle Up and Read with the kids, and Sam and Kaity are gearing up for some serious planning of the summer reading program. Dawn may be semi-retired, but she’s still in charge of the music series and Lesley’s Music After Hours was so good we can’t wait for summer!

Happy Holidays!

Children's Programs

Weekly Programs

Mondays (12/1 & 12/8)

Baby Rhyme Time at 10am & 11am. Babies under 3 and their grown-ups meet together with Miss Sheila for 20 minutes of rhymes, fingerplays, songs, movement, and board books.

Lego Builders Club at 3:30pm in the Children’s Room. We provide the Legos and the challenge. Your creations will be on display for the whole week!

Thursdays (12/4 & 12/11)

Sensory Story Time at 10am for ages 3-6 incorporates a visual schedule and sensory activities to support neurodiversity.

Monthly Programs

Homeschool Meet-Up takes a break for the month of December. See you in the new year!

Make-it/Take-it Craft on Wednesday, December 10^th come by the Children's Room any time between 2-5pm to make your jingle reindeer!

Special Program

Santa and Mrs. Claus are visiting the Springvale Library on Sunday, December 14th from 9am-11am in the Children's Room! Come dressed in your holiday best for a photo with Santa. Remember to bring your wish list! All donations support the library.

Some Fun Holiday Facts!

Holiday cards started being sent out in 1843. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer first appeared in 1939 as an advertisement for a department store to draw in customers. We call him Santa Claus, but in France he's Pére Nöel, in Italy Babbo Natale, in Russia Ded Moroz, and in Hungary he's Mikulás- WOW!

Adult Programs

Weekly Programs

Knit Lits meets on Tuesdays from 3:00-4:30pm in the Williams Reading Room. All fiber artists are welcome.

Cribbage meets on Tuesdays from 1:00-3:00pm in the Williams Reading Room. Everyone who wants to play is invited to join!

The Dulcimer Group meets on Tuesdays from 5:45-6:45pm and is open to new and beginner players and singers. They play and sing hymns and traditional folk songs on Mountain Dulcimers in a simple style.

*NEW!* Weekly Game Night meets on Wednesdays at 5:00pm in the Williams Reading Room. Bring a game and make new friends!

Monthly Programs

Cook the Book meets on the second Tuesday of the month at 5:30. The group will be meeting on December 9^th to share holiday appetizers! (This program is currently full. Please call or visit the library to be added to the waitlist.)

Sam’s Book Club meets on the first Wednesday of each month at 5:30pm in the community room. On Wednesday, December 3^rd we will be discussing Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand.

*NEW!* Writer's Group meets on the first and third Thursdays of the month in the Williams Reading Room. Join them for an hour of creative writing on Thursday, December 4^th and 18^th at 11:00am. The newly formed group is welcoming new members. Bring along some thoughts or ideas to share- prompts will be provided should you want them.

Staff Picks: Favorite Reads of 2025!

Sam's Picks

The Women of Wild Hill by Kirsten Miller
Home of the American Circus by Allison Larkin
The Mad Wife by Megan Church

Dawn's Picks

The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb
Buckeye by Patrick Ryan
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Kaity's Picks

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
Everyone I Kissed Since You Got Famous by Mae Marvel
This Princess Kills Monsters by Ry Herman
Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher

Sheila's Pick

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Lesley's Picks

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
The English Masterpiece by Katherine Reay
Penitence by Kristin Koval

Spice of the Month

The December Spice of the Month is... flaky sea salt! This is no ordinary salt, flaky salt is brittle and delicate, often used to finish dishes. There are several types of flaky sea salt, however Sam’s favorite, and what the spice library has, is Maldon flaky sea salt. Come by and pick up the cookie recipe that highlights this fantastic salt! I bet Santa likes these cookies!

Save the Date

1/1 Closed
1/5 Bundle Up and Read Begins!
1/7 Sam’s Book Club
1/13 Cook the Book
1/19 Closed for MLK Day
1/31 The Librarians Film Screening

Some New Fiction Titles

People Like Us by Jason Mott
Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson
You Belong Here by Megan Miranda
She Didn’t See it Coming by Shari Lapena
Jenny Cooper Has a Secret by Joy Fielding
My Other Heart by Emma Nanami Strenner
Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston
We are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter
For Richer For Poorer by Danielle Steel
Too Old for This by Samantha Downing
Loved One by Aisha Muharrar
The Incredible Kindness of Paper by Evelyn Skye
The Society of Unknowable Objects by Gareth Brown
The Lost Baker of Vienna by Shannon Kurtzman
The End of the World as We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand
For Duck’s Sake by Donna Andrews
When Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén
King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby
The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen
The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepard- Robinson
Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham
Tomlinson’s Wake by Randy Wayne White
Mean Moms by Emma Rosenblum
The Break-In by Katherine Faulkner
The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso
The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith
Apostle’s Cove by William Kent Krueger
Billion Dollar Ransom by James Patterson
Buckeye by Patrick Ryan
The Kaboom Boys by Elaine Hume Peake
Last Light Over Galveston by Jennifer L. Wright
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
Still Water by Tanya Scott

Some New Non-Fiction Titles

We Should All Be Birds by Brian Buckbee
The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces by Seth Harp
This Happened to Me by Kate Price
By The Second Spring: Seven Lives and One Year of the War in Ukraine by Danielle Leavitt
Rope: How a Bundle of Twisted Fibers Became the Backbone of Civilization by Tim Queeney
All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation by Elizabeth Gilbert
Hunger Like a Thirst: From Food Stamps to Fine Dining, a Restaurant Critic Finds Her Place at the Table by Besha Rodell
History Matters by David McCullough
No Ordinary Bird: Drug Smuggling, a Plane Crash, and a Daughter’s Quest for the Truth by Artis Henderson

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