Good morning, and welcome to the weekend.
Grab your cup of coffee or tea, and sit down with a selection of this week’s great reads from The Globe. In the spirit of holidays past and present, this issue also includes some of our favourite stories from 2023.
In this issue, Ukrainians mark the national effort to “renounce Russian heritage” for Christmas; Madeleine White digitizes her grandmother’s recipes to commemorate her memory; and Jason Kirby tells the economic tale of the holiday season.
A note to readers: The Great Reads newsletter will be taking a break for the festive season, but we’ll be back in your inbox on January 6. Happy holidays!
In Ukraine, Christmas lights defy darkness of war amid prayers for peace and victory
A priest walks through the courtyard of St. Michael's Cathedral in Kyiv on St. Nicholas Day on Dec. 6, 2023.Olga Ivashchenko/The Globe and Mail
As Russia’s invasion continues, Ukrainians are preparing to observe their second wartime Christmas. Traditionally, Ukrainians celebrate the holiday on Jan. 7. But, as part of what President Volodymyr Zelensky has called a national effort to “renounce Russian heritage,” for the first time, almost all Ukrainian Christians will mark Christmas on Dec. 25.
Ingredients of my Franco-Ontario history: butter, sugar and my mémère
Madeleine 'Maddie' White as a newborn, beside Mémère’s muffins, on their way to the Second Cup cafes in Sudbury, Ontario.Supplied
Maddie White has loving memories of her grandmother – or Mémère, as she’s called in French-Canadian culture – baking in the kitchen with her apron on when she was a child. The warm air smelled of cinnamon and the perfectly browned muffins speckled with tiny orange bits were lined up on the table. Each one was so big, White was pretty sure they were the size of her five-year-old head. White’s Mémère, Velma Bois, died in 2004. In hopes of preserving her memory, the White family is turning her recipes into a digitized cookbook.
Want more holiday foods and drinks?
- Can a big turkey dinner be low-stress? Plus: a recipe for turkey pot pie
- Three enjoyable cream liqueurs to try this winter
- No. More. Turkey. I’ve had it with cooking the big bird
How much will Christmas cost in 2023? Eight charts tell the economic tale
Illustration by Drew Shannon
‘Tis the season to contribute to the global multi-billion dollar Christmas economy, stress over gifts, tangle with decorations, and grit one’s teeth through dinners with extended family. From the impact of inflation on Christmas dinner to monthly retail sales to how many Canadian trees get sent to the rest of the world, Jason Kirby tells the economic tale of the holiday season – by the numbers.
These beans might someday save us from a giant problem. Good thing someone saved them first
Blue Jay bean seeds are photographed in Mill Bay, B.C., on Saturday, April 29, 2023.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Globe and Mail
Blue Jay beans had all but disappeared from Canadian gardens, until a seed saver and her grassroots network revived it. Their success illustrates how to save plants that might someday save us.
A hockey game where hearing is believing
Chaz Misuraca moves the puck forward during the Carnegie Cup Elite Blind Hockey Series, in Toronto, Jan. 20, 2023.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
Globe sports reporter Rachel Brady headed to Toronto’s Mattamy Athletic Centre for a hockey game played by blind or partially-sighted people. As an oversized hollow metal puck glides across the ice, she listens as the ball bearings inside jangle, making a cowbell-like noise. As a viewer – and sometimes-participant, although she is fully sighted – Brady reports from a showcase event with the world’s best, where everyone has 10-per-cent vision or less, and the goalies are completely blind.
Wiggly, jiggly goodness: Why gelatin is making its way back onto our plates
A group of marbled jellies.Caroline Tremlett @adventuresinj/Supplied
Gelatin, a.k.a. Jell-O, has been inspiring awe and delight amongst taste-buds for centuries, and can be found in recipes dating back to medieval Europe. Up through the 19th century, towers of jellies on the table were an indicator not just of taste, but of class: only the wealthiest families (with plenty of staff) could afford to undertake the laborious process of making it, which requires hours of boiling animal bones to render collagen, then clarifying. Hundreds of years later, Jell-O is as popular ever – and is even having a heyday. Fiorella Valdesolo writes about the craze.
Travis McEnery, a machinist who is creating science-based YouTube videos about spiders, uses a magnifying glass to view a yellow sac spider, Cheiracanthium mildei, in his home in Coldbrook, N.S. on Feb. 22, 2023.DARREN CALABRESE/The Globe and Mail
If you live in Canada, you’ve likely witnessed a spider dozing in a ceiling corner somewhere. This might be unsettling, because if social media has the story right, spiders are malevolent, venomous creatures prowling around your bedroom, waiting to crawl into your open mouth while you sleep. But, what you think you know about spiders is (probably) wrong. YouTuber Travis McEnery and Catherine Scott, a McGill University arachnologist, are joining forces to clear up the web of lies.
The science of boosting your creativity
Creativity isn’t something that strikes out of nowhere. You have to put in the work to achieve it, experts say.KAREN TORO/Reuters
Creativity can seem elusive, and many people assume the best ideas only come to geniuses and people with special minds. As Wency Leung explores, that is a common misconception, and inventiveness can be cultivated. Travel and meditation are proved to better foster creativity. Being exposed to new perspectives and keeping an open and calm mind can broaden your horizons. Another key element is process and practice; consistently sticking to a methodical approach to problem-solving is shown to enhance creativity, according to recent scientific research.
Bonus quiz