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The residents of 18 nursing homes throughout North Carolina got a special Valentine’s Day treat from Santa and Mrs. Claus. The Christmas-loving couple, also known as Jesse and Debbie Cann, celebrate every Valentine’s Day by gifting handmade blankets to warm the hearts (and laps) of isolated nursing home residents. The “Blankets & Blessings” ministry is one of many ministries run by the Canns (pictured above before COVID-19) through their non-profit organization, Santa & Friends....

It runs in the family! Kathie Lee Gifford’s daughter-in-law Erika continues to honor her husband Cody’s late father through their son Frankie. Most recently, Erika shared a photo of the seven month old dressed to match a photo of his namesake, former NFL star and broadcaster Frank Gifford, following the Giants’ Sunday night playoff win. “Big Frank —swipe—> Little Frankie,” she captioned an Instagram photo set Monday. “SO proud of Grandpa’s team....

We know, we know, you’re still not over the major cliffhanger of season one of Netflix’s Sweet Magnolias. Well, now that it’s officially been announced that the hit series will be back for a second season, we really can’t stop wondering what’s to come for the guys and gals of Serenity. For those of us who just need some clues already, you’re in luck. Sheryl J. Anderson, the show’s executive producer, recently sat down with Metro....

The Easter meal, like all holiday meals, is typically loaded with wonderfully rich dishes. Which is why you need a colorful and fresh salad to add a pop of brightness to the table and balance out the glazed ham, deviled eggs, yeast rolls, coconut cake, and all that other goodness. If you’re looking for a no-fail way to make the best spring salad, try my simple formula. The “recipe” is simply three ingredients tossed together with a tangy vinaigrette....

When you’ve got a hair routine nailed down, there are very few products that’ll make you stray away from what you know already works. This sentiment is amplified with curly hair. For me, it’s been a full-blown quest for a hair routine of which I’m still not completely sure. Curly hair – or my “lion’s mane” (as I like to refer to it), requires quite a few maintenance steps. First, you’ve got to nail down the perfect shampoo and conditioner combo....

North Carolina Chef, restaurant owner, writer, and TV personality Vivian Howard has made a very important plea: Stop putting aluminum foil on your potatoes when you bake them. The 2019 South’s Best Chef even once took to Instagram, saying, “if you swaddle your potatoes in foil, watch my stories & learn why potatoes are better baked in their birthday suits! #justthetipstuesdays” She explained why this culinary crime offends her just so very much—potatoes baked in foil “have soggy, tasteless skin....

Full disclosure, an old brick home painted white is an attractive look for a house. A fresh coat of white paint can immediately impact a house lacking any real character. There is a reason so many of us subscribe to this transformative practice. “White is a classic and safe color,” admits the Charleston-based designer Jill Howard. “It makes perfect sense that people would gravitate toward this idea. People have been painting outdated brick houses white for years....

The term Christmas spread conjures up visions of a holiday table covered with beautiful dishes and delicious things to eat. Unfortunately, there are times when the term spread also applies to your sugar cookies. This is when you take the time to make and shape them, but they spread out into unrecognizable blobs in the oven. While they’re still edible, they aren’t nearly as fun or visually appealing. Worst of all, there’s really no way to fix them after the cookies are baked....

Step aside murder hornets, there’s a new nightmare insect in town. Because the world isn’t zany enough already, CBS News reports that “zombie cicadas" have reemerged in West Virginia. “Zombie cicadas” are cicadas under the influence of the parasitic fungus called Massospora which contains chemicals like psilocybin, found in hallucinogenic mushrooms. Though harmless to humans, the fungus manipulates the insects into infecting other cicadas with the pathogen that eats away at their mind and body....

Some of our cooking habits in the South can certainly be considered unique compared to the ways of other regions. It’s not just anyone who will whisk a roux until their wrists ache, or grate frozen butter for biscuit dough, or put baking soda in a pitcher of sweet tea. (If you know, you know.) However, some dishes transcend place and time as everyday classics, such as eggs at breakfast time....

If you thought that living out your golden years by the sea wasn’t possible on a budget, think again. According to the Census Bureau, the average over-65 household in America requires $49,000 a year to cover everything from housing to food. While that might rule out a comfortable life in expensive beach towns like Naples, Florida, and Hilton Head, South Carolina, that doesn’t mean life by the ocean is out of reach for the average retiree....

There’s nothing worse than opening the oven to find freshly charred cookies. That’s especially true you’ve got a weekend’s worth of bake sale prep in your sights. Sure, you might blame it on a new recipe or that temperamental old oven, but consistently burnt baked goods is a culinary crisis worth investigating. If you’ve double-checked your cooking time, temperature, and cookie recipe but are still stumped by burnt batches, don’t be disheartened....

When you plan a vacation to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, you’ve probably got a handful of things on your to-do list ranging from a 5:00 a.m. wake-up call to looking for elk bugling to visiting the observation tower at the top of Clingmans Dome. Now, one of the park’s most popular tourist attractions, Cades Cove, in Eastern Tennessee, is being closed to all vehicles for repairs, per an announcement from the National Park Service (NPS)....

“I put ‘Great Is Thy Faithfulness’ kind of in the same realm as ‘How Great Thou Art.’ It’s another song that’s vocally big though it didn’t start out that way. I love the build in the song,” said Underwood from the recording studio. “Again, the lyrics. It’s like ‘God, you are so good to me. I woke up today. I’m still breathing. I’m still walking. I’m still singing. I still get to see my kids....

Polly Sheppard is one of the five survivors of the Mother Emanuel AME Church shooting that claimed the lives of nine innocent people on June 17, 2015, in Charleston, South Carolina. Since the tragedy, Sheppard has become an activist and public speaker, participating in numerous local and national projects, sharing her message of forgiveness, and using her time to do good. “So much hate. Too much,” she told the audience at the 2016 Democratic National Convention....

Oh, you know, just another day at the office for country singer extraordinaire, Dolly Parton. For a host of lucky YouTubers, a day they will for sure never forget. In a recent episode of Glamour’s video series, “You Sang My Song” in which musicians watch impressive cover renditions of their top songs on YouTube and share their reactions, the outlet recruited none other than the Smoky Mountain Songbird to step into the hot seat....

From pumpkin spice lattes to haunted houses, autumn is good for a lot of things. And, according to one study, it’s also an excellent time to be born. The study, published in the Journal of Aging Research in 2011, found that the month a person is born in has “significant long-lasting effect on survival to age 100.” In it, researchers from the University of Chicago compared data on 1,500 centenarians born in the US between 1880 and 1895 with their shorter-lived siblings or spouses....

The swim team at Monteverde Academy in Monteverde, Florida welcomed a new but temporary member to their squad the other week. A three-foot-long alligator snuck into their pool before practice on March 10, 2022 but he didn’t get to stick around for time trials. Though he had a great tryout and certainly showed promise, school officials ultimately decided the little guy just wasn’t the right fit for the team and called on the Lake County Sherriff’s Office to break the news....

This holiday season, for the first time since 1861, Santa Claus won’t be visiting any Macy’s stores. After 159 years of Santa meet-and-greets, concerns about the coronavirus pandemic have put the cherished tradition on hold. Instead, Macy’s Santaland will be transformed into an interactive, virtual experience for families to enjoy from the safety of their homes. “At Macy’s, the safety of our customers and colleagues is paramount. To replicate the magical experience of visiting Macy’s Santaland for children and their families, we will shift to a virtual engagement this year,” Susan Tercero, Macy’s vice president of branded entertainment, said in a news release....

A new romance centered on a lead character with Down syndrome is headed to Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. According to a news release, Color My World With Love will break barriers with the story of a woman named Kendall (Lily D. Moore), a talented artist with Down syndrome who creates beautiful paintings in the Impressionist style that reflect the reality of her subjects as she sees them. Kendall’s life takes an exciting turn when she meets Brad (David DeSanctis) in a cooking class at the local center for diverse learners....