In honor of The Princess and the Frog today, our Saturday Smackdown features two classic princesses that have inspired generations of girls for more than half a century each. Arguably, since both are based on classic fairytales that are centuries older than their animated counterparts, their influence is considerable on classic and modern romantic literature. Fairy Tales The beauty of a fairy tale is the transcendence from everyday life to a magical place or time where happily ever after is not only possible, it is required. As a culture, we love fairy tales; we love the idea of the underdog triumphing, of true love’s first kiss and of love at first sight. We believe in men who will slay dragons to be with the one they love and of men who see beyond the shallow and innocuous to the true beauty that is within. You will find all of these qualities in our two superb fairy tale contenders. However, it is up to you to choose which one is the better. One lucky commentator will win a $10 gift certificate to Amazon next Saturday just in time for that last minute shopping! Click here to read more and see how…

Our book club has an annual Holiday tea. It’s a great time and usually very memorable. Some of our members come to every activity and some come to most and some to just a few a year so the Holiday Tea is when we get to see all our friends. And we have fun. Our monthly teas take place in public establishments but our holiday tea is usually in one of our homes. We’ve toyed with having it in a public place — less stress on the hostess — but it always is better for us to have it in a home. We get noisy and happy. The tea breaks down into four distinct parts: the tea, the checking out of the “goodies” or the door prizes, the book swap, and the White Elephant exchange. When it’s at my house my daughter is in charge of the food. She sets the menu, makes the stuff and does all the fretting. She’s getting very good at this, maybe not as fancy as some but the food is delicious, and no one goes home hungry! My men do all the heavy lifting (and the clean-up which is worth their weight in gold)….