Hess May Sell Their Gas Stations, But Signature Toy Trucks Will Remain

Aficiandos of Hess toy trucks can rest assured that Christmas sales of their toy trucks will continue at the corporation's convenience stores.

Recent headlines announcing Hess Corporation's exit from the energy marketing and refining end of its global business will not affect what is perhaps its second-most-coveted consumer item after the petrol: the Hess Toy Truck. "The toy trucks which have been a tradition for 48 years will continue," a Hess spokesperson said, adding that "this November, the company will continue to sell the trucks at their stores." Since 1964, Hess Corporation has sold its classic toy trucks; offering a variety of collectible miniature trucks to consumers at the start of the holiday season each year in November. Despite the corporation's impending closure of its 1,350 retail gas stations, consumers will still be able to find the eclectic toys at Hess …

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Christmas After Newtown

We may not feel the tinsel and trimmings of the season, but we still need Christmas.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." – John 16:33 And so it is Christmas. Yesterday, I opened a card from my high school best friend which had a poem inscribed on it. It was a cutesy Hallmark kind of thing, but its last line haunted me like Jacob Marley did Scrooge on that Christmas Eve night. “We are all ready. We hope you are too.” Just a simple reminder that I needed to hang some more mistletoe, buy a few gifts, perhaps bake a cookie or two. But those words stared back at me, and I realized I had never been so “not ready” for Christmas. Well, at least not since 1998, the year my mother died a couple of days before Thanksgiving. …

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WD Schools Getting Into Holiday Spirit with Upcoming Events

'Tis the season at West Deptford schools, where students, teachers and families are embracing the holiday season. Find out what's on tap.

With the holiday season here, the West Deptford School District has a full schedule of activities, concerts and events for kids, parents and residents alike. Check out these holiday events that will take place in the school district over the next three weeks. West Deptford Middle School Holiday Concert When: Dec. 5 and 12 at 7 p.m. Where: West Deptford Middle School What: Music students from the middle school perform a number of different holiday songs. The concerts are open to the public.   West Deptford Middle School Choir Holiday Performance at Rowan University When: Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. Where: Rowan University's Pfleeger Concert Hall What: The middle school choir will perform in Rowan's "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: A Holiday …

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Catching the Spirit Before It's Gone

December is here (already!)—time to stop counting shopping days and start enjoying the holidays.

December is always a month wrapped in memory and beribboned in tradition. We may not say so out loud, but most of us know we deck the halls in more than holly. We deck them in the time-honored ways of our own pasts, hearts full of our family and friends both present and missing. We deck them in celebration not only of the gifts to come, but of the gift of love, of life, of things that can be counted on and considered blessings. The things that last, long after the spirit of Christmas 2012 has become a memory. Of course, every holiday season—every year, it seems—turns to memory much too fast. We get lost in the hustle and bustle, the preparation and planning, and then in an instant it’s over, like a long-awaited toy that falls unwrapped and…

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Mary Lebeau

6:26 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012

I do this every year with my kids as well. I think I look forward to it more than they do! I must confess, however, that it's just not the same without snow. Holiday lights just aren't the same when it's so balmy! Anyone else have traditions to share? What have you passed on to your kids?   more ›

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What I Want For Christmas

Sometimes not getting what you ask for is just what you need.

No matter where I go this week, I couldn't seem to avoid that inevitable question.  “What do you want for Christmas?” I guess that's one of those things—those many, many things—that has become more difficult as I got older. After all, back when I was little, we’d start writing our Christmas lists sometime around September. Seriously. That was when the Sears and Roebuck catalog appeared in our mailbox. It was the late '60s, early '70s version of today’s Disney Channel commercials—hour after hour (or, in our case, page after page) of the newest gadgets, the neatest gizmos, and, of course, the most wonderful toys any child dared to hope for. We never really had a lot, but we hoped anyway, and we fervently copied the full proper name of our …

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Churches Set Christmas Schedule

Local churches prepare to celebrate the holiday.

Churches in and around West Deptford have a full slate of Christmas weekend services planned, from Christmas Eve candlelight services to regular Sunday worship. Many of the services are listed here, as well as some from surrounding municipalities.

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Poll: A Third of NJ Residents Are Regifters

Economy not cited as a major reason for the practice.

Jerry and Elaine gave it a name in the '90s, and the practice is still going strong. More than one-third of New Jersey residents admit to "regifting" in the latest Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) PublicMind Poll. "The popularity of regifting is driven by many things for different people," said Burçak Ertimur, a professor of marketing at FDU's Silberman College of Business. "For some, it's thrift in difficult economic times, or it's a way to get around annoyingly high expectations about gift-giving. It's also awareness of, or guilt over, how much stuff goes into the landfill. But the main reason might be just the sheer volume of stuff we have." Of those polled by FDU, which has campuses in Florham Park and Teaneck, 38 percent said they…

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