Santa at the Syd
Want to have a jolly good picture with the jolly old elf? We’ll have Santa at the Syd Blackmarr Arts Center on Saturday, December 3rd 1–3 PM. Aside from a free visit with Santa and pictures, there will be crafts, gift wrapping, and general family fun.
Registration is required to visit with Santa and have a picture taken. Just call (229) 386-7148 to schedule an appointment.
Tinsel in Tifton
Saturday, December 3rd is the date of Tinsel in Tifton, Tifton’s Christmas celebration! Here’s what you need to know about how the library is involved and affected:
- The library will be in the Christmas parade! We can’t wait to see you as we go past!
- The parking lot behind the library building will be closed for the day.
- The library building will be closing at 2:30 PM, as Love Avenue and Library Lane will be closing at 3 PM.
Ornament Making
Join us at 5 PM on Tuesday each week in December as we make two different ornaments you can hang on your own tree or gift to someone else.
Adult Craft: Snow Globes
Join us to make snow globes on Tuesday, December 6th at 5 PM.
The snow globes are just the first of two adult craft programs this month — we’ll be making snowman garlands on the 13th! You can register for both programs at the same time.
Cookies and Cards
Spread a little holiday cheer and munch on some sweet treats! Make a card for friends, family, or even a member of the community to bring a smile to someone’s face. Craft supplies and cookies for everyone in this all ages event on Thursday, December 8th at 5:30 PM.
Sew You Think You Can Pants?
Want to be able to mend your own clothes? Would you like to experience the joy and pride of making new garments and items for your home? Is your old family sewing machine guilting you out for not using it? Then join the library’s semi-monthly sewing program! We meet at 5 PM on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month. Our next meeting will be December 7th. Registering ahead of time is recommended, as a limited number of sewing machines will be available. Have your own machine? We have outlets! Join us!
Gingerbread Contest
Submissions to the first annual Gingerbread Contest are due by 4 PM on Friday, December 2nd!
This year’s theme is Historic Tifton Buildings. Entries should be no larger than a 24” x 24” platform. (Smaller is ok, but larger will be disqualified.) Please consider using layers of cardboard or wood wrapped in tin foil as your base; no items will be returned.
- Submissions are one per family
- Submissions will be on display in the Library for the month of December.
- Professional bakers are welcome to enter with their family, but not as a business.
- 100% of the gingerbread house (minus the base) must be edible.
- Judging will be done by the Tifton Council for the Arts!
Please include your names, and phone number with your entry.
The Gingerbread Contest is a partnership between the Tifton-Tift County Public Library, Tinsel in Tifton, and the Tifton Council for the Arts
Gingerbread Crafternoon
The holiday season isn’t jolly for everyone! Help Mr. Gingerbread hide this winter with a fantastic disguise! Will you make him a storybook character, superhero, favorite animal, or an original design? Craft supplies and gingerbread men will be provided so run, run, run as far as you can down to the library on Saturday, December 10th from noon to 2 PM!
Gingerbread Crafternoon
The holiday season isn’t jolly for everyone! Help Mr. Gingerbread hide this winter with a fantastic disguise! Will you make him a storybook character, superhero, favorite animal, or an original design? Craft supplies and gingerbread men will be provided so run, run, run as far as you can down to the library on Saturday, December 10th from noon to 2 PM!
Event Calendar
Family
Santa at the Syd – Saturday, December 3rd 1–3 PM @ the Syd. Photos with Santa, crafts, gift wrapping, and family fun. Registration required.
Ornament Making – Tuesdays in December @ 5 PM. Make two different ornaments you can hang on your own tree or gift to someone else. Ages 18 and under.
Cookies and Cards – Thursday, December 8th @ 5:30 PM. Make a card for someone and eat some cookies.
Gingerbread Crafternoon – Saturday, December 10th Noon–2 PM. Help Mr. Gingerbread hide this winter with a fantastic disguise!
Children's
Reading Rascals – Thursdays @ 10 AM. Songs, stories, and a simple craft for kids ages 0–5.
Adult
Adult Craft: Snow Globes – Tuesday, December 6th @ 5 PM. Give your holiday decor that personal touch. Registration required.
Sew You Think You Can Pants – Wednesday, December 7th @ 5 PM. Needle help with sewing? We’ve got you covered. Registration recommended.
Beginner Computer Class – Fridays 10–11 AM in the boardroom. Get answers to your questions about technology.
Book Highlights
Click the books' pictures to open them in the catalog.
Adult Fiction
After moving from a small country town to Seattle, Heather Baxter marries Tom, a widowed doctor with a young son and teenage daughter. A working vacation overseas seems like the perfect way to bring the new family together, but once they’re deep in the Australian outback, the jet-lagged and exhausted kids are so over their new mom.
When they discover remote Dutch Island, off-limits to outside visitors, the family talks their way onto the ferry, taking a chance on an adventure far from the reach of iPhones and Instagram.
But as soon as they set foot on the island, which is run by a tightly knit clan of locals, everything feels wrong. Then a shocking accident propels the Baxters from an unsettling situation into an absolute nightmare.
When Heather and the kids are separated from Tom, they are forced to escape alone, seconds ahead of their pursuers.
Now it’s up to Heather to save herself and the kids, even though they don’t trust her, the harsh bushland is filled with danger, and the locals want her dead.
Heather has been underestimated her entire life, but she knows that only she can bring her family home again and become the mother the children desperately need, even if it means doing the unthinkable to keep them all alive.
Adult Nonfiction
For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe — and extend their colonial empires.
Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke were sent by the Royal Geographical Society to claim the prize for England. Burton spoke twenty-nine languages, and was a decorated soldier. He was also mercurial, subtle, and an iconoclastic atheist. Speke was a young aristocrat and Army officer determined to make his mark, passionate about hunting, Burton’s opposite in temperament and beliefs.
From the start the two men clashed. They would endure tremendous hardships, illness, and constant setbacks. Two years in, deep in the African interior, Burton became too sick to press on, but Speke did, and claimed he found the source in a great lake that he christened Lake Victoria. When they returned to England, Speke rushed to take credit, disparaging Burton. Burton disputed his claim, and Speke launched another expedition to Africa to prove it. The two became venomous enemies, with the public siding with the more charismatic Burton, to Speke’s great envy. The day before they were to publicly debate,Speke shot himself.
Yet there was a third man on both expeditions, his name obscured by imperial annals, whose exploits were even more extraordinary. This was Sidi Mubarak Bombay, who was enslaved and shipped from his home village in East Africa to India. When the man who purchased him died, he made his way into the local Sultan’s army, and eventually traveled back to Africa, where he used his resourcefulness, linguistic prowess and raw courage to forge a living as a guide. Without Bombay and men like him, who led, carried, and protected the expedition, neither Englishman would have come close to the headwaters of the Nile, or perhaps even survived.
In River of the Gods Candice Millard has written another peerless story of courage and adventure, set against the backdrop of the race to exploit Africa by the colonial powers.
Children's
Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery? Or is it just annoying?
This hilarious read-aloud explores every child’s least favorite form of admiration: copying. It also helps readers deal with the sensitive topics of conformity, individuality, and belonging in an accessible, kid-friendly way. Ultimately, setting boundaries should be empowering for kids, just like it is for Norton.
Young Adult
For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings…until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.
Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic, but wicked, Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.
But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game ? and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after, or the most exquisite tragedy…
