Holiday Hors d'Oeuvres

The weather outside may be frightful, but you can still get into the spirit with this delightful sampling of law-themed holiday resources from around the web.  

Image by Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay.

For many families, holiday traditions revolve around favorite family recipes and seasonal ingredients for traditional holiday fare.

Brush up on important food safety practices from the CDC to keep yourself and your loved ones safe while preparing festive meals and digging into leftovers. The EPA highlights the fact that the holidays create more opportunities for food borne illnesses as well as create more waste for many households, including food waste, and provides tips for managing wasted food at home. For information about proposed and enacted laws and regulations that manage food waste, the U.S. Food Waste Policy Finder compiles federal and state policies that tackle food waste issues and provide recommendations for supporting food waste prevention, rescue, and recycling.

Click the image to the right to view 10 tips for reducing food waste at home in a different tab.

Learn about the interesting legal history of popular holiday dishes and seasonal ingredients at the following:

• Eggnog Legalese: What are You Drinking? – Ex Libris Juris

• National Cocoa Day – Ex Libris Juris

• What is the difference between sweet potatoes and yams? - Library of Congress

Peruse the legal history related to popular non-edible holiday traditions at:

• The History of the Christmas Tree – Smithsonian Gardens

• Who invented electric Christmas lights? – Library of Congress

• Santa Laws – In Custodia Legis: Law Librarians of Congress

Cover art for A Christmas Carol, courtesy of Project Gutenberg.

For many, reading, watching, or listening to beloved holiday stories is a part of their annual holiday traditions. Read this blog post from last year for a list of holiday literary classics available in the public domain on Project Gutenberg, and visit the Library of Congress’s online catalog for more holiday classics also available in the public domain:

• It’s a Wonderful Life – Library of Congress

• A Visit From Saint Nicholas – Library of Congress

Read the original manuscript of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, digitized on Project Gutenberg and also available in the Library of Congress catalog.

And finally, why not visit with the (friendly) ghosts of Ex Libris Juris past:

• Seasons Greetings! – Learn about wintertime holidays celebrated around the world.

• Donate, Volunteer, and Connect to Your Community – Keep the festive spirit going during and after this holiday season by getting involved in mutual aid efforts in your community.

• Be Winter Weather-Ready: Disaster Preparedness Resources – Be prepared for this season’s unpredictable weather with helpful disaster preparedness resources.