Want to know where you’re headed before the clock strikes midnight on December 31? Buy your calendar now, and you’ll kick off 2014 with map in hand for your new year.     To guide you in a decision that will hang over you for the next 12 months, we reviewed 11 calendars with ties to Maryland and Chesapeake Country, plus the Farmers Almanac calendar, indispensible for Bay gardeners of all skill levels. January Baltimore History See Baltimore in a new (or old)...

On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer and Vixen, on Comet and Cupid, on Donner and Blixen.     Why are reindeer the right choice for Santa to lead his sleigh on his annual voyage?     Maneuvering through the middle of the night with a load of precious cargo for millions of girls and boys leaves no margin for error.     Reindeer are physically well suited to pull a sleigh loaded down with toys. Males weigh between 350 and 400 pounds; females weigh...

As Christmas approaches, it’s time to bring fresh greens, with their piney aromas, into your home. Here in Bay Country, we have an abundance of evergreens to choose from. Many will last through the season, even without water. Others dry up too quickly to come inside.     To add both beauty and aroma to your home, choose narrow-leaf greens like arborvitae, white pine, Scots pine, red pine, Douglas fir, Canaan fir, Nordman fir, juniper, red cedar or any of the cedrus species...

Winter officially begins with the solstice Saturday, December 21. At 12:11pm EDT that day, the sun reaches its most southerly declination, standing still above the Tropic of Capricorn. For the roughly 90 percent of the world’s population that lives in the Northern Hemisphere, this is the first day of winter, the day of the longest night and the shortest day of the year.     We say it is the shortest day of the year, but in truth it is one of the longest days as measured...