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Ohio Eats: Sweet memories start in the kitchen, so we turned to inns and bed-and-breakfasts across the state to track down their best holiday cookie recipes. Whether you’re looking for old-time classics like lemon rosemary shortbread or fresh takes on familiar favorites like pistachio pinwheels, you’ll find something to bake and share here. ohiomagazine.com/holidaycookies from the archive: For decades, Bill Hixson has been synonymous with this time of year, earning the nickname Mr. Christmas. The owner of Hixson’s in Lakewood — an emporium of ornaments, collectibles, antiques and gifts — designs his own line of glass ornaments and helped decorate the White House for a number of administrations. ohiomagazine.com/hixsons
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Our favorite social media accounts for November
Cincinnati Museum Center @cincymuseum We love checking in to see what cool facts, archival photos and new programming the museum is sharing.
Emily Ellyn @emily_ellyn The Ohio-born chef captured our hearts on Food Network and continues to inspire us with recipes remixed in her Retro Rad style. Are you receiving our weekly email newsletters? Learn about fun experiences throughout the state, get great food and drink ideas or plan for your next weekend getaway. Sign up by visiting ohiomagazine.com/newsletters.
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The Carillon Tree of Light illuminates the 65-acre Carillon Historical Park each year and kicks off a season of family fun. “A Carillon Christmas” returns Nov. 23 through Dec. 30 with the Candy Cane Slopes, Deeds Carillon Christmas Concerts, model train displays, an assortment of food and drink options, 15 miles of lights, visits with Santa Claus and more.
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Bluffton, p. 6 Cambridge, p. 71 Centerville, p. 34 Chillicothe, p. 38 Cincinnati, p. 5, 10, 68, 72, 73 Cleveland, p. 7, 10, 29, 70, 72 Columbus, p. 10, 12, 27, 71, 72, 79 Delaware, p. 48 Sandusky, p. 54 Toledo, p. 9, 10, 28, 71 Wadsworth, p. 60
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12 Destinations for Holiday Fun
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Feels Like Home
Home means different things to different people. It can be the memories tied to an old ballfield, retracing your steps on the streets where you grew up or looking at family photos from years gone by. No matter how you define home, the feelings it generates are universal: acceptance, warmth, belonging.
It is no coincidence that our annual Best Hometowns issue coincides with the part of the year when those feelings rise closest to the surface for many of us — the time when we often return to familiar places, reconnect with old friends and remember those who are no longer with us. This usually happens against the backdrop of the town where we lived as a kid or where we’ve made our lives with our families — places rich with memory and connection and meaning. Our annual Best Hometowns issue celebrates that feeling of community. Except for last year, due to the inability to get out to travel as we normally do, each November since 2006, we have honored towns across the state that exemplify what makes Ohio a great place to live. These are places where community spirit is strong, and residents and leaders are working together to create a better future together. They are towns where a recognition of the past is fully alive but paired with the promise of progress and a better life for all.
This year, we honor Centerville, Chillicothe, Delaware, Sandusky and Wadsworth — five Ohio communities that are great places to live, work and play. The discussion of which towns to recognize begins within our staff each spring and continues into the summer. We visit each town, interviewing local leaders, business owners and residents alike. We shop downtown, explore parks and dine at restaurants. Along the way, we get to experience the friendship offered by many of the people who live in each community. By the end of the summer, we have collectively experienced, in a small way, what it would feel like to call each place home.
We often say the traits that make Ohio such a great place to live are reflected in the Best Hometown communities we recognize each year. As you gather with your family and friends this holiday season, we hope reading about these places encourages you to visit and experience them for yourselves. When you do, we bet you’ll feel right at home.
JIM VICKERS
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Local Landmark
The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge is a downtown Cincinnati icon and a connection to the city of Covington, Kentucky, just across the Ohio River. Designed by John Roebling, the engineer who later created the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, the 1,057-foot span was the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time of its completion in 1867. The bridge has been closed to traffic since Feb. 15 to allow for repairs to preserve the historic structure, and it will remain closed through the end of 2021.
Simply Beautiful: Linda Laing’s Linda Renee Pottery line changes with the seasons, offering designs shaped by functionality and family memories. Way with Words: Poet and essayist Hanif Abdurraqib shares how Columbus shaped his writing and talks about staying focused in the face of success.
Simply Beautiful
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Linda Laing’s Linda Renee Pottery line changes with the seasons, offering designs shaped by functionality and family memories.
Linda Laing crafts handmade pottery pieces that are right at home as you sit around the fireplace drinking coffee or mixing up holiday cookies in the kitchen. Functionality and family relationships drive the shape and look of her pieces.
Laing’s Linda Renee Pottery line changes with the seasons. Fall brings mugs, olive oil pourers and salt cellars in warm, autumn-inspired colors. For the holidays, Laing releases pieces decorated with snowflakes and winter-themed patterns. Her spring and summer collections include pottery glazed in light pastel shades. Laing has one employee, Anna McKinley, who helps the artist mold her passion for art into thoughtful and useful pieces.
Laing launched the business in 2014 and credits a portrait she made of her daughter and son-in-law for their 2012 wedding as what helped her rediscover her passion for creating.
“That feeling of being excited to work on something sparked. … That’s what drove me to try something else and pick up pottery again,” she says.
Consistency is an emphasis of Laing’s pottery process. She measures each lump of clay so that her products are the same size from line to line. She then throws the clay into shape on her pottery wheel, before trimming and carving each piece, as well as adding details like handles. Each product is fired in a kiln twice — once before decoration and glazes are added and once after. Only crafting the types of pieces that she uses herself, Laing conscientiously makes note of tiny details when planning out each work.
“I pay attention to how things function,” she says. “I turn the lip of my basic coffee mugs in instead of out so that when you walk it doesn’t spill. It’s about the little details. I need to make sure that four fingers can fit through the handle because that’s how mugs should function. It has to feel balanced.” — Macy Kile
Visit etsy.com/shop/lindareneepottery for more information and to see what is part of Linda Renee Pottery’s line this season.
