Go Red volunteer tells her story from the heart Amanda L. Gonzalez of Worcester is a college graduate, working woman, volunteer — and heart disease survivor. Ms. Gonzalez, 23, a pre-school assistant with the Guild of St. Agnes in Worcester, was chosen by the American Heart Association's Greater Boston Division as one of six Go Red for Women campaign spokeswomen. Among her assignments, Ms. Gonzalez will appear as a model Wednesday at the Go Red in Your Own Fashion Show at Worcester Art Museum. She's also in a commercial airing on Charter TV. Ms. Gonzalez' message to women is simple: Continue reading >>>

Millions of Americans suffer from memory loss and that number is expected to soar as Baby Boomers age, note representatives of the Aviv Centers for Living. Now, you can have a chance to better understand what it’s really like to live with dementia and memory impairment when the Virtual Dementia Tour comes to the JCC of the North Shore, 4 Community Road, Marblehead, on Wednesday, Dec. 7. The training educates and sensitizes participants to the physical and mental challenges that dementia patients live with every day. Attendees will also hear from experts Janice Glick, a licensed social worker, Continue reading >>>

The Bertolon Center for Grief Healing, a program of Hospice of the North Shore Greater Boston, will hold “Coping with the Holidays,” a free workshop, on Thursday, Dec. 8 from 6 to 8 p.m. at The First Church in Swampscott, Congregational at 40 Monument Ave., Swampscott. According to Nancy Sherman, director of bereavement, dealing with the holidays isn’t easy even if you haven’t had a loss. But when you’ve had a loss, it can make the holidays even more stressful. “The holidays create a combination of joy and memories. People look forward to them with hope and anticipation,” Continue reading >>>

THEATER Opening CHRISTMAS TIME Sarah Pfisterer and Rick Hilsabeck have been added as guest stars to this musical production, which will feature a cast of 150 children and nearly 40 adults performing dance and choral numbers, including the tap-dancing “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers,’’ the “Teddy Bears’ Nutcracker,’’ “Santa’s Workshop,’’ and the “Living Nativity.’’ Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston, Robinson Theatre, Waltham. Dec. 3-11. 781-891-5600, Continue reading >>>

On Wednesday afternoon, Kings in Dedham donated 100 turkeys, weighing 12 to 14 pounds each, to the Dedham Food Pantry as part of the Bowl-a-Turkey program. Between November 1 and 21, King’s would donate a turkey for every turkey that was bowled. A turkey is when a bowler rolls three strikes in a row. Whenever the achievement occurred, whoever bowled the turkey would have a certificate hung on the wall. The annual event, now in its second year, was just in time for Thanksgiving and Director of Marketing Doug Warner said that it was a win-win situation for everyone. “It’s a fun event and our Continue reading >>>

Mary O’Connor for The Boston Globe Jayce Plante, 4, of Sutton, chatted with Globe Santa at Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston yesterday. “Rattlin’ Around the Christmas Tree” is the theme of a Globe Santa Fund benefit to be held Wednesday night at the Rattlesnake Bar and Grill at 384 Boylston St. There will be jazz music by the Rollo Tomasi Quartet, a special fashion presentation by the Dawn Mostow Models, and live and silent auctions conducted by auctioneer Jim Wells. Another highlight of the evening will be a Southwest Tasting prepared Continue reading >>>

Last year, $1,413,668 was raised and 56,190 children discovered presents from Globe Santa under their tree. Because so many people like knowing they helped make a child happy, 31,263 families enjoyed the wonder of Christmas morning rather than a difficult day.

While many backyard Turkey Bowls pit brother against brother, this Thanksgiving marks the first time in NFL history that brothers will face off against one another as coaches. While most kids were wrestling with wishbones over turkey dinners, the Harbaugh brothers were busy cracking football's wishbone. That's right. Football is a family affair in the Harbaugh household as Jim and John's father, Jack, was a college coach with his own stops at Michigan, Stanford and Western Michigan. To gear up for the inaugural "Har-bowl," Page 2 has a tale of the tape: Personal Jim Harbaugh: 6-foot-3, 215 Continue reading >>>

Consumers are shrugging off the slow economy and packing shopping malls from one end of Greater Boston to the other this Black Friday as the holiday-shopping season officially gets under way. “I have to say it’s been the busiest opening I’ve seen in a long, long time,” said Vicki Bartkiewicz of Braintree’s South Shore Plaza, where some stores opened shortly after midnight. “I’m seeing some people with five, six — seven bags of gifts.” Some 600 people were queued up outside of the mall’s Macy’s store when it opened at 12:30 a.m., while a line stretched hundreds of feet outside Continue reading >>>

New London Shopping Center - New London, NH Chris Angelone, CBRE Bill Moylan, CBRE New London, NH The Boston office of CBRE's National Retail Investment Group (NRIG) brokered the sale of New London Shopping Center, a 107,310 s/f Hannaford Bros. supermarket-anchored shopping center. Located along Rte. 11, New London's primary means of access from I-89, the property is fully occupied and is home to the only supermarket within a 13-mile radius."New London Shopping Center is a unique property with a captive customer base and strong demographics," said CBRE's Chris Angelone. Continue reading >>>