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By SAMUEL GELINAS

It’s late November in New England: darker, shorter days and colder weather — all remedied by seasonal traditions including turkey, inflatable yard decor and, for the 92nd year, the Sidney F. Smith Toy fund.Begun in 1933 during the Great Depression by...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HATFIELD — Started in 1974 as Francis Englehardt crafted wreaths from hand-picked greens, often making them for headstones in local cemeteries, The Holly Shed on West Street has grown to become a one-stop site for wreaths, decorative log boxes and...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — While students shower their elementary school teachers with small tokens of appreciation during the holiday season, those coffee shop gift cards, stationary and trendy tumblers peter out as students get to middle and high school.But the...

By RYAN AMES

HADLEY — The season of giving has arrived and one local resident has been spreading Christmas joy via donations for nearly 40 years.Virginia (West) Koehler, of Hadley, continued a long-held tradition of contributing to the Daily Hampshire Gazette’s...

By GARRETT COTE

It’s not often the same group of high school best friends stays in touch nearly six decades after graduation, let alone still gets together to see each other, but this one group of five women from the Easthampton High School Class of 1967 gathers to...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

Kathy Guertin knows a thing or two about helping children in need.For over 30 years, Guertin has given to the Gazette’s Sidney F. Smith Toy Fund, named after a former Gazette business manager at the Gazette and begun in 1933 to help families in need...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — Whether it was helping to make birthday cakes or being called “Grandpa Paul,” Paul Roberts, and his wife Candy, often provided affection and attention for the children of family friends.Paul Roberts, who died Nov. 21, is being remembered...

By EMILEE KLEIN

AMHERST — The “Messiah,” a pinnacle of choral music, reminds Justina Golden of the family Christmas of her childhood at her grandparents’ home in historic Deerfield.“The first thing we would do is get a live tree, and once the tree was in place, my...

By AMANDA DRANE

EASTHAMPTON — Bill Hobbie said the unconditional love canines offer is worth emulating.That’s why each year for the past five years he’s given to the Sidney F. Smith Toy Fund “in loving memory” of his late dog, Ozzie.“He brought so much joy and...

By JACK SUNTRUP

NORTHAMPTON — Charlotte “Bunny” Trudeau grew up in a big family on a farm outside of Salisbury, Vermont, and got her nickname from being born on Easter Sunday in 1930, her children said. Her family didn’t have a lot of money, but they were close.At...