ROCKINGHAM — Libraries in Richmond County are preparing for the holiday season just like everyone else, and Leath Memorial in Rockingham, Hamlet Public Library and Kemp Library in Ellerbe have events lined up with Christmas right around the corner.
Santa Claus will catch up on his reading when he visits Hamlet today from 10 a.m. to noon and 4 to 5 p.m. and those wanting to visit Ol’ Saint Nick are invited to bring cameras to capture the moment. Santa will also be giving out treats for the kids.
Hamlet Public Library will be selling “Cooking Up Memories” cookbooks full of recipes, pictures and memories of the Seaboard City. Copies are $20 apiece and can be purchased at the library on Main Street.
On Monday, Dec. 12, Kris Kringle will load up his sleigh and head to Ellerbe for a visit from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at Kemp Library next to Rankin Museum.
Also at Kemp, anyone who checks out a book in December can register to win a stocking full of books and other goodies. Two prizes will be given away — one for children and one for adults. The Ellerbe library is also currently hosting a “Fill A Bag Sale” sponsored by Friends of Kemp Memorial Library until they run out. Prices range from $1 for small paperbacks and $2 for hardcovers and mixed bags.
At Leath Memorial in downtown Rockingham, the library will be showing festive movies like Charlie Brown Christmas and Polar Express at 10 a.m. Dec. 19-22.
From 5 to 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 12, local author Lucy Allen will host a book signing and book talk from her daily devotional “The Pond.”
The book is a project that Allen — along with friend, support system and coach Kathy Crouch — worked on for a year and a half. Starting off slow with roughly a dozen devotions, Allen used what she saw at her Dockery Road pond to relate to scripture.
“I would go over to check on progress at the house and sit out by the pond and see various things in nature occurring and very subtly an idea might pop into my head that, ‘Oh this is like God trying to teach this lesson,’” Allen previously told the Daily Journal. “And I just began to put them on paper.”
Richmond County libraries will be closed Dec. 24-28 for Christmas and Jan. 2 for New Year’s.
Reach reporter Matt Harrelson at 910-817-2674 and follow him on Twitter @mattyharrelson.