Top Ten Holiday Characters

1. Buddy the Elf

2. Frosty the Snowman

3. Ebenezer Scrooge

4.The Gingerbread Man

5. Jack Skellington

6. Charlie Brown

7. Santa

8. Mrs. Claus

9. Rudolph

10. The Grinch

Safe Winter Driving Tips

The winter season has arrived, and with it comes the dangerous road conditions that students must face every morning and afternoon as they make their way to and from school.  Those students choosing to drive need to be aware of the potential dangers, and prepared for the worst.  Preventative measures are crucial to avoid finding oneself in a bad situation on the roads.  The Mill Stream has compiled a list of winter driving tips from weather.com and cartalk.com to keep students safe on the streets this winter.

1. Check Anti-Freeze: Flush your cooling system every two years.  Cooling system failure is the number one cause of engine- related breakdowns.
2. Check Tire Tread Depth: Put a penny between the threads of your tires.  If you can see the top of Lincoln’s hair, you should replace your tire.
3. Prepare a Winter Emergency Kit: Include blankets, extra boots and gloves, an ice scraper, windshield washer fluid, a first aid kit, jumper cables, flares, and a small snow shovel.
4. Keep a Full Gas Tank: You never know when you may become stranded in a snowstorm.
5. Have the Brakes Checked: If you haven’t had them checked in the last six months, you need to get them checked
6. Replace Windshield Wiper Blades Twice a Year: Fill the windshield washer reservoir with freeze resistant wiper fluid
7. Check Spare Tire: Make sure it has proper tread and pressure and that you have all of the needed tire-changing materials.
8. Plan Travel and Check Weather Reports to Avoid Storms
9. Try not to Travel Alone in Unfamiliar Places
10. Let Someone Know your Timetable and Where you are Going

Top Ten Holiday Movies

In the spirit of the season, the Mill Stream staff took a  poll of students’ favorite holiday movies. These ten came out on top.

1. Elf: Comedy comes to Christmas in the form of this 2003 film starring funnyman Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf, a human who’s grown up an elf in the North Pole and leaves his home to reunite with his father in New York City.

2. A Christmas Story: All 9-year-old Ralphie Parker wants for Christmas is “an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time” in this 1983 Christmas comedy.

3. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation: Comedic disaster after comedic disaster strikes Chevy Chase’s Clark Wilhelm “Sparky” Griswold, Jr. during this 1989 holiday installment of National Lampoon’s Vacation film series.

4. It’s a Wonderful Life: Frank Capra’s 1946 perennial holiday favorite brings audiences the story of George Bailey, a man contemplating suicide, who gets a Christmas Eve visit from a guardian angel who, through flashbacks of Bailey’s life, shows the difference Bailey has made in peoples’ lives and his community.

5. Miracle on 34th Street: Filmed first in 1947, this feel-good holiday classic tells the story behind a New York City Macy’s Department store Santa who leaves the city wondering whether he’s the real deal or not.

6. Four Christmases: Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon star in this 2008 romantic comedy in which their characters try to visit all four of their divorced parents on Christmas Day.

7. White Christmas: A 1954 classic, this film stars Bing Crosby and features the music of songwriter Irving Berlin, famous for the title song “White Christmas.”

8. The Santa Clause: This 1994 movie stars Tim Allen as Scott Calvin, a man who finds out he’s bound by contract, a “Santa Clause,” to become the big man himself after unintentionally putting on Santa’s suit.

9. Charlie Brown Christmas: Bringing audiences Charles Scultz’s beloved Peanuts characters, this animated television special touches on the idea of over-commercialization and true spirit of Christmas through the eyes of football-headed Charlie Brown and company.

10. How the Grinch Stole Christmas: Based on the Dr. Seuss children’s book of the same name, this animated television special gives viewers the story of a soured grouch who tries to keep Christmas from coming in Whoville.