"Super"stitions: Fans engage in odd rituals

Giants fan Lynn Ramos poses in front of her Christmas tree at her home in Bridgeport, Conn. on Wednesday February 1, 2012. She and her son Bobby decided to leave the tree up because it was "good luck" for the team. They won't take it down until after the superbowl.


Swap And Shop: Bargain Hunters Can't Resist

Follow CT Lifestyle & Entertainment News On The Courant's Features Buzz Facebook Page I've been swapping stuff for years — post-Halloween trick-or-treating candy and sandwiches in the school cafeteria when I was a kid. Baby clothes and toys with other thrifty moms when my children were little. Cookie exchanges with friends every Christmas.


Philadelphia celebrates Dickens' 200th birthday

Past the glass case containing sketches for his novel "Oliver Twist," beyond the handwritten letter to his publisher about Little Nell, and away from the first published installments of "Hard Times" sits Charles Dickens' pet bird.


A dickens of a time with a 200th birthday

NEW YORK The visitors have been coming at a steady trickle, reverent, bemused, squinting at the crabbed handwriting in the anguished letters from his American tour ("They will never leave me alone ... I shake hands every day ... with five or six hundred people"), the missives on mesmerism, philanthropy, storytelling, Christmas books and his own manic energy.


Poundland sells millions of boxes of chocolate at Christmas

Poundland, the discount shop where everything costs £1, enjoyed a sparkling Christmas as it sold millions of boxes of chocolates and decorations to shoppers on a budget.


Charles Dickens' 200th anniversary celebrations: a renaissance or an elegy?

The visitors have been coming at a steady trickle, reverent, bemused, squinting at the crabbed handwriting in the anguished letters from his American tour ("They will never leave me alone ... I shake hands every day ... with five or six hundred people"), the missives on mesmerism, philanthropy, storytelling, Christmas books and his own manic energy.


Celebrities' second-hand clothes

Why would anyone want Coleen Rooney's dress or Kevin Spacey's suit? We speak to five people who bought a celebrity cast-off Daniel Hopkins, 39, hairdresser, Brighton: bought Kevin Spacey's suit for £160 I was getting married last September and I'd been looking for a suit for my wedding. I'd been on the hunt for about three months, but I couldn't find anything – you need to get something that's ...


Letchworth shop's donation to homeless group

A HOMELESS group has been given a helping hand by a shop and its customers.


A1A shops fight downturn

The two dummies in black wigs and Clinton and Reagan Halloween masks are gone. Over the years, they had become humorous, head-turning landmarks for motorists passing by an otherwise easy-to-miss bait shop on State Road A1A.


MONROE: Lighting contest winners went above and beyond

David Kilby, Managing Editor MONROE — The Monroe Board of Recreation gave out its awards for its Holiday House Decorating Contest at its meeting Tuesday, and the two most recognized winners, if combined, had a total of 115,000 lights, most of which were synchronized to music, as well as cut out displays, train sets, and an opportunity to donate to local charities.