Today a Holiday for You? If so, Best Western Employee Says Sleep in and 'Good Morning, Hartland!'

It's Monday and our first "Good Morning Hartland" of 2012. Here are some tidbits of news and information that we hope you'll find useful or entertaining.

Please also don't miss our video greeting (at right) from Joyce of the , who gives us good advice if we have the day off.

1. The weather

Winter is about to rear its not so friendly head. There's a 30 percent chance of snow showers with a high near 26 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Winds drop from Sunday's advisory, but remain between 21 and 23 miles per hour coming out of the north northwest with gusts hitting 31 mph.

Tonight, the temps drop to 11 with wind chills falling to -5 (yes, -5!) as a 30 percent snow chance continues. Winds remain at 22 mph with gusts as high as 30 mph.

2. Fuel prices

Here's a quick daily survey of the regular per-gallon price, according to gasbuddy.com —

• : $3.49
• Shell: $3.56
• Mobil: $3.59 (cash is 10 cents lower)
• Lowest price at Hickory Ridge and M-59 in Highland: $3.37 at Citgo.
• Lowest price in the Fenton area: $3.31 at six stations, including four stations on Owen Road at U.S. 23.
• Lowest price in the Brighton area: $3.36 at Costco at 6700 Whitmore Lake Rd.

We also offer searchable and real-time traffic and fuel prices via Mapquest on our homepage.

3. What's closed today

Like Dec. 26, Jan. 2 (today) serves as the New Year's Day holiday for the , banks, the Hartland School District and Hartland Township. If you run across something else that's closed that surprises you, please let us know in comments.

4. Hartland hockey loses third-place game 5-4

The Hartland High School hockey team lost 5-4 Friday to Midland in overtime in the third-place game of a holiday tournament.

Toldeo St. John's defeated Traverse City West 6-5 in five overtimes to win the event, according to the website for Centre Ice Area, which hosted the event.

The Eagles, leading 4-1, gave up three goals in a penalty-plagued third period, according to an article in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus.

Hartland, 5-4-1, next plays Wednesday against Walled Lake Western.

5. Hartland trivia

First, check out our final standings for 2011 to see who was the champ. We asked one question every Monday through Friday from July 11 until Friday.

No one was able to get — John Robert Crouse, Hartland's most noted industrialist and philanthropist once hung a copy of a poem titled A Town Is Like Its People in the Hartland Post Office in 1935. It was later published in the Community Life newspaper and in the book Hartland: Weaving the Past with the Present. Who wrote the poem? Answer: Unknown (OK, it was a sneaky one).

Monday's question: What local business features a more than 100-year-old farm house once owned by the Needham family? Please answer in comments (and feel free to ask for hints).