Are there Christmas trees in a galaxy far, far away?
We may never know the answer to this, but one thing is certain, there are and were a lot of Christmas trees in Santa Maria this year.
More than one hundred trees—trimmed, lit up, and laden with gifts—were recently raffled off by two different Altrusa groups at the Town Center West Mall.
Late Saturday, Dec. 12, I stopped by the noontime Altrusa space to buy my non-winning tickets on the last day they were being sold. It was a festive scene. A surround-sound musician played a variety of instruments and accompanied youngsters who stepped up to the mic to sing.
Altrusa members Barbara and Richard Giachetto, Joelyn Lutz, and Tyler Dickinson were among those club members on duty.
The next day, John Glines announced the winners to the crowd of more than one hundred. If the winners were not present, they got a call from, among other Altrusa members, Joyce Ellen Lippman. “This is a lot of fun,” she said. She likes giving people good news.
Holiday night at the museum
Let’s hear it for the Museum of Natural History. This tiny institution on N. McClelland Street, across from the library, is thoughtful about what it can do for the community and how it can do it.
This year, the museum’s board voted to host a free holiday event on Saturday evening, Dec. 12, from 5 to 7 p.m.
“This is a first-time event,” board President Tahir Masood told me. “We wanted to do something for the community [during the holidays], and this is what we came up with.”
I arrived at 5:10 on this super chilly, seasonably dark night and found that a) the place was packed with 150 to 200 people, and b) that there was plenty of Starbucks coffee, but all the hot chocolate and cookies were gone.
When I told one board member about the decimated cookie container, she replied in surprise, “But we had a big basket!”
“Yes, my dear,” said I, “you had a big basket, but you also had a slew of kids who knew where the basket was.”
Santa Claus didn’t mind the cold one bit. He held court on the back porch, available for consultations, last minute negotiating (yes, I have been very, very good this year), and photo opportunities.
Part of the evening’s entertainment was the appearance of a children’s ukulele band from a local school. The children performed early on, on the side of the museum, in front of the semi-circular amphitheater, which is part of the museum’s recently established Native Garden.
Not a seat was to be had. The amphitheater’s benches were full of parents and ukulele music aficionados.
Inside the museum, children roamed around touching the items on the “Touch Me” table, and very often touching the items with “Don’t Touch” signs. The stuffed moose, medium-sized black bear, and beaver are very tempting to young fingers.
The museum wants to raise money to pay for outdoor lighting, and so sold $1 raffle tickets for four gift baskets as a fundraiser.
To all the wonderful service organizations and nonprofits that do so much for our community, I say, in 2016, “May the Force be with you.”
If you want to hobnob with Helen, you may contact her at helenthom232@yahoo.com.
This article appears in Dec 24-31, 2015.