LITTLE ROCK — December is Santa’s bag, man. In Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack lingo, it’s a gasser, pallie - this tinsel-tossin’ ho-ho-ho-ville, coo-coo clambake. Chicks and Charlies, everybody digs the scene, especially with a little hey hey under the mistletoe.
EVER-LOVIN’, BLUE-EYED CHRISTMAS
1 Fort Smith Symphony Orchestra concert, A Simply Sinatra Christmas, at Arkansas Best Performing Arts Center, Fort Smith.
Details at fortsmithsymphony.org.
Call (479) 452-7575.
REINDEER ON THE RUN
Arthritis Foundation Jingle Bell Run/Walk, 9:30 a.m. from the Clinton Presidential Center, downtown Little Rock. Details at arkansasjinglebellrun.org. Call (501) 664-4591.
Big Jingle Jubilee and Capitol Lighting, Little Rock. Parade at 3 p.m. downtown from Second Street and Broadway to the state Capitol.
Lighting ceremony and fireworks at dark, about 6 p.m. Details at littlerock.com. Call (501) 376-4781.
Sugarplum Festival, hay rides and clogging, 2-6 p.m. in Leslie near Marshall. Call (501) 941-4828.
ROCKS AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE
Caroling in the Caverns through Dec. 2 and weekends through Dec. 23 at Blanchard Springs Caverns near Mountain View. Details atyourplaceinthemountains.com. Call (870) 269-8068.
ACTING UP WITH SANTA WATCHING
Community Theatre of Little Rock musical, A 1940s Radio Christmas Carol, through Dec. 2 at the Public Theatre, downtown Little Rock. Details at ctlr-act.org. Call (501) 410-2283.
The Outsiders continuing Dec. 7-8 and 14-15 at The Weekend Theater, Little Rock. Details at weekendtheater.org. Call (501) 374-3761.
WHY THEY CALL HIM ST. NICK
2 Safety razor patented, 1901.
HARK!
River City Men’s Chorus concert, Holiday!, through Dec. 4 at Trinity United Methodist Church, Little Rock. Details at rivercitymenschorus.com. Call (501) 377-1080.
PINTOS AND REINDEER
3 Bean Feed and Christmas Parade, Greenwood. Details at greenwoodarkansas.com. Call (479) 996-6357.
TUESDAY’S CHILD IS FULL OF GLACE
4 National Fruitcake Month.
HARK! HARK!
Musical Billy Elliot through Dec. 9 at Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville. Details at waltonartscenter.org. Call (479) 433-5600.
Jazz Band and Guitar Ensemble concert, 7 p.m. at Burns Hall, Northwest Arkansas Community College, Bentonville. Call (479) 619-4374.
HE MADE THE MOUSE STIR
5 Walt Disney’s birthday, 1905.
HOCK A SOCK
6 St. Nicholas Day. National
Pawnbrokers Day.
Santa’s had a hard year,
So the old boy hocked his sled;
Christmas Day is coming
Via city bus, instead.
HARK! HARK! HARK!
Royal Players musical Annie through Dec. 9 and Dec. 13-16 at the Royal Theatre, Benton. Details at theroyalplayers.com. Call (501) 315-5483.
Little Rock Wind Symphony concert, A Christmas Celebration, 7:30 p.m. at Second Presbyterian Church, Little Rock. Details at lrwindsymphony.org. Call (501) 666-0777.
7 Trans-Siberian Orchestra, 7 p.m. at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock. Details at ticketmaster.com. Call (800) 745-3000.
REINDEER PAUSES
Arkansas Craft Guild Christmas Showcase through Dec. 9 at the Statehouse Convention Center, Little Rock.
Details at arkansascraftguild.org. Call (870) 269-4120.
Arkansas Chamber Singers concert, Singing for Joy!, through Dec. 9 at the Old State House Museum. Details at archambersingers.org. Call (501) 377-1121.
SEASON OF HANG-UPS
8 James Thurber’s birthday, 1894.
“Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?” - James Thurber.
HERE THE BELLS
The ring tone on Santa’s cell phone? - “Jingle Bells.”
The top news on Rudolph’s smart phone? - “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.” The message on Frosty’s voice mail? - “Zat You, Santa Claus?”
TAKE A BOUGH
9 The flower for December that grows in Mrs. Claus’s garden is the: (A) Christmas cactus, (B) Poinsettia, (C) Candy cane tulip, or (D) Flowering peppermint.
(Answer at Dec. 20.)
WORKING WITH A NET
10 Food Service Safety Month calls for safety in the cafeteria line. Watch for danger on the rails. The man who isn’t careful can lose control of his tray on the slick turn by the drink station - and go tail over teakettle.
11 Indiana admission day, 1816. Indiana admits that Orville Redenbacher was Col. Sanders’ skinny, secret twin.
RING-A-LING RING-A-DING
12 National Ding-a-Ling Day (“a day for wackos,” according to the website holidayinsights.com).
Frank Sinatra’s birthday, 1915
13 Santa Lucia Day in Sweden. Beautiful girls in white gowns bring rolls for breakfast - or in Rat Pack tunesville: “She gets too hungry for dinner at eight.”
TOOT IF YOU TRAINS All Aboard! Lionels at Laman toy train show through Dec. 31 at Laman Public Library, North Little Rock.
Details at lamanlibrary.org. Call (501) 758-1720.
NOW SEER HERE
14 Nostradamus’ birthday, 1503, and three sure predictions the great seer failed to see coming:
The after-party spot on the carpet in the far corner will come out. The stain in the middle of the living room? Not a chance.
People are going to know if it came ready-made from the grocery store, even the green bean casserole.
Will the cat knock over the Christmas tree again this year? Yes, Virginia. As certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, that tree is a goner.
ELF SERVICE
Arkansas Children’s Hospital Festival of Stars Toy Drive, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. at 10th Street and Children’s Way, collects new toys for patients in the hospital at Christmas.
Details at archildrens.org. Call (501) 364-1825.
BETTER BE GOO’ED
15 Grossology exhibit of icky, oozy, stinky stuff through May 26 at the Museum of Discovery, Little Rock.
Details at museumofdiscovery.org. Call (501) 396-7050.
SINGING PINES
Caroling in the Forest, 7 p.m. at Pinnacle Mountain State park near Little Rock. Call (501) 868-5806.
LIKE A BOLL FULL OF JELLY
Christmas open house, apple cider and angels made of cotton bolls, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
at the Plantation Agriculture Museum, Scott. Call (501) 961-1409.
CENTS AND SENSIBILITY
16 Jane Austen’s birthday, 1775. Last full week of Christmas shopping.
“Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.” - Jane Austen
SOME GAUL
17 Ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia through Dec. 23. Wine and merrymaking, or as a Rat Packer would say: “Wow-ee-wowwow, Charlie”; or in Latin: Sero venientes male sedentes (those who are late are poorly seated).
CAUTION: JOKING HAZARD
18 Safe Toys and Gifts Month, and two toys to avoid:
Barbie’s Mystery House of How-Can-It-Be. The fashion model receives notice that her home has been reappraised at twice its value, and her taxes are due.
Magic Mike action figure.
Male and female shoppers divide sharply on the question: Who wants to see this under the tree?
19 Three days to the end of something - the end of fall, the end of the world, or worst of all: The end of thinking there’s still plenty of time to shop.
SET IT BY THE SETTEE
20 Claus and effect quiz answer: (B) Gotta getta poinsettia.
SURROUNDED BY FLAKES
21 First day of winter.
SPOILER ALERT
End of the ancient Mayan calendar means the END OF THE WORLD! (- or not), as the stars and planets align with all the left-over Y2K beanbag bugs for sale on eBay to spell d-o-o-m.
THE SAINTS GO MARCHING - EHH?
Dan Ellis Jazz Funeral at several venues, Eureka Springs. The event bids farewell to the organizer behind the city’s Mardi Gras celebration, even though Ellis reports he is “quite well,” and expects to attend his own send-off.
Being from New Orleans, “I always promised myself a jazz funeral,” he says. Hurricane Katrina blew him north to Arkansas, but the storm only made him more determined that “dead or alive, I was going to have a jazz funeral.” This way, in case the Mayans were right, he looks forward to a jazzy doomsday. And otherwise, “I’ll be one of the few people able to die twice.” Details at jazzfuneral.danellis.net. Call (479) 981-9551.
NECK AND NECK
22 National Tie Month. Dad discovers a long, thin box with his name on it. What could this be? He pretends to be stumped. He piles it on top all the other long, thin boxes.
23 Christmas tie-wearing season opens for three big days of neckties with pictures of reindeer and snowmen on them, and then it’s back to the usual in business attire - ties that have pictures of ducks.
THE BANK CALLED: THEY
DON’T THINK “BE GOOD” IS A PLAN
24 National Write a Business Plan Month, and Santa shows how. He’s makin’ a list, checkin’ it twice.
SOCK AND AWE
25 Christmas.
26 Bingo the game’s Birthday Month. But who wants to play on the drizzly downer day after Christmas?
Wouldn’t this be a great morning to stay under the covers? Bingo!
27 December’s birthstone is turquoise - the only thing a deeper blue than two days after Christmas.
THANK GREENERY IT’S FRIDAY
28 And! - Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe’s 66th birthday.
BLAZING SADDLES
29 Texas admission day, 1845. Texas admits it was an overload of ego that caused the massive head of the cowboy symbol of the State Fair of Texas, Big Tex, to explode.
30 Old Man 2012 reviews his accomplishments of the past year. Even though he grew a beard, and beards are in, he never did look like George Clooney - more like David Spade.
HELP WANTED: BRAVE SITTER FOR BABY NEW YEAR
31 New Year’s Eve.
HONK IF YOU HORNS
Midnight on the Mountain New Year’s Eve party at Mount Magazine State Park near Paris. Details at mountmagazinestatepark.com Call (479) 963-8502.
Coming next month: January! Call (501) 399-3633, write to Ron Wolfe, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 121 E. Capitol Ave., Little Rock, Ark. 72203, or e-mail
rwolfe@arkansasonline.com by Dec. 15 to suggest January calendar entries or why January is National Hot Tea Month - because December can’t be: Not a creature is stirring. Each event requires a phone number that is answered during business hours or by an answering machine that identifies the event or its sponsor.
Style, Pages 27 on 11/27/2012