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Show AIT IJ I C*1-10L WWW.UVUREVIEW.COM Courtesy of steduchatg/UVU Review Basking in the warmth of a fire, while the snow falls outside, surrounded by family and friends are just some of the little things that make Chrsitmas magical. didn't grow up with Santa Claus. He had a little accident and flew his sleigh off a cliff when my oldest sister was just 7, so I'm told. But the absence of the jolly round man dressed in red did not create a lack of magic in my Christmas experience. The magic of Christmas came in different forms. I am a Christian, and as such Christmas has always been a time centered around hope, giving, charity and peace. I was also raised in a family of nine kids, so Christmas was a time of family, rough housing and laughter. When I was young, my family would deliver The Twelve Days of Christmas to a few choice families in the neighborhood each year. The battle my parents faced in doing this activity year after year was not in getting their nine children I excited about it, but in mediating who would ring the bell. The ringer had to be fast to avoid getting caught. They had to be quiet. They had to hide well. We all thought of ourselves as sneaky little spies, capable of delivering packages of Christmas joy without the tiniest trace left behind. It was a game, all part of the Christmas fun. However, the real treat of being the ringer was being close enough to see their faces when they opened the door. Nothing was more magical. Growing up in a family of eleven, Christmas could easily have gotten out of hand. But my parents seemed to handle it well. Maybe that's why we didn't have cable, because all those commercials featuring the latest and greatest toys would have created nine ravenous children, impossible to handle. I can honestly say it's a struggle to remember many presents I have received for Christmas in the last 27 years. When I think about Christmas, I rarely think of presents. There was one year my mom made my four sisters and I some crazy lime green and black striped shorts. I remember that gift. I remember that Christmas. It was my oldest sister's first Christmas back from college. We had greatly missed her, especially my mom and my next oldest sister. Like girls often do, they got to chatting in the wee hours of the morning on Christmas Eve. Talking turned to boredom, and boredom quickly turned into mischief. The three decided to play a trick on the rest of us slumbering folks. Quietly and systematically, they turned all the clocks in the house ahead a few hours. Two o'clock became six, which was a reasonable time in our household to wake up for presents. The three excitedly dragged each groggy body downstairs to the Christmas tree. And once the sleep was wiped away, fun and laughter ensued. After all the presents were opened and all five girls had put on their crazy striped shorts, everyone patiently waited for the sun to rise. It never came up. After an hour of waiting, we went about our day. My mom made breakfast and my dad began watching "It's a Wonderful Life," but there was still no sun. After several hours, we began to wonder if the world had come to an end. Finally someone called time, a thing we did back before cell phones. My mom and sisters burst into laughter. They had fooled us well, and in the process created a magical Christmas memory that we still laugh about today. It comes down to the little things like tricks on Christmas day and stepping into freshly fallen snow and listening to it crunch under your feet. Or the sight of sparkling lights draped around trees and houses like a warm winter scarf. Or looking up and watching flakes appear from nowhere and gently drift to the ground like fall leaves dancing in the wind. Or even tiny toes and intertwined fingers warming by the cozy fire. December, Christmastime, is a magical time of year. Fear and doubt melt away like snow in the summer sun, and love and hope rises like the evening stars. Even without that man from the North, I find Christmas the most magical time of the year. in the Valley Christmas lights on Temple Square in Salt Lake City dallied onlookers. By Dale Jones Staff Writer It's that time of year again. The time of year when you get stuck inside watching movies and wondering when the warmth is going to come back so you can have fun outside again. We often find ourselves trying to think of fun things to do during the winter months in the wonderful cold weather. Looking at Christmas lights could be the perfect solution. The biggest Christmas CONTACT: Andrea Whatcott/IIVU Review light event is the Temple Square lights in downtown Salt Lake. But guess what? Now people don't have to travel to Salt Lake to see a great show of Christmas lights. Just a 15 to 30 minute car ride south of Orem and Provo are two fun little light shows, much closer than the lights displayed in Utah's capitol. The first one is in Spanish Fork. There, they have the "Annual Spanish Fork Festival of Lights" put on by the city, which only costs $5 per car and the price goes up the larger your vehicle gets. The lights can be seen from now until Jan. 1 at Canyon View Park in Spanish Fork from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily. If the local radio station is tuned to 99.9 FM, viewers can also listen to Christmas music while driving and looking at the lights. The second set of lights is found just a little further south of Spanish Fork in Salem. Salem puts together a small but fun set of lights on Salem Pond, known as the "Salem Pond Holiday Lights." You can park your car, get out and walk around the pond to see floating lights in the shape of Christmas trees as well as a nativity scene on the west end of the pond. One of the coolest features is being able to walk across the pond's bridge, which is covered in lights itself. Looking to the east, a dozen or so lights in the shape of more Christmas trees, can be seen. These lights are located at Knoll Park in Salem and are on every night at dusk and run to the end of December. For those who don't want to drive south, don't worry, • • • • • • • • • • Helping out during the holidays Some call it Holiday Cheer, others call it the Christmas Spirit By Jeff Jacobsen Online Content Manager For some UVU families in need the worry that Christmas won't come this year is a stark reality. According to Lindsay Goodrich, a full-time intern at UVU's AmeriCorps working on their poverty initiative, matching families in need with sponsors is the most stressful part of working with the Sub-for-Santa program. The UVU Volunteer and Service Learning Center coordinates students and charity organizations from the community all year long, but the zeal for helping that they demonstrate on a regular basis seems to spread throughout the population during the holiday season. Along with her full-time school schedule, Goodrich spends a lot of her time working for AmeriCorps VISTA running the food pantry. Emergency food assistance from food provided by the Community Action Food Bank in Provo, helps anywhere from one to five students each day, Goodrich explained. But helping "food insecurity" is not the main focus for AmeriCorps VISTA during the last few months of each year. The Sub-for-Santa program, which began in early October, has been "a ton of work" for Goodrich. After their initial application, each student family in need went through a qualification and review process here at school, after which they were screened by United Way, the program's community partner. Student sponsors were found to provide gifts for the applicants, then the hard part began, Goodrich said. At first, there were not enough sponsors for all of the families that applied, which meant that Goodrich had to pick which needy families "got Christmas," and which didn't. "It's stressful and hard, but it makes a huge differ- ence to all these families," Goodrich said. Fortunately, because of the spirit of giving which seems to permeate society with the coming of winter even more quickly than the cold that winter brings, more sponsors were found and no families in need were turned away this year. Some call it Holiday Cheer. Others call it the Christmas Spirit. Students and employees in the Volunteer and Service Learning Center simply call it all in a day's work. Krystal Rasmussen, president of the student-run Service Council that services the student section of the Volunteer and Service Learning Center, seems to epitomize this spirit that flows throughout the volunteer hub with her beaming and seemingly permanent smile. "Christmas is so fun, and really exciting because it's the time of year when everybody is friendly and they want to give back," Rasmussen said. "It's weird that it happens at this time, but we'll take it. We love it." Rasmussen described the Service Council as a group devoted to helping students provide service while they're going to college that doesn't cost them financially: volunteer hours. The council sponsors over 150 service projects each year, and students involved have the opportunity of working with faculty and community partners on a regular basis, in addition to helping people on a personal level. That connection with people, Rasmussen said, is "what it's all about." It's too late to get involved in this year's Sub-for-Santa, but anyone that has the giving spirit can visit The Giving Tree in the Student Center by Subway for opportunities to help people in need during the holiday season. Of course, this season isn't the only time people are encouraged to give. Work with the Volunteer and Service Learning Council is eagerly accepted all year. "Being on the service council," Rasmussen said, "is like experiencing Christmas every day." just drive over to the shopping center at Riverwoods in north Provo. At the Riverwoods there are Christmas lights everywhere and even free horse carriage rides. People can view the lights Monday through Saturday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The carriage rides are available on Monday, Friday and Saturday nights from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. One of the best features about the lights at the Salem Pond and the Riverwoods is that they are free. Or for fun, just drive around town and check out neighborhood lights or make an adventure of it and get lost trying to find the houses with the best Christmas lights. All these wonderful lights and more are fun to see and experience. Take a date or go with a group of friends to enjoy the lights available in Utah Valley. Don't forget to dress warm and maybe even take some hot chocolate. It's cold outside. So get off your couch and stop watching all those movies and check out the sweet lights in the valley. It's too late to get involved with UVU's Sub for Santa's program this year, but the need for food donations lasts all year long. SPECIAL IOHNA CO-EDITOR jdancertiff@gmail.com • • • • • • DECEMBER 5, 2011 n in red agic without th • • • • • • • • SPECIALgikTgl:IRSmg-EDITOR SPECIAliNSDERFA THNA DESIGNER T j.j.ghormley@gmail.com andreawhatcott@gmail.com Jeff lacpbsen/UVU Reviev |