Holiday happenings

Benefiting the children’s music programs of the Philharmonic Society

of Orange County, the 38th annual Huntington Harbour Cruise of Lights

will begin today and run through Dec. 23.

The Cruise of Lights is a narrated boat tour through the waters of

Huntington Harbour and features waterfront homes festively decorated with

animation, music and lights. Boats tour nightly, except for Monday, at

5:30, 6:30, 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $6 for children age 2 to 12

and $9 for adults during the week, and $10 on weekends. Tuesday will be

family night. Reservations are recommended. (714) 840-7542.

Sleigh ride set at pier restaurant

The Longboard Restaurant & Pub will host its annual horse-drawn sleigh

ride from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. today at the eatery, 217 Main St. Admission

is a donation of an unwrapped gift for the Children Guidance Center for

abused children. (714) 960-1896.

Free parking in area of Downtown for holidays

Huntington Beach will again cover the Downtown parking meters with a

holiday message and provide free parking in the business zone beginning

Friday through Jan. 2. The free parking area includes the first two

blocks of Main Street and the arteries of Walnut and Olive avenues. The

recreational zone on Pacific Coast Highway is excluded.

Safeco offering free long-distance calls

For its 20th year, Safeco Insurance Co. in Fountain Valley will hold

its free Holiday Hotline from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday so seniors age 55

and older can call family and friends long distance. More than 200

seniors are expected to attend. Safeco is at 17570 Brookhurst St. (714)

963-0900.

Santa making stop at pier this weekend

Santa Claus will distribute candy canes at 3 p.m. on the corner of

Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway at the Huntington Beach Pier on

Saturday and Sunday as well as Dec. 23 and 24, and will be available for

pictures until 6 p.m. at the Rocky Mountain Candy Store, 200 Main St.

Donations of unwrapped gifts are requested for the Children Guidance

Center and can be dropped off inside the store. (714) 953-455, Ext. 617.

Concert Band to play holiday classics Sunday

The Huntington Beach Concert Band will present its annual holiday

concert at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Huntington Beach Central Library

Auditorium, 7111 Talbert Ave.

Director Thomas Riley will lead the 60-piece brass and wind ensemble

in a variety of holiday carols. Tickets are $5, and $3 for seniors,

students and children. (714) 536-5258.

Girl Scouts to wrap gifts for seniors

Girl Scout Cadet Troop 803 will wrap gifts for seniors from 11 a.m. to

3 p.m. Monday at the Michael E. Rodgers Seniors Center, 1706 Orange Ave.,

Huntington Beach. (714) 536-9387.

Project Self-Sufficiency needs gifts for kids

Huntington Beach Girl Scout Troop 1932 hung angel tags on the Project

Self-Sufficiency Christmas tree on the fifth floor of City Hall, 2000

Main St., Huntington Beach. Each tag has the name and age of a Project

Self-Sufficiency child, as well as suggested gifts. Any age-appropriate,

unwrapped gift may be placed under the tree and tagged with an angel by

Tuesday, the day of the Project Self-Sufficiency Christmas party. (714)

536-5500.

Women’s Club to host holiday luncheon

The Huntington Beach Christian Women’s Club will host its Sounds of

Christmas luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Los

Caballeros Sports Village Ballroom, Second Floor, 17272 Newhope St.,

Fountain Valley. Doors open at 10:45 a.m. Gloria Haslam will perform an

array of holiday melodies, and the guest speaker will be Susan Haber, who

will talk about holiday miracles. Tickets are $14. For reservations, call

(714) 968-2847 or (714) 963-9942.

Operation Santa Claus underway at library

The Operation Santa Claus tree, which has angel tags hung on with the

name and age of a needy child or adult, as well as gift suggestions, is

on display at the Fountain Valley Library. Anyone interested should pick

a tag from the tree and bring an unwrapped gift back to the library by

Wednesday. All gifts will be distributed to children and senior citizens

who are clients of the Orange County Social Services Agency.

The gifts will be given to children who will not be able to spend the

holidays with their natural families for reasons of neglect, abuse or

abandonment, as well as senior citizens or persons with disabilities who

do not have family or friends to spend the the holidays with. Last year,

more than 450 gifts and $1,500 was was donated. The library is at 17635

Los Alamos St., Fountain Valley. (714) 962-1324.

Hotel collecting toys for charity

The Comfort Suites hotel in Huntington Beach is collecting stuffed

animals and other playthings for the Toys For Tots charity.

Donors are encouraged to leave toys for needy children in a collection

box outside the hotel at 16301 Beach Blvd. Donations will be accepted

through Dec. 23. (714) 841-1812.

‘The Nutcracker’ playing at Golden West

A holiday show is being presented this month at Golden West College’s

Mainstage Theatre, 15744 Goldenwest St., Huntington Beach.

“The Nutcracker” ballet will run for 12 performances through Dec. 24.

Admission is $12.50 for adults and $10.50 for children under 12.

Tickets are on sale at the box office by calling (714) 895-8150.

Surf Museum begins holiday donation drive

The Huntington Beach Surf Museum has put its Donation Christmas Tree

on display. For a $1 donation, people can fill out a musical note of

thanks to hang on the tree. Each donation will include a raffle ticket

for one of the surf music CDs to be given away in January. Donations can

be filled out during museum hours from noon to 5 p.m., Thursday through

Monday. (714) 960-3483.

Holiday D’Lights on display at center

Surf City residents looking for a holiday spectacle can cruise to the

McDonnell Centre Business Park for the Holiday D’Lights, a drive-through

attraction of animated light displays.

The event is free for all residents and features a one-mile span of

more than 25 light displays, including the space shuttle delivering

presents into space and Santa Claus playing basketball.

The lighted attraction, part of the city’s Turn of the Century

celebration, is presented from 6 to 10 p.m. through Dec. 31.

Every Friday through Sunday, the Holiday D’Lights Village is open so

families can visit Santa Claus, shop, eat, listen to live music and other

activities.

On Saturday, the All-American Boys Chorus will hold a concert from

6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Although the event is free, donations will be accepted

for nonprofit organizations Huntington Beach Education, Academy for the

Performing Arts and the Huntington Youth Shelter, which are helping to

put on the event.

The Holiday D’Lights entrance is at Astronautics Road off of Rancho

Road in Huntington Beach. (714) 969-3492.

Food drive underway through year’s end

Caring and sharing is what the holidays are all about. The Second

Harvest Food Bank of Orange County is inviting the community to join the

Care and Share Holiday Food Drive, which is being held through Dec. 31.

Donations of food or money are accepted by calling (714) 771-1343.

The Food Bank Operation Gobble Turkey Drive is also underway, which

provides hot meals to those who would go without it. The following local

businesses are part of dozens of companies that have donated to the

drive. They are Heritage Montessori School in Fountain Valley, and

Heritage School, McDonnell Douglas Federal Credit Union, National Cash

Advance, and Sharp and Grahm Chiropractic in Huntington Beach.

Water district tree decorated by children

The Orange County Water District shows its holiday spirit by

decorating an 8- to 9-foot tree each year. This year, nearly 100 water

drops decorate the district’s tree, thanks to the artistic talents of

students who attended the 2000 Children’s Drinking Water Festival.

These handmade water drops were decorated by third- and fourth-graders

from schools throughout Orange County that participated in the festival.

In the hands-on learning environment of the festival, students learned

what behaviors they can adopt to conserve and protect our environment and

water resources.