Plenty of activities going on in Rockingham County to get you in the holiday spirit

42nd Annual Draper Children’s Christmas Parade

Children of all ages are invited to watch the 42nd Annual Draper Children’s Christmas Parade on Saturday.

“It’s all for the kids,” said O.T. Coleman, parade chairman and firefighter for the Draper Volunteer Fire Department. “We’ve got kids of all different ages. You’ve got some kids that are just seeing the parade for the first time and kids that have been seeing it every year.”

Coleman recalls watching the Christmas parade as a child and considers it an honor to coordinate it. One of the best parts of the parade is the candy.

“The candy will be slinging out all over the place,” said Coleman.

The parade line-up begins at 9:30 a.m. on Meadow Road, and the parade begins at 11 a.m. at Main Street and Meadow Road. Last year, the parade was lined up almost all the way back to Miller Brewing Co. This year, Coleman expects to have between 160 and 180 entries. Trophies will be awarded in several categories.

The grand marshal is Draper’s Barbara Chambers, who decorates the children’s corner in town every year. City councilmen and county commissioners will also head up the parade. Some of the highlights will be performances by the Morehead and McMichael marching bands and an appearance by Flames and Sparkles, clowns from the Eden Fire Department. The Draper Volunteer Fire Department’s Model T fire truck, Santa Claus and homemade floats will also be part of the children’s Christmas parade.

Main Street United Methodist Church’s Christmas Tour of Homes

The United Methodist Women of Main Street United Methodist Church in Reidsville are preparing for this weekend’s Christmas tour of homes. The tour is set for Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.

The first stop on the tour is the home of Dick and Lynn Pruitt at 320 Wood Duck Court. The home is a cottage-style house with stone, board and buttoning siding.

The second stop on the tour is the home of Pam Coleman at 1531 McCoy Road. Coleman’s home is a farmhouse built in 1920 by the Moore Family. It is the old Coleman home place, and Coleman’s grandmother lived there. In the ceiling of one of the rooms in the home are the quilting hooks that Coleman’s grandmother once used.

The third stop on the tour is the home of Susan Dunlap at 119 Kilmer Lane. Dunlap has a tree decorated in every room of the house. Growing up, Dunlap’s family would give her Christmas ornaments as gifts, and the tradition has remained. Dunlap has decorations from all over the world as well as collectible ornaments. Her favorite belonged to her father when he was a boy.

The fourth stop is the home of Dav Gerrells at 305 Irvin St. Gerrells owns Cafe 99 in downtown Reidsville, and his love of cooking is evident in his remodeled kitchen with updated appliances.

To buy tickets, contact Stacy Setliff, president of the United Methodist Women of Main Street United Methodist Church, at 613-9000. Tickets, which are $10, will also be available at the homes the day of the tour.

Eden Preservation Society’s Annual Christmas Home Tour

The Eden Preservation Society will have its annual Christmas home tour on Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. The tour will include four homes and a celebrity bake sale at the Eden Historical Museum at 656 Washington St.

One of the homes on tour is the old King house, otherwise known as “Idlewild.” Built in 1875 at 718 N. Bridge St., overlooking the then-Leaksville business district, Idlewild is on the National Register of Historic Places. The home’s new owner, Andy Case, has made numerous improvements to the home, including a new kitchen and breakfast bay. The formal dining room has been restored, and it’s furnished with pieces including a large china cabinet and a fireplace with marble inserts.

A newer home on the tour is the home of Joyce and Allen French at 1830 Indian Trail in the Indian Hills area. Joyce says she “loves Christmas” and plans to have a family Christmas tree in the living room, decorated with her collection of Barbie and Sesame Street ornaments. The upstairs of the home will feature a Christmas tree in every room, including a tree that the French’s daughter, Allyson, now a senior in college, has had since childhood.

The Evans Home at 351 Maplewood Drive is a collectors’ home. Some of the collections guests will find in the home are Wendell Evans’ Toby jugs, in all shapes and sizes, and his ironwood carvings from Mexico. Dot Evans’ dolls will also be on display, including her Shirley Temple collection. Other collections throughout the home include glass swans and exquisite Limoges pillboxes. The living room is full of art and antiques.

Vickie and Ronald McKinney’s home, at 319 Dogwood Drive at Taft Street, is also full of antique pieces and collections. The antiques in the home include pictures from the historic Mebane House. An extensive collection of blue-and-white china is on display in the formal dining room and on shelves in the living room. A colorful collection of “rooster” items, including two paintings by Vickie’s mother, can be found in the kitchen.

Admission is $10 and includes one entry for a door prize. Tickets will be sold at each home the day of the tour.

Tree of Hope Lighting Ceremony

The lighting ceremony for Annie Penn Auxiliary’s 24th Annual Holiday Tree of Hope is 4 p.m. Sunday. It begins in front of Annie Penn Hospital on Main Street next to the Tree of Hope, followed by refreshments, holiday entertainment provided by the Reidsville High School Band Ensemble, and a special guest appearance by Santa Claus in the hospital dining room. The event is free and open to the public.

Proceeds from the sale of the lights are used to purchase hospital equipment and support hospital projects. Lights are $5 for each person honored, or $25 for a twinkling light, which includes written recognition at the lighting ceremony.

Night of Miracles

Draper Christian Church at 1116 Fieldcrest Road in Eden will have its 9th Annual Night of Miracles on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 7 to 9 p.m. Live actors will depict the Christmas story in seven scenes from the annunciation of the birth of Jesus to Mary by the angel Gabriel to the manger scene with baby Jesus. A Roman guard has been added this year.

“Admission is free; it’s our gift to the community,” said Lisa Williams, director of the Night of Miracles.

Christmas Bazaar

The annual Mayodan Moravian Church Christmas Bazaar will take place 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. The event features fresh handmade pumpkin rolls, as well as the traditional Moravian cookies and sugar cake. Sale items include traditional Christmas gifts and decorations, and many other gift ideas.

Tree Lighting

The Mayodan Preservation League hosts the annual Old-Fashioned Christmas Tree Lighting and Caroling beginning at 6 p.m. Sunday. The event takes place on the square in downtown Mayodan with a special visit from Santa to take orders from everyone’s wish list. Quint and Kim Haley of Autumn Creek Vineyards will donate the tree. For more information, call 548-2241.

First Friday Opening at The Gallery

Come out to The Gallery in downtown Reidsville on Friday from 5 to 9 p.m. The opening will feature functional and nonfunctional pottery from the Rockingham County Potters’ Guild and photography by Gene Stafford. Ron Martin will provide the music.

Upcoming – Candlelight Downtown

Got some Christmas shopping to do? Come to the candlelight downtown in the Olde Leaksville Shopping District of Eden from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. More than 20 merchants will offer special Christmas deals and refreshments. Candlelight downtown will include a live nativity, a doggie costume contest, a walking lantern tour by the Eden Preservation Society, carolers, Melanie Paschal’s dancers and classic and jazz guitarist Jacob Rankin.

Upcoming — Wentworth’s First Christmas Parade

The town of Wentworth will have its first Christmas parade on Dec. 13,beginning at 11 a.m. The parade route will follow N.C. 87/ N.C. 65 beginning at Sandy Cross Road and traveling west to the Rockingham County Courthouse. Parade entries can be downloaded at townofwentworth.com. Parade entries should reflect “traditional and old-fashioned Christmas” values and memories.

Staff Writer Miranda Baines can be reached at or 349-4331, ext. 35.

Marianne Aiken of the Eden Preservation Society and Stacy Setliff, president of the Main Street United Methodist Church Women, contributed to this report.

Yellow expected as a bright spot for 2009

By SAMANTHA CRITCHELL

The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Enough gloom and doom: There’s a prediction from a leading color source that cheerful and sunny yellow will be the influential color of 2009.

Pantone, which provides color standards to design industries, specifically cites mimosa, a vibrant shade of yellow illustrated by the flowers of some mimosa trees as well as the brunch-favorite cocktail, as its top shade of the new year. In general, Pantone expects the public to embrace many tones of optimistic yellow.

“I think it’s just the most wonderful symbolic color of the future,” says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. “It’s invariably connected to warmth, sunshine and cheer — all the good things we’re in dire need of right now.”

In the spring fashion collections previewed earlier in the fall for retailers and editors, yellow brightened the runways of Carolina Herrera — who called her favorite shade marigold — Badgley Mischka, Zac Posen and Michael Kors, among others. Kors even included a retro yellow polka-dot bikini that clearly harkened back to a more upbeat time.

Yellow can be tricky to wear. It’s best as a pop — either a shoe, handbag or T-shirt — rather than an all-over outfit color, advise stylists Jesse Garza and Joe Lupo. But the right shade of yellow for your skin tone can make your whole look come to life.

“People want to wear color to bring a smile to their face,” says Garza, who co-wrote with Lupo the new book “Life in Color: The Visual Therapy Guide to the Perfect Palette — for Fashion, Beauty and You” (Chronicle Books).

The fashion world first embraced orange a few years ago and that has evolved into yellow, which had already been gaining popularity in the home market, too.

“People know yellow lightens up the atmosphere,” Eiseman says.

Home-goods companies based in Paris and Milan, Italy, have already been heavily influenced by yellow, says Tom Mirabile, vice president of global trends and design at Lifetime Brands, Inc., whose portfolio includes Cuisinart, Farberware and Pfaltzgraff.

It helps that it looks good in florals and has a close association with nature, a driving force in the marketplace right now, and it complements current favorites green and purple. A purple-tinged blue called blue iris was Pantone’s pick as the top color for this year.

Flashes of yellow appear in kitchens, bathrooms and dining rooms, and it’s moving into living room. The color nicely straddles traditional — think of a Williamsburg-style formal dining room — and modern, such as a single statement wall in a cool downtown Manhattan loft.

This particular shade of mimosa should fare best in the kitchen, both in appliances and soft goods, but more mustardy colors will likely be more popular elsewhere in the house, says Mirabile.

“I’d say you should get used to seeing yellow in places you’re not used to seeing it,” Eiseman says.