SOLSTICE HOLIDAY PARTY: The Swami Beyondanada was there, as well as the three tenors and singer Kathleen Murphy. Thus was the Curtis Wrights' 19th annual holiday celebration rendered. Playing right into their hands, the party fell this year on the very date of the solstice.
Some 80 merrymakers assembled to share the season with their hosts, newly elected Monte Sereno City Council member Wright and his wife, Jeanine Bugh. Guests ranged from CEOs to jobless victims of the economy, from local politicians to international artists.
A wassail bowl and wassailing songs struck the right note; then came an irreverent holiday blessing by the Swami Beyondanada (humorist Steve Baeherman). The Night Before Christmas was rendered by anesthesiologist Steve Jackson and enhanced by audience participation.
The three tenors— Phil Stephens, Mark Wallace and Joe Harakal—made their traditional appearance, and Kathleen Murphy launched into a torrid version of "Santa Baby."
Pulling apart Christmas crackers, an English tradition, revealed hats, jokes and prizes. A medley of Monte Sereno mayors was in attendance—present mayor Dave Baxter and former mayors Suzanne Jackson, Jack Lucas and Barbara Nesbet.
And a president was present. That's Ron Lykins, president elect of the Los Gatos Rotary and his wife, writer Joan Perry. Internationally famed artist Thomas Kinkade appeared, as did locally phamed pharmacist Bob Kirkendall. Members of the Los Gatos Tuesday Night Yoga Group and Los Gatos Mountain Biking Club showed up, too.
Not to be outshone by the guests were the candles lit for the solstice ceremony, a serious sharing of personal strides or setbacks in the past year and heartfelt wishes for the coming year, a fit ending for a chock-full evening.
CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS: These stockings contained the most precious gifts of all—babies born at Good Samaritan Hospital between Dec. 20 and 25. There were 45 babies born in that time frame, and nurses wrapped them in the hand-decorated flannel stockings.
The stockings were made and decorated by two Saratoga High School seniors, Teresa Lee and Laura Phan.
The girls have been working on the stockings since last summer. The project was suggested by the volunteers as a way to make a baby's first Christmas special and to give the families a keepsake to take home with their babies. Also helping to craft stockings were members of the adult auxiliary.
Some 63 stockings were made. On Christmas Day some of the babies in the intensive care units were wrapped in the stockings, too. Headed-for-home babies were photographed in the stockings upon their dismissal from the hospital and parents took them home to hang on the mantel—the stockings, you understand, not the babies.
BELIZE, PULEEZ: Judy and Frank Homen are primed to take the trip of a lifetime—they hope. They are among five finalists chosen from thousands of entries in the "Escape With Your Perfect Mate" contest offered by Nestle Coffee-Mate.
The finalists' names and stories will be on the Coffee-Mate website (www.coffee-mate.com) until Jan. 15. From their stories, the public will decide on the most deserving couple. The story with the most votes after 30 days wins the trip. With enough local backing, the Homens' dreams of going to Belize may be realized.
The Homens live in Saratoga, and Frank operates Sunrise Landscape Maintenance in Saratoga.
NEW ZEALAND GRAD: Patrick Lundell, LGHS '97, has been in love with the land down under ever since he visited Australia and New Zealand in a People to People exchange program when he was 15. So it's no surprise to his folks that he chose Massey University in New Zealand for college work.
He will graduate in February with a bachelor of applied science degree in natural resource management. He spent Christmas with friends in Oruawharo, New Zealand, enjoying a "hangi," a traditional Maori feast similar to the Hawaiian luau.
In February he'll return to the United States and intends to pursue graduate studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson. His parents are Tim Lundell and Penny O'Neill.
FUNDING NEW NURSING FACULTY POST: The Community Hospital of Los Gatos helped fund a new faculty position in the school of nursing at San José State University recently by presenting a check for $36,000 to the school. An upsurge in enrollment for the coming year necessitated the faculty increase, and the hospital came to the rescue.
Officially presenting the gift were Dan Doore, the hospital's CEO, and Barbara VanAmburg, chief nursing officer. Accepting for the university were Dr. Michael Ego, dean of the college of applied science and arts, and Dr. Jayne Cohen, director of the school of nursing.
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By Mary Ann Cook