News

HOLIDAY BRIEFS: Mitten Tree, 'A Christmas Memory,' best Christmas lights

Bud Weeks and Steve Culp show off the Mitten Tree at Trinity Presbyterian Church.

By Lightning Reports, Published: December 9, 2022

Mitten Tree needs winter wear

Bud Weeks and Steve Culp invite the community to decorate the Mitten Tree at Trinity Presbyterian Church with new mittens, gloves, hats and socks to help warm the hands, heads and feet of toddlers through teens during the cold winter months. You can decorate the Mitten Tree yourself at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 900 Blythe Street, or drop off gifts just inside the church door until Christmas Day. All gifts on the Mitten Tree go to the Interfaith Assistance Ministry and on to the children and teens who really need them.

Haire to perform 'A Christmas Memory'

FLAT ROCK — Actor and theologian E.R. Haire Jr. will present Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” as a one-man show at the Episcopal Church of St. John in the Wilderness at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16, and Saturday, Dec. 17, and 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 18, in the church Parish Hall across Rutledge Drive from the sanctuary.

This is the 30^th year Haire has performed the story, from Los Angeles to Edinburgh, Scotland, with many stops in between.

“This story has become a big part of my life and I never really realized it until returning to perform it at home,” he said. “It brings the story’s poignant message full circle.”

The show is free to the public but seating is limited to 50 people per performance and RSVP is required. Sign up at www.stjohnflatrock.org. Face masks are optional.

“A Christmas Memory” takes place during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Until he was 10 years old, Truman Capote lived with elderly relatives in a small town in rural Alabama. The story is a frankly autobiographical account of those years, especially of his relationship with one of the elderly cousins, Miss Sook Faulk.

The greatest examples of Capote’s skillfulness as a writer are found among the stories inspired by his early childhood and the relationships he forged growing up in the rural South.

“A Christmas Memory” first appeared in Mademoiselle Magazine in the late 1950s, when Capote was 27 years old, and has since become one of his most beloved and bestselling works.

Capote was a flamboyant figure in both literary and cultural circles. Controversial, colorful and complex, he was a writer of uncommon grace. His best-known works include Breakfast at Tiffany’s, In Cold Blood, Other Voices Other Rooms and The Grass Harp. Mr. Capote died in 1984 at the age of 59.

A North Carolina native, Earle Ross Haire Jr. worked in Los Angeles as an actor and at Paramount Studios. Theater credits in Los Angeles include The Foreigner, You Can’t Take It With You, Hamlet, Henry V, Richard III, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and the comedy spoof Riffs of Shakespeare. A member of the Screen Actors Guild, he has appeared in some forgettable films and on a daytime TV drama your grandmother might have watched, “Days of Our Lives.” Haire earned a Master of Sacred Theology degree from Yale University Divinity School, focusing on drama and worship. In 2017 he earned a PhD. In Theology and Ethics from the University of the Edinburgh in Scotland.

Voting open through Dec. 16 for best Christmas lights

Love Christmas lights? You're in luck.

Voting is under way in the Home Holiday Decoration Contest and the Merchant Holiday Decoration Contest. The Henderson County Tourism Development Authority, the contest sponsor, invites the public to vote for the best in each category.

“These contests have become increasingly popular for both visitors and locals, and since people can explore and view the displays in their own time, it is a fun, potentially multi-evening activity for families and groups of all sizes,” said Amy Boswell, Asset and Event Development Coordinator. “In terms of why businesses may want to compete, this is an easy, free way to get additional exposure to their storefront, increasing their holiday sales.”

Voting is open through Dec. 16. To vote go to visithendersonvillenc.org/decoration-contest.

Boys & Girls Club collecting new toys

The Boys & Girls Club of Henderson County is collecting new unwrapped toys for club members, ages 6-11, through Dec. 14. All toys will be given to children through the club’s annual Santa’s Workshop holiday gifting program. To donate a new, unwrapped toy or make a monetary donation to the Boys & Girls Club of Henderson County, please call 828-693-9444 or bring your donation to 1304 Ashe Street. The deadline for toy donations is Wednesday, Dec. 14.

Sheriff will send Santa letters to the North Pole

Sheriff Lowell Griffin announced that the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office has once again formed a special task force with the magical agency located at the North Pole for the 2022 Christmas season.

Making your wishes known to Santa is as easy as stopping by the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office (100 North Grove Street), finding the sleigh red mailbox located at the front entrance and dropping in your letter. Express shipping to the North Pole is included free of charge! Letters must include a valid return address, child’s name, age and gender. Drop them off at the Sheriff’s Office no later than Dec. 15 in order to give Santa enough time to reply. No letters will be mailed to anyone outside of Henderson County.