CRESTVIEW — Behold Christmas’ wonders, unfolded for all to enjoy on the Nichols family’s Peggy Drive lawn.

A festive locomotive, nativity scene, penguin family and a hot air balloon soaring overhead glow in the winter night.

And what holiday display would be complete without a flashing UFO and a dragon?

Grady Nichols said he and his wife, Lisa, began organizing what would evolve into their Christmas extravaganza at Halloween — hence the dragon and flying saucer. Likewise, the driveway’s lighted archways go from Halloween colors to Christmassy reds and greens.

“We do over the dragon and UFO,” he said. “It’s a little weird. We look out and see people taking pictures by the dragon.”

As Christmas approaches, the Nicholses begin placing other elements around their front and side lawns about two weeks before it’s time to switch everything on, Grady said.

“It goes all the way around,” he said, sweeping his arm down the side yard.

The dragon, with its wings spread wide, stands well over 6 feet tall.

“He’s an old putt-putt (miniature golf) dragon,” Grady Nichols said. “A guy bought him at a yard sale and offered it to us. We had to fix him up a lot. He’s got five different colors of spray paint on him.”

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CHRISTMAS ENTERTAINMENT: Dragon, UFO join locomotive and nativity scene in lawn display

CRESTVIEW — The Neville family has a free gift for the community. Their nightly synchronized light show not only lights up their Shoal Lake neighborhood, but also the faces of all who gather in their cul-de-sac to watch the display.

Amy Neville gives all the credit to her husband Mike, a weapons standardization supervisor at Hurlburt Field, and their daughter Kaelyn, 8, who inspired the project.

“We always had a static display and I finally let him go animated,” she said. “He and my oldest daughter built most of the stuff in the front yard.”

“The stuff” features the 20-foot “mega-tree,” a dazzling 13,000-light beacon for the neighborhood, with four 6-foot brothers (2,400 lights each) and 11, 400-light “smaller brothers” clustered around it. In all, 30,000 lights, counting extraneous stars and other sparklies, dance synchronized to half-hour programs of eclectic music.

“It appeals to a wide range of tastes,” Matt Neville said. “We keep it family friendly. Our show definitely runs the gamut, from big band to jazz to hard rock. Each song is edited down to two minutes, so if you pull up and it’s not a song you like, the next one will come along quickly.”

 Kaelyn provided inspiration for the display when, soon after the family arrived in Crestview seven years ago, saw a lavish lights display while the family drove home from the city’s Christmas parade. “Big lights, Daddy!” she exclaimed. “Big lights” became the goal, and this summer, the family started planning the show they call “Watts Up Crestview.”

The day after Thanksgiving, Watts Up Crestview lit up the sky over Renee Court. The show does more than give pleasure to folks who find the street a few blocks off John King Road. A box at the end of the driveway also allows viewers to give a donation to Special Olympics, a cause which Matt Neville supported while the family was stationed in Alaska.

What Matt calls “mission control” is his laptop computer out in the garage running a program called Light-O-Rama. Hours of programming time, with new songs being added every couple of days, synched the many strands of lights to the rhythm of the music.

When the bass of Run DMC’s “Christmas in Hollis” starts playing, the lights start blasting to the beat. But when the U.S. Navy Band’s “Dueling Jingle Bells,” a catchy tune á la Flatt and Scruggs’ “Dueling Banjos,” plays, the lights start chasing each other around the lawn.

“When I heard that song, I said, ‘That’s going in,’” Matt said. “You really can play all the trees with it.”

The Neville’s neighbors welcome the show.

“The neighbors have been really supportive,” Amy Neville said. “We checked with them before we made this step. In fact, the closest neighbor’s daughter has been helping Matt this year.”

Because the music is broadcast on viewers’ car radios and not over outdoor speakers, there’s no noise concerns on Renee Court — until the neighbors themselves turn up their own radios, that is.

“I have two neighbors that actually turn on the radios in their garages and come out and watch,” Matt said.

Also watching are the Kaelyn and her younger sisters, Alyson, 4, and Meghyn, 2.

“They sit in the window,” Amy said. “They try to fight to get the best spot to see the lights.”

Watching a recent evening’s show was Tina McCormick, who drove up with her neighbor’s daughters Jolie and Lane Jessen.

“This is awesome!” McCormick said as she held her iPhone out the window so she could broadcast the show to her daughter in Philadelphia. “What a nice thing to do for the community.”

“We’re glad we could do something for the community,” Matt said. “And with the donations for Special Olympics, we’ll be having an impact all year long.”

Want to go?

The Watts Up Crestview synchronized Christmas lights display is 6-9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 6-10:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays at 3004 Renee Ct. off John King Road. Tune to 94.5 FM to hear the music.

VIDEO: See "Related Media" at top left of this article.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CHRISTMAS ENTERTAINMENT: Watts Up lights up neighborhood

Until I visited primitive artist Toby Hollinghead’s current exhibition, I was only acquainted with two “Mississippi Queen” steamboats. One was the late, lamented paddlewheeler on which I made several river cruises. Sadly, it was dismantled a couple years ago. The other, a wannabe, does harbor tours in Hamburg, Germany, its paddlewheel as fake as a street vendor’s Rolexes.

Now, I have a new “Mississippi Queen” to replace the void in my Steamboater’s heart: Hollinghead’s painting currently on display at the Crestview Public Library.

Hollinghead’s cheerful, vibrant canvas perfectly captures the romance of those halcyon days of the Great Steamboat Era. Riverfolk eagerly greet the elegant sidewheeler as she steams up to the landing. A couple roustabouts, one strumming a banjo, lounge around cotton bales to be loaded aboard the boat. You can almost hear the familiar riverman’s cry, “Steamboat a-comin’!”

Born north of Florida in McKenzie, Ala., Hollinghead’s family moved to Deerland, a community just east of Crestview, when she was 10. Life in both rural communities greatly influences her paintings. Locals will feel right at home among scenes of cotton harvesting and country life. A favorite is “Two Red Rakes,” depicting a couple raking and burning autumn leaves as their daughter plays nearby on a tree swing.

Though Hollinghead enjoyed sketching and playing guitar all her life, she never contemplated putting paint to canvas until her grown daughter, Raven, gave her an artist’s paint set for Christmas one year. Hollinghead has been painting ever since.

“It’s like music to me,” she said. “The colors have rhythm and flow, and can evoke tears and laughter. When I approach the canvas, the paint and brush take over and move of their own accord to create an emotion and an event I sometimes didn’t know was there.”

Some of Hollinghead’s works — including “Given Unto You,” a large Nativity painting that greets visitors at the exhibition’s beginning — reflect her deep faith.

“God has blessed me by giving me this special gift of joy and I hope to share it with others,” Hollinghead said.

Hollinghead has also included several winter scenes, some of them delightfully whimsical, that are also apropos to the season. I particularly liked the “Santa Bird,” as well as an untitled piece depicting four of the stocking-capped birds delivering presents to a cabin. My favorite, though, was “Pat of Encouragement,” showing a young boy completing a snowman as decorated fir trees bow in the background.

Hollinghead’s exhibit will remain through December during normal library hours, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Fridays; and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: REVIEW: Visit Toby's country at Crestview library exhibition

I got to unwrap another early Christmas present Dec. 13 when the Crestview High School chorus presented its annual Winter Concert. It was such sheer delight that it erased any guilt I was feeling not being home writing my already late Christmas cards.

Setting the perfect mood, the 130 singers opened the concert by ringing the Pearl Tyner Auditorium and, illuminated only by the candles each held, trolled the lovely “Carol of the Bells.”

Choral music director Kevin Lusk often freshens each concert with wonderful little treats, but likewise is sure to include favorites we eagerly anticipate each year. This year the show began with the Chanticleer and Destiny show choirs alternating numbers. Moving that many kids swiftly on and off stage might seem awkward, but “we practiced it a lot,” Lusk said.

It worked. Transitions were virtually seamless. Both choirs had the opportunity to strut their stuff, with Chanticleer’s great rendition of the old Judy Garland standard, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” a standout.

Destiny’s “Yes, Virginia” was radiant, and apropos. With lines like, “Even though you may not see him in his sleigh on Christmas Eve/ Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus; It’s true if you believe,” it provided welcome reassurance following the fracas that erupted over a certain out-of-town Grinch who inserted himself in the community’s Christmas parade.

Professional violinists Esther Tiedemann and Natalie Cox played for several of the men’s and women’s choirs pieces. The guys’ rendition of “A La Nañita Nana” was especially lovely, enhanced by the violin accompaniment.  Whipping out dark shades, the men then got a little jiggy with “An Elvis Christmas” medley.

Two of the women’s pieces — “Ding Dong Merrily on high” and “Sir Edward Elgar’s “The Snow” — were moving, joyful and beautifully sung selections. Alas, the latter, on which the violinists again accompanied, was marred by a thoughtless cretin in audience who thought it the perfect opportunity to take a large, noisy slurp on his smuggled Big Gulp, rattling the ice in the process.

Like those who brought peevish toddlers, one really must wonder why, if someone is unwilling to act civilized for an hour and 45 minutes, they insist on ruining an otherwise beautiful evening for the rest of us, as well as insulting the stellar, hard-working vocalists who practiced so hard to share their talent with us?

The evening otherwise got simply better and better, with Chorale’s “Pat-a-Pan” and “Gabriel’s Message” (also punctuated by drink slurps and ice rattling, the perpetrator of which also engrossed in texting through some of the best songs of the night) until at last the entire massed chorus, joined by a dozen or more alumni who dutifully went straight to their old places, gave us a stirring rendition of the “Hallelujah Chorus” from “The Messiah.”

What a stunning finale, and a gorgeous way to propel us on to Christmas. Next up: Schola Cantorum’s concert Monday evening, 7 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church. See you there. Leave the drink and the cell outside.

VIDEO: See "Related Media" at top left of this article.

Contact News Bulletin Arts & Entertainment Editor Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: REVIEW: A Christmas gift from Crestview High's chorus (VIDEO)

CRESTVIEW — Christmas cookie baking at the Hughes residence was a family affair.

Mom marshaled her kitchen assistants — my brother and me. “Assistance” included eating any slightly singed or misshapen cookies. Dad stayed out of the way, a task he handled skillfully and willingly in front of the living room TV.

I’d get the early shift, as I had inherited Poppa Hughes’ Anglo blood and generally shut down around 11:30 p.m. My brother Evan got Poppa Major’s Austro-Hungarian blood and took the late shift, which often stretched into the wee hours.

With a stack of Christmas albums on the record player, it was great mother-sons bonding time.

I inherited Mom’s 1949 “Christmas Cookie Book” by Virginia Pasley. Mom’s list of our family’s favorite cookies and her handwritten notations are conveniently tucked inside the front cover so I can prepare them almost as she did.

Though 17 Christmases have passed since she left us, Mom still helps at Christmas cookie time. Those bonds formed decades ago in a warm, tiny kitchen on a snow-clad New Jersey mountaintop are as strong as ever.

I’ve since added some of my own favorites. Family traditions evolve, you know. Foremost is my gingerbread, which friends like because these are rich, spicy and soft cookies, not the hard, crunchy kind.

With lots of German influence from both sets of grandparents, spice cookies, especially Lebkuchen — my favorite — always figure highly on my list.

This year, I want to try Pfeffernüsse, little “pepper nut” balls. They look festive and Christmassy dusted with powdered sugar.

Put on some Bing Crosby, add a little Julie Andrews and Nat King Cole, stir in some Mannheim Steamroller, and — if I may suggest a selection you may not know — Nancy LaMott’s heartfelt “Just in Time for Christmas,” and meet me in the kitchen.

GINGERBREAD

These gingerbread cookies, whatever shape you choose to make them in, are spicy and chewy. The dough must refrigerate overnight, so plan ahead.

Ingredients

1 jar (12 ounces) dark, unsulphured molasses

1½ cups (3 sticks) butter

2 large eggs

8 cups plain all-purpose flour

1½ cups dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

5 teaspoons ground ginger

4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon powdered cloves

1 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground allspice

DIRECTIONS: Microwave the molasses in its jar about a half-minute to make it easier to pour. Pour it into a saucepan, add the butter and heat on medium-low to melt the butter. Let it cool and then beat in the eggs.

In a large mixing bowl — the bigger the better — measure all the dry ingredients and mix well. Make a “well” in the center, pour in the molasses mixture and mix together using a sturdy large spoon. You may have to use your hands as it gets stiffer. The dough will be soft and sticky.

Scrape the dough from the bowl onto a large sheet of plastic wrap. Wrap it well in several thicknesses of plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight or up to four days.

Go write your Christmas cards and start wrapping presents.

The next day, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Let the dough reach room temperature. It will be soft and feel slightly greasy. Break off a chunk about the size of a softball and roll it out to about ¼ inch thick on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. If the dough gets too sticky, chill it again.

Use cookie cutters to cut it into shapes. You can also use a sharp knife to cut custom shapes like letters of the alphabet. (Spell a friend’s name and pack the cookies, in order, in a flat box as a great gift.)

Peel away the unwanted dough from the cut shapes and bake until the edges begin to brown — about eight to 10 minutes, depending on cookie size. Knead it together with more of the dough and repeat on another sprayed cookie sheet.

Cool the cookies completely, and then ice with royal icing.

Royal Icing

2 egg whites

Pinch of salt

5 drops white vinegar

1 pound box confectioners’ sugar, sifted smooth

Food color as desired

DIRECTIONS: Beat the egg whites with vinegar and salt in a medium or large mixing bowl until they form stiff peaks. Add the sugar about a quarter-cup at a time, beating continuously at high speed until the icing forms peaks that don’t droop when you pull the beaters out.

Tint the icing with food color as desired, dividing the icing into smaller batches if you use multiple colors.

If you lack an icing bag with artsy tips, pipe icing onto the cookies using a freezer-weight re-sealable bag with a very small hole snipped in one corner.

FROSTED ANISE WREATHS

Ah… anise seed and lemon! What’s not to like about these white wreath-shaped cookies?

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2½ teaspoons double-acting baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup butter, softened

½ cup sugar

3 eggs

2 tablespoons anise seed

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind (“zest”)

1½ tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon anise extract (optional)

Glaze:

3 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

1/3 cup hot (not boiling) milk

½ teaspoon lemon juice (if desired)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.

Use a hand mixer to cream the butter and sugar well in a mixing bowl. Beat in eggs until well blended. Stir in anise seed, lemon rind, lemon juice and anise extract (if you’re using it).

Using low speed, gradually mix in 2 cups of the dry ingredients. Use a heavy spoon to mix in the remaining dry ingredients.

Either knead the dough on a floured surface until it’s smooth and well-blended, or refrigerate overnight.

Flour your hands and work surface. The dough is sticky.

Divide the dough into eight equal parts and roll each part into a strip a half-inch thick and 18 inches long. Cut each strip into five equal parts.

Cut slits along one side of each strip a half-inch apart and form the pieces into a circle, slit-side out. Place on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for eight to 10 minutes. The cookies will not brown so pay close attention to them. Cool them thoroughly.

Mix the glaze. Dip each cookie’s top into the glaze, allowing the glaze to drip down the sides. You also can sprinkle with candy decorations.

PFEFFERNÜSSE

We used to get these German “pepper nut” cookies from local bakeries, but Mom made her own at Christmas.

I don’t recall these having much “pepper” taste, but the recipe calls for a wee bit. Don’t let the long list of ingredients, the longer directions, or the overnight wait before baking throw you.

These aren’t really that tricky — and are well worth the effort.

Ingredients

3 eggs

1 cup brown sugar

Grated zest from a half-lemon

1½ tablespoon black coffee

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper (or less, to taste)

¼ teaspoon mace

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/16 teaspoon crushed cardamom

½ cup chopped almonds

¼ cup chopped citron

1/8 teaspoon anise extract

Apricot brandy (the alcohol bakes out)

DIRECTIONS: Sift the flour and spices together. Beat the eggs until thick and add sugar a little at a time, beating continuously. Add the lemon zest, then coffee, alternating it with the flour mixture. Add the ground almonds and citron. Chill the dough for two hours.

Roll it into logs an inch in diameter, slice off half-inch pieces and set on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Allow to stand overnight in a cool, dry place to dry out.

The next morning, preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

While the oven warms, turn each cookie over and put a drop of apricot brandy in each moist spot. (This is cool: when the cookies bake, the brandy causes them to “pop” and become rounded.)

Bake the cookies about 20 minutes, watching them after about 15 minutes.

Let them cool and put them in an airtight tin or plastic container to soften. Adding an apple slice may help the process.

Roll the cookies in powdered sugar. You can also frost the cookies; don’t put an apple slice in the container if you do this.

If you want to frost the cookies, make frosting from confectioners’ sugar, egg white and a bit of water. Brush the glaze over the cookie, let it dry partially, and then roll the cookie in confectioners’ sugar.

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CULINARY ARTS: 3 Christmas cookies you can easily bake

CRESTVIEW — The Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce’s Arts and Culture Committee hopes to add a cultural component to the spring’s annual Triple-B festival.

Following its mission of “linking arts and culture with the community,” the committee, formed several months ago, is exploring ways to include local artists and cultural performance groups in the city’s largest street festival. Next year’s Triple-B will be April 6.

“People can come to the Triple-B and enjoy great food as well as admire local arts and crafts,” committee chairperson Rae Schwartz said.

The chamber’s young professionals committee annually produces The Triple-B — barbecue, bluegrass and Blackwater. While it has often included out-of-town vendors selling crafts, jewelry, candles and other items, this marks the committee’s first concerted effort to encourage local artists’ participation.

Gathered at its monthly meeting at the Java Journey coffee shop, committee members discussed inviting area folkloric or heritage performers to sing or dance at the Triple-B south stage near the railroad tracks. Artists would be located in the same area.

In other matters, the Arts and Culture Committee:

• Reviewed the recent CALA: Crestview Area Loves the Arts Christmas festival and discussed adding a local restaurants component next year.

• Discussed plans to use portable gallery displays for featuring local artists’ exhibits at the monthly chamber of commerce breakfasts.

“If a business wants local art to hang in their office, this is a way to see what local artists are doing and get to talk to the artist,” Schwartz said.

Contact News Bulletin Arts & Entertainment Editor Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Triple-B to include arts and culture