December 12, 2005

Under the guidance of a few Sunol Business Guild members who formerly had the task of decorating, the Sunol 4-H did a fantastic job decorating the town in the early morning hours of November 27 in anticipation of the towns Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.

Held on December 3, the gathering was such a fun way to get a chance to catch up with those friend and neighbors we so seldom have time for during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

The Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts from Troop 912 were doing a great job picking up litter and sprucing up the downtown area during the morning of the gathering. "They appreciate the support they get from the Sunol Business Guild who sponsor the troop and they wanted to give back to the community", said scout parent Judy Bettencourt.

The Niles Canyon Train of Lights gets longer and bigger and brighter each year. A big thank you goes out to the members of the Niles Canyon Railway for providing the residents of Sunol with a special "Sunol Only" train ride. What a wonderful way to make more family holiday memories. Besides the exquisite decorations and thousands of twinkling lights, new this year were the on board restroom facilities. This may sound unusual considering that the train serves liquid refreshments, but up until this past spring the train was without such luxury and all were advised to "go" before the train left the station. As I perused through the train that evening I overheard several people exclaiming that "Yes, there were now bathrooms on board".

After the 4:30 p.m. train returned back to the Sunol Depot, everyone on board hustled across the street to the Community Park to warm up with coffee and hot cocoa provided by the Sunol 4-H. Folks were asked to bring cookies, brownies or any type of baked goodies to share as well. Santa, who also rode the Train of Lights, was also on hand to take the kids requests and hand out candy canes that were donated by the Sunol Valley Golf Course.

The big winner of the evening was Sunol Glen School Bus Driver/Librarian Nancy Davis who won a fully decorated Christmas tree adorned with handmade multi-colored glass globes that was raffled off by the Sunol Glen Schools 8th grade class. A big thank you goes to Sunol's own Michael Monahan of the Tree Sculpture Group who donated the tree that the students brightly decorated.

The students also sold handmade Christmas tree ornaments and delicious tri-tip sandwiches which netted the class approximately $600.00 towards their Washington DC field trip.

And what's a holiday celebration without singing? Those cute little Brownie's of Troop 2349, adorned with sparkling Santa hats, belted out a few traditional Christmas Carols and then led the large group of residents in a countdown to the tree lighting.

Please join me in thanking the many people who volunteered several hours to put this wonderful celebration together and made this another very special annual event.
Calling all Thespians! Sunol Repertory Theater is holding auditions for their 25th production, "Caught In The Villains Grasp, or Your Mother Was Right About Those Theater People". Auditions will be held tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m. in the Sunol Glen School auditorium and please bring music and be prepared to sing.