Daily Loaf

At a total loss for ideas on what to do, where to shop, and which local charities to donate your hard-earned dollars to this holiday season? Check out my rather lengthy Holiday To Do list.

Spend for charity.

Want to enjoy a delicious homemade pie but don’t have the patience (or know-how) to bake it yourself? Uhuru Foods offers apple crumb, pumpkin, sweet potato, and blackberry pies made fresh by professional and volunteer staff. Proceeds support the Uhuru Movement programs, like the African People’s Education and Defense Fund and its youth basketball program, community gym and monthly alternative health newsletter. Dec. 17-24; available at the Wednesday Midday and Saturday Morning Markets in downtown St. Petersburg, and Mon.-Wed. at Lakewood United Church of Christ in St. Petersburg.

Looking for gifts for your four-legged friend? Steer clear of Pet Smart and Petco, and put your money towards the needs of homeless and abused animals during the Holiday Pet Present Sale at SPCA-Tampa Bay’s new Edward D. Foreman Adoption Center and Pet Boutique. Every weekend in December, pet goods are discounted from 20 to 50 percent off. Locals can also pick up adoption and pet supply gift certificates or drop off donations of necessities like canned cat food, blankets, crates, and kitty litter. Through Dec. 30, Largo.

Peruse an assortment of handmade ornaments ($5 each), holiday accessories and gifts created by artists from all over Florida during the 21st Annual Deck the Halls Sale. All proceeds benefit The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast. Dec. 13, Artlofts at Florida Craftsmen Gallery, St. Petersburg.

Truly interested in giving? Hyde Park United Methodist Church hosts its third annual Alternative Christmas Market. Among the charitable gifts available for purchase are Christmas dinners for needy families via Cornerstone Family Ministries, school supplies for troubled girls at Steppin’ Stone Farm, and diapers and formula for families affected by natural disasters via Disaster Relief and Recovery. Dec. 7 and 14, Tampa.

Take in a Film

Not a lot on the horizon as far as Hollywood holiday film goes other than Four Christmases, the latest Vince Vaughn comedy and his first since last year’s Yuletide disappointment, Fred Claus. So it’s back to the basics. Tampa Theatre stages its annual Winter Classic Movie series and offers little change from the time-honored selections – Bing Crosby’s White Christmas (pictured at left) this Sunday, and the weekend before Christmas, a two-day presentation of Frank Capra’s classic Dickens-style holiday drama, It’s a Wonderful Life. Over at Beach Theatre as part of its Free Kids’ Matinees, the movie house presents Saturday morning screenings of 1964’s Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, a sci-fi film regularly recognized for its god-awfulness, Miracle on 34th Street (the 1947 original, not the 1994 remake), and everybody’s cult-film-turned-holiday-favorite, A Christmas Story. Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center also shows A Christmas Story for its December Scene on the Green selection, where the film is shown on a giant screen outdoors by the river.

Make a food, goods, or money donation to help those less fortunate this season.

With the troubled economy and mounting number of out-of-work Americans, donating to nonprofit organizations that provide goods and services to the Bay area’s poor and homeless residents is more crucial than ever.

Metropolitan Ministries – which provides emergency food boxes for 100-150 families per day throughout the year – is always in need of help, especially during the holidays. MetMin seeks nonperishable food items first and foremost. You can also sign up to build a “Box of Hope,” which includes a two-day supply of food for a family of four, or a “Bag of Joy,” which is made up of toys and stocking stuffers for children. Contributions of hygiene products, infant and teen toys and gifts, and other items are also welcome as are cash donations. For a complete list of needs, volunteer opportunities or drop-off sites, visit the website.

Pinellas County’s largest distributor of food to the poor, Religious Community Services (RCS) Food Bank, is also in constant need of aid. In addition to food for its pantry, RCS benefits from cash gifts and donations of gently used clothing, furniture, and household goods, all which help to support the organization’s homeless family shelter, its domestic violence haven and its thrift store.

ASAP Homeless Services provides housing and basic necessities to the homeless via its Drop-In-Center and Emergency Shelter. You can “adopt” a bathroom at the shelter, which essentially pays for supplies like combs, toothbrushes, towels, soap and shampoo; feed a family supported by ASAP; provide emergency needs like feminine products, t-shirts of all sizes, men’s briefs and socks; donate clothing, office supplies, food, and household goods; or volunteer. The organization also holds its annual “Still No Room at the Inn” Carol Sing next Saturday, Dec. 13, to raise awareness of homelessness by caroling up and down the streets of downtown St. Pete and stopping to perform at restaurants, residences, homeless shelters and even a retirement home.

Finally, the St. Pete Free Clinic provides temporary assistance to “working poor” folks with basic needs – food, shelter, medical care, financial assistance and referral info – via five free programs: Beacon House, Food Bank, Health Center, We Help Services and the Women’s Residence. The organization also raises money with a “Many Moods of Christmas” concert next Sunday, Dec. 14, that features performances by the First Presbyterian Chancel Choir, First Presbyterian Handbell Ringers and others.

See a Nutcracker.

A Nutcracker production can be found in virtually every corner of the greater Tampa Bay area during the Yuletide season and this year is no exception. The usual suspects are all in attendance along with a few surprise newbies.

Life Force Cultural Arts Academy’s 11th annual production of The Chocolate Nutcracker, a multicultural adaptation of the classic that combines ballet with tap, African, jazz, hip-hop, swing and break-dance styles, and spotlights a few hundred local youths alongside professional actors and dancers. Dec. 6-7, Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg, $12-$37. Pictured at right: African dance in The Chocolate Nutcracker.

Four local dance schools produce The Nutcracker. Bay City Ballet brings it to the Largo Cultural Center; both Royal Academy of Fine Arts & Dance and Guilfoil Ballet Theater present The Nutcracker at the James B. White Performing Arts Center in Clearwater, Royal’s a production “By Young People For Young People” that includes Irish riverdance, African, hip-hop, lyrical and pointe, Guilfoil’s the traditional Tchaikovsky version; and St. Petersburg’s Academy of Ballet Arts stages a Nutcracker at Palladium Theater. Bay City, Dec. 12-14, Largo Cultural Center, $22 adults/$18 students; Royal, Dec. 13-14, and Guilfoil, Dec. 20, James B. White Performing Arts Center, $15; and Academy, Dec. 19-21, Palladium Theater, ticket prices TBA.

For another break from tradition, check out Bay Area Dance (BAD) Company’s Goin’ Nuts, a humorous, satirical update of the Nutcracker that’s set against the music of Duke Ellington and features tap, jazz, hip-hop and modern dance styles in addition to ballet. Proceeds go towards the medical expenses of the teen who was attacked outside Bloomingdale Library several months ago. Dec. 12-13, USF College of Visual and Performing Arts Theatre II, Tampa, $10-$20.

Miami City Ballet’s annual stop at Ruth Eckerd Hall with its holiday presentation of George Balanchine’s Nutcracker is noticeably absent from this season’s calendar. But a much more intriguing prospect has taken its place. Moscow Classical Ballet’s interpretation stays mostly true to the Nutcracker story, but draws on choreography and scenes used in Vasily Vainonen’s 1934 Kirov Ballet production with modernized twists by current artistic directors Vladimir Vasilyov and Natalia Kasatkina. The Florida Orchestra provides live accompaniment. Dec. 20-21, Clearwater, $30-$46.

Orlando Ballet brings its annual production of The Nutcracker to Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. The full Tchaikovsky score is played live by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, and professional dancers from the company perform with more than 100 children from the Patel Conservatory’s Orlando Ballet School. Dec. 23, Carol Morsani Hall-TBPAC, $22-$65.

The Great Russian Nutcracker makes its annual stop at Mahaffey Theater, bringing its oversized puppets, lavish sets inspired by the French Post-Impressionist paintings of Henri Rousseau, and, new this year, a giant, six-handed grandfather clock signaling the transition into the “Land of Peace and Harmony.” Dec. 19-20, St. Petersburg, $25-$85.

Finally, Beach Theatre presents a high-definition screening of The Nutcracker as filmed in 2007 when avant-garde artist and sculptor Mikhail Shemyakin re-worked it and presented his interpretation in the very theater that the original premiered more than a century before. Mariinsky Ballet and students of the Academy of Russian Ballet perform in Shemyakin’s Nutcracker, which has been described as sophisticated, witty and unique. Dec. 21, St. Pete Beach, $16.

Or maybe A Christmas Carol

St. Petersburg Little Theatre continues its traditional holiday production of the Dickens’ classic, this one with a cast of more than 40 performers. Dec. 5-21, St. Petersburg, $20 adults/$10 students.

In Tampa, Carrollwood Players stages A Dickens’ Christmas Carol: A Traveling Travesty In Two Tumultuous Acts, Mark Landon Smith’s humorous play-within-a-play about a blundering company’s attempt put on their 15th annual production of A Christmas Carol. Weekends through Dec. 20, Tampa, $14 adults/$12 seniors and students.

And Nebraska Theater Caravan’s nationally touring production of A Christmas Carol comes to Clearwater with full scale production-style special effects, lavish costumes, spectacular sets and plenty of music and merriment. Dec. 23-24, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater, $24-$45.

Pretend like we have real winter weather.

We may not get real snow here, but that doesn’t mean we can’t pretend. A few area events offer play-in-the-snow opportunities.

Miracle on Cleveland Street is a family-friendly holiday fest at which attendees enjoy the City of Clearwater’s annual holiday light up, strolling carolers and Dickens’ characters, performances of excerpts from the Nutcracker, shopping at a range of gift vendors, a 10-foot snow slide with toboggans and a snow play area, appearences by Santa Claus and more. Dec. 5, Cleveland Street between Garden and Fort Harrison avenues, Clearwater, free admission.

SnowFest kicks off after the St. Petersburg Santa Parade concludes. The seasonal waterfront celebration features real snow, ice-skating, toboggan rides, a “Winter Wonderland” petting zoo, arts and crafts, and live entertainment. Dec. 6, Straub Park, St. Petersburg, free admission.

See a lighted boat parade.

We may not have snow, but we practice the best way we know how – by stringing our water vessels with colorful holiday lights and driving them through area waterways, parade style, while thousands of expectant families watch landside and cheer.

The kick-off of New Port Richey’s Main Street Holidays event is the Ninth Annual Riverlights Boat Parade, which sails down the Pithlachascotee (Cotee River). Observers enjoy holiday music, hot cocoa and coffee while viewing the procession from Sims Park. Dec. 6, New Port Richey, free.

The St. Pete Beach and South Pasadena Holiday Boat Parade kicks off with an evening parade viewing party, holiday concerts and a tree-lighting ceremony. Dec. 12, St. Pete Beach Community Center, free.

And in the Bruce Watters Jewelers Illuminated Boat Parade, a bevy of lighted boats take to the downtown St. Petersburg waterfront; diversions leading up to the parade include a chili cook-off, live music and various other diversions at Spa Beach Park, and a “Tuba Christmas” and drum circle at The Pier. Proceeds from parade registration fees benefit the Children’s Dream Fund. Dec. 13, St. Petersburg, free.

Do your holiday shopping outside the box.

Several area nonprofit art institutions stage holiday shows with affordable arts and crafts goodies that are more personal, unique and meaningful than something you’d get from a mass retailer.

Stargazing: The Arts Center’s Annual Holiday Exhibition is a festive all-media invitational spotlighting artists who’ve graced the Arts Center’s showroom over the past number of years – Duncan McClellan, Nancy Cervenka, James Michaels, Betsy Orbe Lester and many others; cards, ornaments and artsy accessories are featured in the gallery gift shop. Through Dec. 30, St. Petersburg.

Dunedin Fine Art Center’s 22nd annual holiday invitational, Great Expectations, includes 100 artists, among them, Maria Saraceno, Yoko Nogami, Denis Gaston, Rocky Bridges, Carolina Cleere and Steve Pawloski. Also on display are the usual dozen or so themed Christmas trees, handmade ornaments and a selection of unique gift shop items. This weekend, DFAC also presents a special fundraising sale of functional and decorative pottery by clay students and faculty of the center. DFAC Pottery Sale Dec. 6; Great Expectations is on display through Dec. 23, in Dunedin. Pictured at left: “Purple flower,” a sculpture by Maria Saraceno.

St. Petersburg Clay Company holds its 13th Annual Holiday Sale, a two-day affair that features a huge assortment of handmade and eco-friendly clay works as well as live music and refreshments, with a portion of proceeds to benefit Hospice. Dec. 6-7, St. Petersburg.

And Buy Florida, Give Florida at Florida Craftsmen Gallery encompasses a wide-ranging selection of one-of-a-kind arts, crafts, home decor accessories, jewelry, handmade clothing and plenty else by more than 250 Florida artists. Through Dec. 30, St. Petersburg.

Other upcoming arts and crafts events include the next arts and crafts fest by St. Pete Craft Heroes, “The Holiday Shuffle,” where 20 or so local Esty artisans hawk their handmade wares at the St. Pete Shuffleboard Courts; the “Mistletoe Craft Market,” a homespun sale of crafts, ornaments and gift items by Dunedin-area artisans; “By the Light of the Holiday Moon,” a Simple Living storewide sale, art show featuring works by BlueLucy and other local artists, and a gift-wrap fundraiser with donations to benefit Creative Clay; the “Holiday Art Walk,” Gulfport’s usual third Saturday art walk along a Beach Boulevard, gets a seasonal makeover with lights and holiday specials at area shops; and a “Winter Holiday Bazaar” of area vendors selling handmade goodies against live music by Rebekah Pulley, Lorna Bracewell, Chrsitie Lenee and others at Sacred Grounds Coffeehouse. Shuffle, Dec. 5, St. Petersburg; Mistletoe, Dec. 6, Dunedin Community Center; Holiday Moon, Dec. 12, St. Petersburg; Art Walk, Dec, 20, Beach Boulevard, Gulfport; and Bazaar, Dec. 20, Tampa.

Or try something on the “miscellaneous” holiday to do list:

Creative Loafing Best of the Bay-winning actress Sharon Scott (pictured at right) stars in the annual Soulful Arts Dance Academy production of Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity: a Gospel Song Play, which retells the story of the Nativity from an African-American perspective and with scripture, verse, gospel music and dance. Dec. 5-7, Palladium Theater, free admission.

Museum of Fine Arts hosts a holiday open house-cum-art festival, “A Gift to the Community,” which features a Victorian-style Christmas tree and holiday decorations in the Great Hall, visits with jolly old St. Nick, an artistic crèche, Hanukkah menorahs, and a Kwanzaa display, holiday music by the Largo High School Madrigal Choir, performances by students of the Soulful Arts Dance Academy, a festive interactive presentation “Seasonal Stories” by Nan Colton, an authentic Korean Tea Ceremony, and ornament and greeting card making activities. MFA also offers free admission and refreshments to all attendees. Dec. 7, St. Petersburg.

Swedish Club of Tampa Bay and Studio@620 observe the Swedish Advent-Christmas tradition with a Sankta Lucia Celebration, an evening of readings and storytelling about the history of Lucia in both English and Swedish, Swedish songs, and authentic “glögg” (Swedish spiced hot wine) and “pepparkakor” (gingersnap cookies). Dec. 13, Studio at 620, $10 general/$5 Swedish Club of Tampa Bay and studio members.

And the 60-piece all-volunteer Fanfare Concert Winds performs traditional and modern seasonal music in a Holiday Pops Concert — “The Eighth Candle” by Steve Reisterer, “Whisper to their Souls” by Hazo, selections from The Polar Express and The Nightmare before Christmas, and plenty more. Dec. 14, Carrollwood Cultural Center, Tampa, $15 general/$10 CCC members.

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