Ah, the season of peace, hospitality, singing and great holiday treats is upon us. Well, except for the Russian cyber hacking, the Electoral College, Washington State’s underfunding of education, logging disputes and so on. Let these few minutes of reading be one guy’s attempt to review the fun stuff and naively ignore the negative stuff. At least until I start complaining about weight gains, overspending and the return by the U.S. Postal Service of undeliverable holiday greetings. What happened to all those people? Do we really want to know?

The Belmont Restaurant’s catering operation, superbly led by Rick Unrue, is a welcome and regular presence at this time of year. It catered the Ludlow Maintenance Commission Christmas dinner, organized by Eve McDougall and Cheryl Wheeler, who made the evening wonderful. They arranged for the Port Ludlow Singers to entertain by singing songs of the season. Once again, the singers put on a terrific performance, enhanced by the ramblings of our own Don Clark, the unceremonious master of ceremonies for the singers. (He thought it was a good idea to poke fun at Dave Armitage and me.) The talented Mia Torres, teenage daughter of the manager of the South Bay Association, played an excellent piano while food was being served. Finally, Kathie Sharp, our own version of Van Cliburn, played Schubert’s Ave Maria on the piano for another highlight of the evening.

This past week also held the annual Leader Christmas party, this year in uptown Port Townsend at Sweet Laurette Cafe and Bistro. It is my annual opportunity to see and talk with all the folks who help me with this column each week. The food and drink weren’t bad either.

We went to a fundraiser with a silent auction in Seattle a couple of weeks ago, and BJ bid on, and won, two tickets to the “Dancing with the Stars” production in Seattle. The show is this evening, Wednesday, so she and our daughter are enjoying the show, and I am holding down the fort here. Maybe I need a dog to keep me company. Then again, forget that idea. I have an old friend on Nantucket, and he tells me about the 5 a.m. wake-ups by the dog, because it needs to get outside in the roaring winds, blowing snow and near-zero temperatures to do his business.

Christmas is this weekend, and we are looking forward to Pang, the Rotary foreign exchange student, joining us and our family for the weekend. With four grandsons, it couldn’t get more chaotic, but there will be more of an international tinge.

In another update on outstanding Christmas light displays, I cannot overemphasize my encouragement to go and see the display at the Kingston Marina. It is amazing. Heck, on the way there, you would probably go through Port Gamble, and there is everything to like about its Christmas lighting!

Finally, Steve Maraboli advises us, “Want to keep Christ in Christmas? Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, forgive the guilty, welcome the unwanted, care for the ill, love your enemies, and do unto others as you would have done unto you.”

Love a curmudgeon and have a Merry Christmas!