Christmas Eve

As a massage therapist, Janet Constantino is used to calming tensed-up shoulders and backs. But as she hovered over a cluster of computer carrels at a jam-packed Howard County library yesterday, the mother of two looked as though she could use a therapeutic rubdown of her own. Daughter Jaci, 6, tapped at a keyboard, her tired eyes filling with tears. Son Jacob, 4, looking bored, played a video over and over. And as Constantino paced back and forth, desperately tossing words of encouragement, it was hard to tell who might melt down first.

Baltimore homicide detectives are investigating two Christmas Eve slayings that occurred in Northwest Baltimore and one that was reported yesterday in East Baltimore, according to city police. The latest homicide occurred shortly after noon yesterday in the 1700 block of N. Dallas St., where police found the victim bleeding from multiple bullet wounds. The man, whose identity has been withheld until his relatives are notified, died a short time later at Johns Hopkins Hospital. About 1:45 a.m. Christmas Eve, police found a man lying in the 6600 block of Vincent Lane, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head.

In his musical counterpoint to the traditional Christmas carol, called "It's Good to be a Jew for Christmas," Rob Tannenbaum sings of the bonds that unite Jewish people every year on Dec. 25: "On Christmas Day we'll eat Chinese, walk city streets until we freeze." Tannenbaum and David Fagin are Good for the Jews and will appear at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Va., tomorrow and Saturday as part of their "Putting the Ha in Hanukkah" tour, sponsored by Heeb magazine. The two will rock out to songs with titles such as "Hot Jewish Chicks" ("Just look at all this cleavage and not one crucifix")

December arrives today. The daylight is fading, but Mars brightens each evening in the northeast. Average daily highs slip from 51 degrees to 42. The records are 77 degrees (1998) and minus-3 (1880). The average snow total at BWI is just 1.7 inches, and four of the last 10 Decembers yielded just a trace, or none. But more than 9 inches fell in 2002 and 2003. The winter solstice occurs early on the 22nd. The moon is full, and Mars is at its brightest, on Christmas Eve.

Glarus Chocolatier 644 South Exeter St., Harbor East 410-727-6601 or GlarusChocolatier.com Open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday Don't panic. Sure you're invited to a holiday brunch at noon today and a Christmas Eve open house tomorrow, not to mention Christmas dinner with friends. So you need a last-minute gift when you thought your shopping was done. You don't want to hit the malls at this late date. Glarus Chocolatier recently opened its second store in Harbor East and has just what you need.

ON CHRISTMAS Eve 1955, the first time Edward R. ``Slim'' Butler got himself into public trouble, he walked into the little grocery store at Stricker and Laurens where Louis Pristoop and his wife, Celia, were standing behind a counter.``Gimme what's in the register,'' said Butler. He was 15 and held a gun in his hand. Louis Pristoop, 49, who had survived miserable Russian pogroms before making his way to America, thought he was joking. Butler stood there with a couple of his pals from the neighborhood.

This schedule will be in effect in the Baltimore area today for the Christmas Eve holiday:Anne Arundel CountyCounty offices closedCourts closedLibraries closed today and tomorrow, Christmas Day Trash removal pickup, landfill closedAnnapolisCity offices closedCourts closedParking meters free today and Christmas Day Trash removal no pickupBaltimoreCity offices closedCourts closedLibraries closedParking meters feed today, free Christmas Day Trash removal Landfills...

Editor's note: On Christmas Eve, a young boy enters an ice-webbed forest, where he encounters an old blind man who is hunting the wondrous and elusive white stag.One cold Christmas Eve, when families huddled close to fires, a boy named Finder set out alone in a snowstorm. The king's war had ended the summer before, but Finder's father had never returned. Now his younger brothers and sisters were hungry. Not a scrap of food was left in the house.So Finder put on the cloak his father had once worn.

Zagat (rhymes with kill the cat, its publicist once told me) has issued its latest survey of America's top restaurants -- its millennium edition, no less. Diners in Maryland gave these five the top food rankings: 1) Prime Rib, 2) Hampton's, 3) Linwood's, 4) 208 Talbot in St. Michaels, and 5) Charleston. (All but 208 Talbot are in the Baltimore area.)Other findings from the survey:Poor service is the biggest complaint U.S. diners have.Eighty-three percent of those surveyed believe that men get treated better than women when they eat out.The average tip has increased to 17.75 percent of the check, with 43 percent of those surveyed saying they tip 20 percent or more.

GLEN ROCK, Pa. -- In this tiny borough tucked away between folds of Pennsylvania farmland, residents have had plenty of reasons to break with their 150-year-old caroling tradition.Fierce snowstorms. Nights so cold that the slides on their trombones froze. Miserable rainstorms that soaked carolers to the bone. The Civil War. A flu epidemic that left all but nine carolers bedridden. The Depression. Two world wars.But when the clock strikes midnight this Christmas Eve, an exclusive, all-male group of 50 carolers led by a man with a 30-pound sack of peanuts slung over his shoulder will step once again into the cold December air to repeat a journey first made in 1848.

As a massage therapist, Janet Constantino is used to calming tensed-up shoulders and backs. But as she hovered over a cluster of computer carrels at a jam-packed Howard County library yesterday, the mother of two looked as though she could use a therapeutic rubdown of her own. Daughter Jaci, 6, tapped at a keyboard, her tired eyes filling with tears. Son Jacob, 4, looking bored, played a video over and over. And as Constantino paced back and forth, desperately tossing words of encouragement, it was hard to tell who might melt down first.

No fumble: Brady pops question; model says yes New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady proposed to supermodel Gisele Bundchen on a private jet on Christmas Eve - and she said yes, TMZ.com is reporting. Brady, who, it said, is famous for his quarterbacking skills and running errands for Bundchen, proposed aboard a jet that took off from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and landed in Boston. There were four dozen white roses on board, as well as champagne. Her parents were also onboard.

On Wednesday afternoon, Michael Foy decided to change a tire on his trailer while his wife, Catherine, prepared a Christmas Eve lunch and baked cookies. Foy assumed his youngest daughter, Jacqulynn, had followed her stepmother inside their Pasadena home. Moments later, as he looked through the window while backing up his truck, he saw 9-year-old Jackie pinned beneath a wheel of the trailer. Foy has been replaying the next few minutes in his mind ever since: screaming to his wife to call an ambulance, scooping the girl into his arms, hearing her complain of a leg injury before her eyes rolled back and she lost consciousness.

1 Hawaiian punchless: It's mediocrity at its finest, as Hawaii (7-6) hosts Notre Dame (6-6) in the Hawaii Bowl (8 p.m., ESPN). The Irish are looking to end a nine-game bowl skid. 2 Getting ready: for Jags: Learn about the Ravens' preparations for Sunday's crucial game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Ravens Report (7 p.m., MASN). 3 It's in the hole!: It's not exactly It's a Wonderful Life, but Caddyshack is worthwhile viewing anytime, even on Christmas Eve (7 p.m., Versus). 4 It's better to give: Take the money you were saving for that Mark Teixeira Orioles jersey and buy the wife something nice for Christmas.

Charity's Closet will host a Christmas performance from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. today. The Marriotts Ridge High School Women's Ensemble, under the direction of Terry Eberhardt, will perform old-fashioned Christmas carols in front of Second Childhood/Charity's Closet, 9090 Frederick Road, Ellicott City. Hot chocolate will be provided. All guests will receive a value coupon for Charity's Closet. The performance is free. Charity's Closet is a women's and teen's thrift shop run by teen girls, where all items cost $5. Proceeds benefit Success In Style, which provides free business wardrobes and coaching to women in crisis who are seeking employment.

The St. Ignatius choir had barely finished its last "in excelsis Deo!" when Frances Kavanagh began leading a band of guests northward along Calvert Street. She first invited me to her Christmas Eve party in the 1970s, casually saying to drop by 913 N. Calvert St. She and her husband, Jack, were having "a few friends in." And so, for the better part of two decades, I spent the early hours of Dec. 25 nestled in an old Baltimore setting worthy of a perfect Christmas card. Frances, who was universally known as Chinky, died in March at age 102. I often think of her, cigarette in hand, deep in conversation with my mother, also puffing on a Lucky Strike.

Sheila Dixon made her debut the other night as a Stoop Storyteller. Make that Poop Storyteller. The mayor took the stage at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on Monday night to share a holiday memory as part of the popular storytelling series. When she was a little girl growing up in West Baltimore, Dixon said, she and her older brother and sister always climbed into bed together on Christmas Eve to await Santa. Then along came another little Dixon. The baby of the family was about 9 months old when his first Christmas rolled around.

Man gets 20-year term in Christmas Eve holdup A robber who held up a Baltimore couple on Christmas Eve has been ordered to spend the next 20 years in prison. Joel Hunt, 21, of the 2700 block of Mount Holly St. in the city was sentenced Wednesday by Circuit Judge John N. Prevas. Hunt was convicted last month of pulling a gun on a couple waiting for a bus at 11:30 p.m. last Christmas Eve in the 2900 block of The Alameda. Wearing a mask, Hunt held a gun to the man's chest, telling him to empty his pockets.

Few musical groups are as aptly named as the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Paul O'Neil, co-founder of the progressive symphonic rock group, was inspired by the Trans-Siberian Railroad. To O'Neil, music is similar to the famed transportation system in the way that it connects different cultures, nationalities and backgrounds. Perhaps unexpectedly, O'Neil's collaboration with fellow producer/musician Robert Kinkel and composer Jon Oliva would prove TSO's name fitting - as their music would connect a variety of people, usually divided by choices in music or live entertainment.

The man who died after a Christmas Eve fire in his Mount Clare home has been identified as Richard Saulsbury, 42, a resident of the 300 block of S. Norris St. for about six years, a spokesman for the city Fire Department said. Firefighters found Saulsbury, who weighed 300 pounds, unconscious on the floor of an upstairs bathroom about 11 p.m., said Chief Kevin Cartwright, the spokesman. Because of his size and trash that blocked the path, firefighters had to knock down an interior wall to move him out a window.