Holiday

For many Carroll residents, a visit to the Pleasant Valley Christmas Train Garden is a touchstone of the holiday season that brings them back year after year. And each year for the past 30 years, there have been others who discover the garden's magic for the first time and make plans to return to the Pleasant Valley Community Fire Company station in pastoral hamlet of Pleasant Valley for a visit the following December as well. Mike Chrest, of Union Mills, a long-time volunteer firefighter, has been the principal curator and keeper of the roughly 18- by 18-foot HO-gauge train garden, which casts a warm glow in the dimly lit gallery-sized room where it is housed.

An even-tempered wrestler, McDonogh's Jack Clark has twice won the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association and private schools state tournaments, as well as a National Preps crown after having been a runner-up the past two years. But during the host Eagles' McDonogh Holiday Duals on Friday, the 145-pound junior showed how dominant he can be against the best Maryland has to offer when he's a little fired up. Clark began the day with a pin over John Carroll's Artie Milner before scoring a 21-5 technical fall over Wilde Lake's Malik Jackson.

Daniel Reed's flair for decorating and interior design - especially during the holiday season - is immediately evident at the front door of his very modern duplex in Baltimore's Clipper Mill development. To visit this home is to slip into a winter wonderland; a fantasy in light, color and motion. "Wait until you get inside," said the 44-year-old president of his own design firm. "I love decorating for Christmas. " He doesn't exaggerate. Imagine seeing the most beautifully embellished department store window and being able to walk through the glass and become a part of that other-worldly tableau.

Art museums always come in handy during the holidays, when so many people are looking for enjoyable ways to while away the hours with friends and family - or to escape from friends and family. This weekend, consider checking out the Baltimore Museum of Art and Walters Art Museum . Both esteemed venues have much to offer first-time and veteran visitors alike. The big draw at the BMA this season is the newly restored Contemporary Wing, which provides more than enough diversion and elucidation to compensate for those portions of the museum that have recently been closed off for their turn at restoration.

The Patterson boys basketball program will host the Bernie Eckert Holiday Classic to benefit the American Cancer Society today and tomorrow. Today's schedule features Arundel vs. National Collegiate Prep (D.C.) at 6 p.m., and Patterson vs. Richard Montgomery at 8 p.m. Admission for each day is $10 ($2 from each ticket will go to the American Cancer Society). For more information, visit PattersonBasketball.com .

Laurel city offices will be closed Monday, Dec. 31, and Tuesday, Jan. 1, for the New Year's holiday. There will be no city trash or recycling collections Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. Refuse collections will be made as scheduled Dec. 27 and 28, and Jan. 3 and 4. Recycling usually collected on Mondays and Tuesdays will be collected Wednesday, Jan. 2. There will be no residential special pickups or yard debris collections during the...

For your Midweek Madness drollery, I have -- yes -- once again gone to the SCTV well, this time to pull up a holiday-theme gem. You may thank me later. Here's the attempted filming of promo for a 'Liberace' Christmas Special with a very temperamental 'Orson Welles' as guest star:

The holiday theater season in Anne Arundel County started early in December and lasted through this past week, with festive and sacred concerts, "The Nutcracker" ballet and annual favorites showcasing the talents of local children. Memories of these shows bring smiles that should last into the new year, and while that holiday glow lingers, we reminisce. For many, the holiday season began at Eastport United Methodist Church on Dec. 2, when the Arundel Vocal Arts Society's "A Symphony of Song" concert, conducted by JoAnn Kulesza, opened the society's 30th season.

Asking John Carroll senior George Weber about his possible matchup Friday with McDonogh junior Jack Clark, the 2012 National Prep champion at 145 pounds, is a "sensitive" subject, Patriots coach Keith Watson said. Weber has lost to Clark in every match between the two wrestlers, including two state championship bouts and once already this season. But the matches have mostly been close, some of them painfully so. What separates the Maryland State Wrestling Association's No. 1 and No. 2 wrestlers in the 145-pound weight class is not easily discerned by the coaches who have seen them both numerous times.

Using their keen eyesight, octopi stare at the world from two beady eyes. They maneuver through the sea with four pairs of bilaterally symmetrical arms that bear suction cups. They possess a hard beak - similar to that of a parrot, the only hard part about them - and as cephalopods, they squeeze into and out of tight places, helpful when fleeing moray eels and other predatory fish. Three hearts pump and heat blood that circulates through an octopus' system, and they have demonstrated both short- and long-term memory and problem-solving skills in mazes and in other experiments administered by biologists.