Reindeer

The essence of Christmas lives in its memories.If you grew up in the Towson area, the holiday wasn't complete without a trip to see Bow and Tinsel at Hutzler's. The department store closed a decade ago, but in a bit of yuletide luck, the two "talking" reindeer were discovered tucked away in a subbasement at the Hutzler's site."They were a bit ratty looking but it was Bow and Tinsel," said Jim Railey, 34, who found the pair. His company, Heritage Properties Inc., acquired the old Hutzler's store in 1996.

OVER the years, we have come to expect dazzling light shows of Santas and reindeer along 34th Street in Baltimore's Hampden neighborhood. But this year, holiday lights are everywhere, twinkling in communities poor and wealthy.In 1903, a string of 28 newfangled electrical lights cost a laborer's weekly salary. Today a string of 30 can be had for just $1.That's the economic explanation. But it does not take anything away from this year's glorious displays.Take a look around the metropolitan area -- and marvel.

Think St. Nick is the only guy with a fondness for Rudolph? Think again. Reindeer ranchers say these arctic bucks and does are playful little dears.Take 13-year-old Lance T. His family keeps reindeer Holly and Nicholas at its Trees & Treasure Christmas Tree Farm in Quincy, Ill."They're fun to be around," Lance says. "Their hooves really make a clicking sound when they walk, just like in 'The Night Before Christmas.' "Gordon Poest, who wrote the book "Raising Reindeer for Pleasure and Profit," did his research firsthand -- and says reindeer-raising is fun."

There has been speculation in the past about the exact location of Santa Claus' North Pole workshop or what it might look like.Dozens of delighted children found an answer to the first question yesterday: It's in Linthicum, at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, where Continental Airlines sponsored a "Flight to the North Pole" for patients of the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and their families.For many, the trip was their first ride in an airplane -- even though the plane never left the ground.

Moving onFOUR YEARS ago, then-County Executive John G. Gary was criticized for purchasing a dark blue 1994 Mercury Grand Marquis to use as his official car. One newspaper editorialized that it was wrong for the newly elected county executive to be squandering tax dollars on "a luxury car."A few days after his defeat at the polls, Gary decided to buy a new car. Last week, as he walked to lunch in Annapolis, he proudly showed off his purchase -- a pale lime-green Lincoln Town Car. "That," he said, pointing to his new vehicle, "is a luxury car."

If Tiny Tim and elves and Rudolph -- especially Rudolph -- are a bit too treacly for you, you might want to drop in on AXIS Theatre's production of "The Eight: Reindeer Monologues."Playwright Jeff Goode's series of eight short, satirical monologues by Santa's other reindeer is right out of the supermarket tabloids, whose front pages are projected on a screen at the back of the stage. "Santa's Forbidden Affair," blares one headline; "Vixen's Secret Santa Diaries," proclaims another.One by one, the reindeer testify about what turn out to be potential criminal charges brought by Vixen against none other than St. Nick (or, as Dasher calls him, "Fat Boy")

ROVANIEMI, Finland -- It all started in Asia Minor, now Turkey. A good-hearted bishop named Nicholas, the legend goes, saved poor girls from prostitution by throwing bags of gold coins through their windows and down a chimney.Over the next 1,700 years, with a little help from Dutch settlers in North America and poet Clement Clarke Moore, St. Nicholas became a merry old gent with a white beard and red suit who spends most of Christmas giving heaps of toys to good little girls and boys.Today, any child can see Santa by taking a short ride to the local shopping mall, from Tokyo to Towson.

A Christmas classic dating from when LBJ was in the White House has its umpteenth airing on CBS tonight."Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13), television's longest-running special, tells of the reindeer with a very shiny nose. Burl Ives narrates the charming holiday perennial, first shown on CBS in 1972 after an eight-year run on NBC. Johnny Marks composed eight songs, including the title tune and "Holly Jolly Christmas."At a glance"Touched by a Dolphin" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2)

On a recent Saturday morning at Buddy's Late Night in Parole, five little elves went through their paces, singing and dancing for an audience of families stuffing themselves on scrambled eggs, french toast fingers, sausage, juice, cereal, fruit and pastries.When the music stopped and the adults carried away their offspring to the mall for Christmas shopping, the elves -- as well as the reindeer, the mouse, the bear, Raggedy Ann and Frosty the Snowman -- turned into the cleanup crew.They bused tables, stacked chairs and gathered colored streamers from the stage floor.

Reindeer and dragonThe Baltimore Zoo is sharing the holiday spirit with its fourth ZooLights celebration.This year, the spotlight will be on nine live reindeer. Other highlights include 500,000 decorative lights illuminating a 40-foot dragon, 20-foot toy soldiers, an animated rocking horse and jack-in-the-box and many more wildlife and holiday sculptures. Santa Claus will be in his workshop. For a buck, boys and girls can get aboard the Recycle Railroad. For those who travel by foot, there will be the Gingerbread House and warming stations with hot cider, hot chocolate and other treats.

Of course, the Angelistas should sign the jolly old elf if he promises to lay off the eggnog and tell management what's in the pipe. With the exception of their very cool mascot and brick warehouse, the Orioles have a charisma deficit that not even the silver-tongued Aubrey Huff can fill. Is there a more beloved figure in the country than Santa? Is there anyone who exudes that kind of goodwill? But Santa's more than that. He will take the ball every fifth day and won't make excuses. You need someone cool in the clutch, a clubhouse leader?

It's an after-Christmas tradition for the Adelhardt family, who open their 100-acre Whiteford farm to the public to view the livestock that is forbidden in Maryland: the reindeer. Since Maryland law bans deer of any kind kept captive, Brian Adelhardt keeps his three reindeer north of the Mason-Dixon Line - seven acres of his farm are in Pennsylvania. "Reindeer is the biggest attraction here at Christmas time," he said. "On a normal weekend, when we walk along the parking lot, we get a lot of cars from Virginia.

ABC and NBC will each be rolling out a multinight competition show this week. ABC's Duel (8 p.m. WMAR, Channel 2) is described as a high-stakes, tournament-style trivia challenge, with one of its 24 contestants guaranteed to win the jackpot, potentially more than $1.5 million. Meanwhile, NBC is tuning up Clash of the Choirs (8 p.m. WBAL, Channel 11) The premise: five musical stars - Michael Bolton, Patti LaBelle, Nick Lachey, Kelly Rowland and Blake Shelton - return to their respective hometowns, where they audition gifted amateur singers they can meld into a choral ensemble.

If you'd like to match reindeer and kilowatts with all-star holiday yard-trimmers but fear your amateur efforts might black out all the houses on your street, you can find help and inspiration in a new do-it-yourself outdoor decorating guide by Brad Finkle. Holiday Hero: A Man's Manual for Holiday Lighting (Chronicle Books, $9.95) takes the guesswork out of creating memorable Christmas displays. It covers everything from the basics on how to hang lights to planning, installing, troubleshooting and storing your dream display.

TODAY FAMILY PROGRAM -- The Jewish Museum of Maryland will present "Mambo Mania in Miami," a Christmas Day family-oriented program, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $5 for member families and $10 for nonmember families. The museum is at 15 Lloyd St. 410-732-6400. TOMORROW HOLIDAY TRAIN GARDEN -- The Fire Museum of Maryland's annual Holiday Train Garden will be presented from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily through Saturday. Admission for adults is $7. The museum is at 1301 York Road, Lutherville.

Christmas is important for many businesses. But for some, it's everything. Many seasonal entrepreneurs risk much of their profit or loss on the final month of the year. For them, the difference between a good year and a bad one can be washed out by a single wet weekend, small December crowds or fickle consumers who decide to spend their disposable holiday income elsewhere. "Overall, the pressures are tremendous," said Asher Epstein, managing director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Arthur Shimkin, 84, a Grammy Award-winning producer of children's records, including Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" - sung, appropriately enough, by the big-nosed Jimmy Durante - died of bladder cancer Monday at his home in New York's Manhattan. As head of the Little Golden Records division of the Simon & Schuster publishing company in the 1950s and '60s and of Sesame Street Records in the '70s, Mr. Shimkin often said his clientele was the kid at home from school with the sniffles, and moms and dads weary of reading Cinderella for the fourth straight time.

Applewood Farm will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends from Saturday through Dec. 17 at 4435 Prospect Road in Whiteford. A highlight of the farm is a herd of reindeer descended directly from the original Alaskan herd established at Teller, Alaska, in 1898. Reindeer educational programs will be conducted by reindeer breeder and farm owner Brian Adelhardt at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. weekends. An After Christmas Reindeer Day will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 27 with live reindeer programs at noon and 2 p.m. The rain date is Dec. 28. Reindeer Village includes two males, one born in spring 2004, and two females; a 1773 log barn with a display of lights and greens; eight model train displays; Santa's workshop; a gift shop and refreshments; a petting zoo; hayrides to the Christmas tree fields and the children's maze; snowball bowling; and a reindeer antler toss.

Go See The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe -- This movie - which conveys director Andrew Adamson and screenwriters Ann Peacock, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely's love for the original C.S. Lewis novel and for moviemaking - has everything a first-rate fantasy should have, including sweep, color and clarity. Sun score: A. Syriana -- Writer-director Stephen Gaghan jams a diverse group of players inside a jagged-edged, radical-chic plot. George Clooney is an out-of-favor CIA agent, Matt Damon an international-finance whiz grieving for his son, and Jeffrey Wright a Washington lawyer ordered by his boss (Christopher Plummer)

A Memorable Place Visit to Lapland fulfills an old dream By Barbara Gaddis SPECIAL TO THE SUN My early memory of Lapland was renewed in September, when I toured northern Lapland in Finland and Norway. Many years ago in my third-grade geography book, in a little school in Western Maryland, I studied about Lapland and the Lapps, who are now referred to as Samis. I was fascinated by the land of the midnight sun, the aurora borealis, reindeer and the life of the people. It took more than 50 years to make the trip to the northern European land I yearned to see. The beautiful woodlands of white birches and the yellows and reds of Lapland's glorious autumn set the tone for how peaceful the region seemed.