Santa, trees, cookies at museum gala

The annual Holiday Gala at the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center in Gardnerville starts 10 a.m. Saturday. Be there early to get the best selection of cookies at the cookie walk. Santa, his elves and Rudolph are there 10 a.m. until mid-afternoon so grab the kids and grandkids to get photos taken. Get copies for everyone on your list. Photos are $5 per copy.

While waiting for photos to be printed, visit the 18 Christmas trees, and the wonderful gingerbread houses the community has made. This truly is the best time of year. Admission to everything is free.

We know you have Christmas shopping and there are books and all kinds of gifts in our Main Street Bookstore. We encourage you to shop as locally as possible and to start right here at our bookstore.

What special gift will you ask Santa for this year? Santa's helpers have tickets to the 2011 melodrama, "Rolling Down to Gardnerville." Tickets for the Feb. 4 and 5 dinner shows are $25 (Douglas County Historical Society members' tickets are discounted to $20.) The Feb. 6 matinee is $15, with the DCHS members' tickets discounted to $10. Membership has its privileges.

A DCHS membership is a thoughtful gift for that person on your list who has everything. It saves money all year as event admission is discounted for members. That includes items in our bookstore and admission to the monthly lectures. Memberships also benefit the museums, to help keep Valley history alive.

The lecture 7 p.m. Dec. 9 features Frank Ackerman, acting museum director at the Nevada State Railroad Museum, who talks about the Central Pacific Railroad and the influence the discovery of the Comstock had on it. The lecture is downstairs in the meeting room at the Gardnerville museum. Admission is $3, free to DCHS members. Information, 782-2555.

Information about the Douglas County Historical Society at www.historicnevada.org or the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center in Gardnerville at 782-2555. Remember, DCHS and its two museums in Gardnerville and Genoa don't receive any regular state or county funding. It's up to our members and friends to help keep our doors open.

Contact Ellen Caywood at in2my2cats@yahoo.com or 790-1565.