Looking for Something to Do? Free Events December 10 to 16

Here are events scheduled Saturday, Dec. 10 to Friday, Dec. 16.

All events are free, so take a look -- and don't you dare say there's nothing to do in Pasadena!

Children are invited to help make it snow in Old Pasadena Saturday, Dec. 10, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Metro right of way (an alley of sorts) just west of Arroyo Parkway between Union Street and Colorado Boulevard. Each child will make two snowflakes -- one to take home and one to hang in a temporary "Snow Flurry" public art installation -- and will have photo opportunities with the Snowflake Fairy and get their faces painted. The event will also include roving performers and much more.  

The fifth annual Literary Festival and Christmas Tree Lighting Saturday, Dec. 10, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Allendale Branch Library will feature poets, authors and performers who will explore the true meanings of the holidays with works ranging from the irreverent to the inspirational plus holiday music, refreshments and, of course, the lighting of the Christmas tree.

The Upper Hastings Ranch Association's Holiday Light-Up tradition began in the 1950s and is a Christmas season favorite. This year it kicks off Saturday, Dec. 10, from 6 to 10 p.m. with carolers, bands, Santa Claus and, of course, all those beautifully decorated and colorfully lit yards, parkways and home exteriors. Every block has a different theme (Santa, reindeer, snowmen, etc.). Holiday Light-Up continues through Jan. 1.

Singer-songwriter KT Tunstall and her band will perform Saturday, Dec. 10, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the courtyard at One Colorado.

Classical and jazz guitarist Joe LoPiccolo will perform Wednesday, Dec. 14, from 12:10 to 12:40 p.m. for the popular Music at Noon recital series at Pasadena Presbyterian Church.

"The Lemon Drop Kid" (1951, NR) starring Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell will be shown Wednesday, Dec. 14, at 1 p.m. in the Donald R. Wright Auditorium at Central Library. A bookie finds himself deeply in debt to a gangster who gives him a little more time to raise the money, but he better have it ready by Christmas -- or else!

Children will love a gigantic balloon gingerbread house, baby abominable snowman and secret of Santa's magic cookie bag during Buster Balloon's Christmas Special Thursday, Dec. 15, at 3:30 p.m. at Santa Catalina Branch Library.

The third Thursday (and first Friday) of every month is Free Admission Day at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. On Thursday, Dec. 15, from 5 to 8 p.m. enjoy the current exhibitions and everything else the museum has to offer.

A staged reading of a new theatrical adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens will be performed by the actors of Unbound Productions Saturday, Dec. 15, at 7 p.m. in the Donald R. Wright Auditorium at Central Library.  Tickets are required.

"Elf" (2003, PG) starring Will Ferrell and Mary Steenburgen will be shown Friday, Dec. 16, at 1 p.m. in the Scott Pavilion at the Pasadena Senior Center, After inadvertently wreaking havoc on the elf community due to his ungainly size, a man raised as an elf at the North Pole is sent to the U.S. in search of his true identity. You do not have to be member of the Pasadena Senior Center to attend.

The holiday celebration and Christmas tree lighting at Hastings Branch Library will be on Friday, Dec. 16, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Photo credits: Wanelo, Hayes Garden World, Time Out, KT Tunstall, Joe LoPiccolo, Paramount Pictures, Buster Balloon, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Walt Disney Pictures, New Line Cinema, Not on the High Street.