West Seattle, Washington
16 Sunday
Thanks to daPuffin for tipping us off to the Santa hat, on Roxbury at 36th. It’s now on the West Seattle Christmas lights map that you’ll find on the WSB Holidays page, and it’s in the light-display archive here.
10:08 pm tonight, in case you were wondering. Meantime, we have 28 listings of West Seattle events, happening now through Sunday, that you might want to check out as we celebrate the promise of more daylight to come (among other things):Read More
Since we’re decorating our tree bit by bit between waves of typing, this note from MargeC (with the photos shown above, ’01 ornament left, ’03 right) resonated:
Just finished decorating our tree and was wondering what happened to the annual “Junction Holiday Ornament”s? We moved here in Nov 2001 and that was the first one of what was-to-be a series – it was a fund raiser for decorating the Junction with the summer flower baskets. We purchased ours at the Town Hall on California Ave. AFAIK there wasn’t one in 2002, but there was one for 2003. Does anyone know if there ever was a 2002, or any post-2003? Wish they had continued – they’re beautifully made, unique collectibles.
Thanks to Elisabeth for sending this photo of the carefully crafted light display at 39th & Dakota; 
she warns it doesn’t do the lights justice, but the way we look at it, the pix are generally just to give you a hint there’s something cool at such-and-such an address, get out and see it if you’re holiday-lights fans like we are. Every display we’ve featured, going back to the very first one of the year — Salty’s, featured here on November 12 — is on our clickable, printable West Seattle Christmas lights map (find it on the WSB Holidays page) and in this archive.
Jeff Sullivan from the tree lot at Skyline Secure Park (Harbor Ave across from the 7-11) is giving away his last few trees – he wanted to give ’em to charities but contacted a few local nonprofits and is having trouble reaching folks so now he said, put out the word on WSB, anyone’s welcome to get one, bring your own twine, you haul. First come, first served – his only requirement, he says, is that you “have a Merry Christmas!”
Thanks to Margelyn for this photo of another Alki-area light-covered tree (a popular feature in that vicinity) — this one’s at 63rd/Hinds, and now it’s on our West Seattle Christmas lights map (available on the WSB Holidays page) as well as with other featured displays in this archive.
One week till Christmas … and at 4050 21st in Pigeon Point, all the lights are lining the walkway with care …
Thanks to Chris Wells for that photo. And thanks to Todd for e-mailing us about 2424 Alki, which looks awesome at night but also simply must be seen by daylight because of the decorated backhoe:
Both these displays are on the ever-growing list of what you can find with our West Seattle Christmas lights map, reachable at the WSB Holidays page, and they’re archived with all other displays we’ve featured, here.
First, a great photo:
Larry says it was about 4 pm today when he got that shot of a VERY busy afternoon on Elliott Bay. Thanks for sending it to WSB!
Second – congrats to Jeff from Soundproof Suite 1850, one of the 116 sites listed on our Other Blogs in West Seattle page – he won The Stranger‘s auction for a week of posting rights on the paper’s ever-spectacular Slog, coming up in January, and according to Slog, Jeff “looks forward to defending the honor of West Seattle and the Alaskan Way Viaduct.” (Hat tip to our pals at Capitol Hill Seattle for catching first word of Jeff’s Slog score.)
Third – on the holiday front: Not enough for a complete update of our West Seattle Christmas tree price check, but while out this afternoon, we noticed the Rite-Aids are out of trees, and West Seattle Nursery has marked down some of its Douglas firs (some nice ones for as low as $11!) – they’re open till 8 pm. Also, we’ve added many more West Seattle Christmas Eve and Christmas Day church services to the WSB Holidays page – as many as we’ve found online so far – will be making phone calls to fill out the list; we’re working on the list of Christmas Eve/Day grocery-store hours too.
We’ve told you about the West Seattle Food Bank‘s needs this holiday season (with its wish list here), and you’ve stepped up to the plate (as did Nucor employees with the big donation we covered last week) – Now we’ve heard from the White Center Food Bank, which serves families just south of West Seattle (its coverage area is shown here), which is also in need of a pre-Christmas boost. From Richard Jump at the WCFB:
The White Center Food Bank is expecting to serve more than 800 low-income families during our holiday distribution this week. Donations are still needed to meet the increased demand for services. Most needed items include: hams, fruit cocktail, olives, canned fruit, Stove Top stuffing, Rice-a-Roni, jello & pudding, chicken or turkey broth, dessert mixes, etc. Donations are greatly appreciated and can be dropped off at the food bank at 10829 8th Ave SW. Our telephone number is 206.762.2848. Happy Holidays!
If you know of any other local nonprofit with urgent last-minute pre-Christmas needs, please let us know – e-mail us or call us (206/293-6302) and we’ll help get the word out here on WSB. 10:30 AM ADDENDUM: We checked with WCFB and they will accept donations during business hours — 8:30 to 6:30 pm — or by appointment.
No, not looking for a new arena site on all that suddenly vacant property; it was a special holiday-shopping spree at Westwood Village Target, according to the official Sonics blog.
One week till Christmas Eve! If your dream would resemble a warm Christmas more than a white Christmas, check this out:
Thanks to Becky for the photo, which she reports is from “36th or 37th just south of Roxbury” — we’ve added that approximate location to our clickable, printable West Seattle Christmas lights map (find it on the WSB Holidays page), will try to nail it down more closely with an in-person visual tomorrow. With your help, we’ve now featured 30 displays, all archived here.
Those Fairmount Springs folks have done it again – decorating their traffic island along Fauntleroy (which sported Halloween spirit earlier this fall) – augmenting the year-round candy-cane striping of the stop-sign poles. And this time they’ve included a little sign taking credit (closeup below); their website, by the way, is among the neighborhood-group sites we’ve just collected for a new list you’ll find on the right WSB sidebar.
Got last-minute Christmas mail to send? We just checked on West Seattle post-office hours. 
The Junction branch is open 8:30-5 on weekdays; the Westwood branch is open 8:30-6, though when we stepped into the lobby to check on its hours, a worker volunteered that the doors open a few minutes early this time of the year. (Here’s the Postal Service webpage with holiday deadlines.)
This is one of the flashiest displays in the greater Admiral area — 45th and Stevens, just west of PCC. Thanks to everyone who e-mailed us to make sure it made the WSB roundup! While snagging this photo tonight, we noticed several other well-lit houses along 45th north of this spot. Please keep sending in suggested locations – we’ll continue featuring local lights nightly through Christmas; you’ll find them all on our clickable, printable West Seattle Christmas lights map, viewable on the WSB Holidays page, with the nightly features archived here.
We’re going to have to go out and check on the tree situation West Seattle-wide as time permits this afternoon – we figured some things might have changed since we did the research 2 weeks ago for our West Seattle Christmas Tree Price Check (read it here) — and in fact, we just got e-mail from this year’s new addition, the tree lot on Harbor Ave across from the 7-11. Jeff Sullivan wrote (as of half an hour ago):
We just wanted to let you know that we have around 40 or 50 trees left in a variety of shapes & sizes. We still have Noble, grand and douglas firs. All trees are just $20/each!
Merry Christmas to you!
Sincerely,
Jeff Sullivan
Skyline Secure Park
Tonight at 7, Tibbetts United Methodist Church is presenting what its new pastor calls the “Blue Christmas/Longest Night” service. Rev. Dr. Joanne Carlson Brown describes it this way:
No, it is not just an Elvis song. For many people, Christmas is not the most wonderful time of the year. Maybe someone you loved died this year and this is the first Christmas without them. Maybe you lost someone around Christmas time and the anniversary is painful. Maybe you’ve lost your job or even your faith. Maybe it is just the holidays are way too much to handle. For whatever reason, if you find yourself at odds with the holiday cheer, come spend an hour with others in a time to acknowledge the grief, the sadness, the pain and to find a way to hope. This is a service of readings, prayers and music.
Tibbetts UMC is at 3940 41st SW (that’s 41st/Andover; here’s a map). When we first heard from the pastor about this, and she mentioned having just been appointed, we asked her for a short bio:Read More
Jodi e-mailed WSB (thank you!) about a house in the 4000 block of Fauntleroy, which runs parallel to the end of The Bridge; we hope this is the right one — impossible to see street numbers in the dark, and there are several nicely lit homes on the block, but this one is the brightest, and the photo barely does it justice because there’s a whole lot of blinking and strobing going on. It’s the latest addition to our clickable/printable West Seattle Christmas lights map, linked from the WSB Holidays page and now featuring 28 locations, all around our peninsula, and all also archived here.
First, the 3400 block of Walnut; thanks to Wendy for the tip:
Lots of nicely decorated homes in that general area between Admiral and The Junction, including this one on 42nd north of Spokane – not splashy, just nicely arranged.
We’ve added both these homes to our updated-nightly West Seattle Christmas lights map, which you’ll find on the WSB Holidays page, and you’ll find all featured displays archived here.
Sorry for the subpar drive-by photography but in this case, it’s the spirit that counts – we were stopped at walk-all-ways in The Junction, headed back home from the latest Christmas-light photography (tonight’s update is minutes away), when we saw and heard this group doing a raucous rendition of “Feliz Navidad” right outside the professional offices south of JaK’s Grill. Much whooping and clapping ensued, from the spectators as well as the performers. Fun times.
Last month we received a couple e-mails from people asking if we’d heard a rumor that the popular NORAD Tracks Santa website wasn’t going to be running this year. We couldn’t find the site at the time and wondered if those rumors might be true. Glad to report that we checked back and … they were false … you can find the preview site for NORAD Tracks Santa here.We always love following the web tracking every year … reminds us of the pre-pre-Internet days of our childhood, when radio announcers would check in with NORAD to see where Santa had turned up on radar.
Today and next Monday are great days to get holiday-dinner food donations to the West Seattle Food Bank (here’s the list we originally published). On Thursday, WSFB got a big boost from Nucor, which showed up with more than $9,000 in cash and gift cards along with thousands of pounds of food – here’s one of the truckloads they unloaded:
We also talked to the Nucor managers who were there to help with the delivery; Nucor’s been doing this at holiday time since 1996!
Again tonight, two pix – have to double up to get everything in before The Big Day:
The first one is a beautiful tree, one color of lights for each branch, pointed out to us by The Velvet Bulldog; it’s on Hinds at 62nd. The second one is a photo from CA Joyce, described as a treehouse dressed up for the holidays, 53rd & Dakota. Both are now added to our clickable/printable West Seattle Christmas lights map, which you can find any time on the WSB Holidays page; all previously featured lights are archived here. And thanks to everyone for continuing to send in all the tips and pix!
One last reminder that it’s late-night shopping night at a variety of West Seattle shops — 
from Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor; read more about their event here) and Shanti in the Admiral District, throughout The Junction for the “Wrap It Up” event (flyer with participants here; plus, it’s also West Seattle Art Walk night), and over to Avalon (where Murphy’s has a special fundraiser/shopping event tonight). Some stores will be open as late as 10. (And if your shopping tonight will include Christmas tree-hunting, you can check the price survey we posted earlier this month; we hope to update it this weekend in case things have changed.)
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