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arts e d i t o r i a l Note From the Editor T h e holiday season is upon us and it is easy to moan and groan. "I can't believe how early the stores decorate for Christmas." "I don't have time to shop, and besides. I don't even like most of the people I give gitlN to." "The holidays are all commercial hype-I'm not buying this year." It's so easy to do. While I was putting together this (holiday) issue. I received a photograph of a smiling baby boy-the first son of some very dear friends. He is looking at someone who is off camera and his face is full of happy expectancy. Pure joy. It occurred to me that the holidays can be a time when we allow ourselves this kind of joy. Some of us struggle with the meaning of Christmas and then find ourselves unconsciously humming, "Chestnuts roasting by an open fire..." Some people will fight the holiday spirit hard, and then after a few rum-and-eggnogs The Grinch will come on the television and they are with him until the end. singing, "Yahoo Forest, welcome, welcome Christmas day." During the holidays, sit in a performance of Handel's Messiah trumpets will sound. and we allow ourselves to feel excited. We know that the Performances of the Nutcracker are announced (again) and some of us will sneak into a production by the local dance school, pretending we're related to one of dancers, and remember our first days in ballet classes. Our first big show. Our first Nutcracker. Next thing we know, we are finding a way to afford the painting someone we love has admired for so long. It's the gift we will probably "let" them open early because we can't wait to see their face (they know what it is before opening it). At some point we'll hear a choir and permit ourselves the joy of having the beautiful voices take us to another place. The choir may sing a song almost 200 years old or a recent version of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." It won't matter. Our memories and private joys will sweep over us. The visual and performing arts are the catalysts for these joys. Let us give thanks to all the musicians, dancers, conductors, choreographers, actors, writers, artists and creative planners whose labours result in us feeling the joys of the holidays. Of feeling excited and expectant. And of course, let us be thankful for all the children whose little faces remind us about smiling and pure joy. Gloria Loree Our Lucky Winners! These three women of indeterminate height were the lucky winners of a pair of tickets to a performance of Three Tall Women at the Vancouver Playhouse courtesy of Arts Alive and the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company. Lidia Richter, North Vancouver Andrea Wilson, West Vancouver Oksana Szulhan, North Vancouver Congratulations! Hope you enjoyed the show! Three Tall Women runs at the Playhouse until November II, 1995.