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She said yes, of course. But there’s much more to the story.

Santas For St. Nick’s Biggest Fan

The mere sight of Santa Claus made 15-year-old Leigha Cirillo light up like a sparkling holiday ornament.

Treatment for a rare chromosomal disorder had pushed the 15-year-old Toms River teen’s body to the limit, and she celebrated Christmas early this year in hospice. That was in September, and her family wanted her to experience the season’s joy one last time.

As Christmas draws near, her mom, Erica Cirillo, has been having a tough time. She reached out to her neighbors on their small Facebook group with a singular request: Would everyone please inflate a 12-foot Santa — like one Leigha had picked out on Amazon — to honor her memory?

Amazon had a good night of sales from the neighborhood. As of early this week, 50 houses in the neighborhood were displaying 12-foot Santas, including most of the street where the Cirillos live.

“It makes me happy and sad,” Cirillo told Patch of the many emotions — joy at seeing the tribute to her daughter, sad that she is gone and also grateful for “an amazing community” of peoole who have enveloped her family in love and support.

The Most Clark Griswold Thing Ever Happened

Ted Ray, 33, is a fan of the holiday classic “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” And everyone who drives past his McHenry, Illinois, home at this time of year knows it.

The movie is beloved by many but truly embodied by few. Ray started out big with 500 lights, added more every year, and now his home has reached Clark Griswold-level nirvana. Last December, the hit on Ray’s electric bill for the 4,750-light display was $850. He added another 600 lights this year but swapped out incandescent for LED lights.

The display even has the most Griswold-like station wagon Ray could find, a 1990 Ford Taurus GL. He added “Griswold” vanity plates, secured a tree — roots and all — to the roof, and took it for a spin.

It’s been a huge hit around town, It’s a magnet for people who want selfies. Ray has been pulled over by police officers, but not for a violation. They just want to talk about the car and also get a selfie. He took it to Chicago for an event, drawing crowds when he stopped at lights on Michigan Avenue.

And then, the most Clark Griswold-thing ever happened. The car wouldn’t start. Ray has a plan — and quite a story to tell.

‘As If The Stones Are Singing To You’

In the five years since a fire silenced the more than 8,500 pipes of the historic organ at Cathedral Church of St. John in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan’s Upper West Side, digital organ music has had to suffice.

But it didn’t come close to the sound produced by the cathedral’s organ, built by Ernest M. Skinner Company in 1910, and rebuilt and enlarged by G. Donald Harrison of Aeolian-Skinner in 1954.

“When you listen to this pipe organ in the space,it’s as if the stones are singing to you, in the walls around you,” the cathedral’s organist, Daniel Ficarri, told Patch.

The five-year, multi-million dollar restoration was completed in time for Saturday’s Christmas concert.

“This restored organ has eight-and-a-half thousand pipes and it happens to be situated in the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, so the marriage of the space and this world-class instrument is really what makes it so exciting,” Ficarri said. “It’s hard to describe — it has to be experienced in person.”

The Sweet Taste Of Victory

No one out baked Jo Nunez on Food Network’s “Christmas Cookie Challenge.” After a clean sweep of both rounds of the challenge to create holiday-inspired caped crusaders, villains and superhero vehicles, the Cartersville, Georgia, owner of Goodies and Grace Dessert Boutique took home the $10,000 grand prize and the coveted Golden Ornament.

Nunez earned a biology degree from the University of Georgia and could have built a career around the knowledge, but baking holds her heart. She opened her business last year with money she saved from the cookie kits she whipped up during the pandemic. She had quit her job and studied under a pastry chef in France. She brought what she’d learned back to the States, using authentic imported French flour and better to create her French brioche and croissants to give her customers “a luxury experience.”

“Any time you’re with the community, you have food, and it just brings people together,” Nunez told Patch. “… I just really want to bring awesome experiences to people.”

It was a Facebook post that landed Nunez on The Food Network’s radar. She said a producer on the show put out a call on the social media site for cookie decorators. The producer asked Nunez to apply after a friend saw the post and mentioned her name and skill.

‘Feels Like Christmas Morning’

It was the afternoon of Dec. 1, but for all the people who got together to surprise Orland Park, Illinois, fifth-grade teacher Julie Drew, it was like Christmas morning.

She thought something might be up. There had been signs that her longtime friend and her school principal were planning something. But never did she expect she’d be holding a check for $27,000 in front of the whole school.

It’s enough money that Drew can cover her mortgage for the next year as she faces the next fights in her battle against cancer.

“Today feels like Christmas morning for me, the planning and the secret-keeping and the surprises,” Principal Kim Hartnett said. “It’s been really special to be a part of. Julie deserves all of it.”

“I thought we were getting something for the school,” Drew said. “So I’m overwhelmed and very grateful.”

Santa Gets An Assist

In the spirit of the holiday season, thousands of gifts were delivered to 3,000 children, some of the neediest in New Hampshire, after another successful year — the 64th — for Operation Santa Claus. It’s a project of the union representing state employees and retirees, with a big lift from National Guard members based in Concord.

This year, the gifts collected filled an entire hangar at the base, but helicopters that usually deliver them were grounded because of snow flurries.

Nothing can stop Santa, though.

His elves at the National Guard base made sure of that in what that Maj. Gen. David Mikolaities, the adjutant general of the state National Guard called “a great example of partnering with another state department … to benefit the citizens of the state and underprivileged children.”

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