PEMBROKE — Faculty, staff and students of the UNC Pembroke Music Department will perform in the 11th annual Holiday Extravaganza concert at Givens Performing Arts Center on Friday, Nov. 22. 

ROCKINGHAM — Place of Grace Campus will be filling the community with the love of Christ this Christmas as shoe boxes full of goodies will be distributed to local children. 

HAMLET — The DeWitt Performing Arts Series will kick off its final season this fall with six shows plus a bonus show in early spring starring a Cole Auditorium favorite, Phil Vassar.

Yet another perspective regarding the date of the birth of Jesus is the practical application of noted events, specifically the implementation of the Roman census and the collection of taxes.

As the actual date of the birth of Jesus has been debated throughout the centuries, there have been proposals to alter the recognized celebration away from the arguably arbitrary Dec. 25.  

When was Jesus born? 

Why, Dec. 25 of Year One, you say? 

ROCKINGHAM — After spending time Christmas shopping with Sgt. Lee Bailey on Thursday, Diamond Lemon reached out to be picked up and wrapped her arms around his neck.

The 5-year-old was one of seven kids teamed up with Rockingham Police officers for the department’s annual Shop-With-A-Cop program.

HAMLET — During this time of year marked by the exchanging of presents with friends, family, and neighbors alike, so too spike the campaigns by organizations of all sizes encouraging residents to open their hearts and their wallets to do some charitable giving.

HAMLET — As part of the Christmas-season celebration and the weekly reading program at the Hamlet Public Library, librarian Belinda Norton and more than a dozen youngsters — and a few parents — presented a play Wednesday morning to a appreciative crowd of parents, grandparents, and other residents.

It is the time of year that brings a fond remembrance for folks of my generation and those from the generations slightly before. When we were younger, we were not blessed with the internet. We had no Amazon or eBay from which to compile our list of Christmas wants and wishes. My brother and I would fight to see who could pick out what we wanted from Santa Claus. We would wrestle that great book from each others hands and go page by page, methodically creating our Christmas list. The book I am talking about is the Sears Christmas Wish Book.