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Lexi Bainas column: Holiday songs, tickets as gifts, and a call for toilet paper: wow, what a week!

Have you seen this year’s Holiday Song &Recipe Book, brought to you by your own Cowichan Valley Citizen ?
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With lots of Christmas songs, traditional carols, recipes, and even a coupon, this is to get. (Lexi Bainas/Citizen)

Have you seen this year’s Holiday Song & Recipe Book, brought to you by your own Cowichan Valley Citizen?

If you haven’t, nip on in to our office on Jubilee Street in Duncan and pick up some copies for your family’s Christmas sing-along. And not only that! You’ll find some delish recipes, too, like Blueberry Streusel Baby Bundts and even Rack of Lamb with a Coffee and Avocado Honey Crust. (I had to capitalize those because they just sound soooo good.)

Also: look for the discount coupon inside. (Hint: see page 10).

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Cowichan Bay painter Jennifer Lawson has whispered that her some of her watercolours are on display in the lobby of the Cowichan Performing Arts Centre until the end of January, so, if you’re heading to a Christmas show, be sure to take a look.

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Have you considered giving the gift of tickets for Christmas this year?

Visiting the Cowichan Performing Arts Centre website always offers lots of good choices in shows brought in by the energetic booking team.

Then, there are the local musicals. How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying is the 2019 production by the Cowichan Musical Society. Check out https://ctcentre.bc.ca/TheatreManager/1/tmEvent/tmEvent2102.html or call 250-748-7529.

There’s also Cowichan Secondary School’s The Addams Family.

Tickets are available at: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3787406?fbclid=IwAR0fODf7Y8NwL1bl3cyZFmpZxESG5ujtFggi1Obud8P9yRNxb0iivzMfbs8

And, of course, there is Sunfest 2019, featuring Jason Aldean and a host of talented country music acts. Tickets for these huge shows are always welcomed by the cowboy boot crowd, and anyone else who loves a big festival. Check out www.sunfestconcerts.com.

Seats for the upcoming season at the Chemainus Theatre Festival don’t go on sale until January, but you could certainly let someone know in a Christmas card that tickets for an intriguing show are on the way.

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Everybody’s favourite half-bearded downtown Duncan impresario, Longevity John Falkner, has just reminded me that his annual Food Bank Drive and Benefit is scheduled for this Sunday, Dec. 16.

But, Christmas hampers have already been filled for the Cowichan Basket Society; they did it Dec. 2.

So, he says, “It’s time to think of 2019. Now they need toilet paper, and lots of it. You see, we believe that a good supply of toilet paper is a desired essential to feeling good about your future. Think about it: a necessity that we all too often just take for granted. So, we are pushing for donations of toilet paper as well as money at our event this year. Yes, bring toilet paper (unopened please).”

All right everyone, get out there and pick up an extra four-pack or eight- or 12- or 24-pack, he urges, “or something fancy” and let everyone feel good about entering 2019, a year that will be difficult for many. You can donate monies online through paypal as you watch the live stream on youtube or bring your donation directly to the event.

For online watching, check out https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqAa7Kp-HNFRMn8K7024mhg

All proceeds will go directly to the Cowichan Basket Society to maintain our local food bank, putting smiles on the families faces and in their hearts by being a member of a community.

From 3 p.m. onwards until 10 p.m., you’ll hear or see performances by a group of artists who have generously donated their time, including: Brian Gauci, Cheko, Chuck McCandless, Hardware Girls, Harry Hull, Jared Popma, John Hadfield, the Jessie Johnson Puppet Show, Malakai, Naomi Payan, Porter Brothers, Schayde Dame, Scott Owen, and more.