IN OUR COMMUNITY

The 10th Annual “A Village Christmas,” sponsored by the Metamora Area Business Association (MABA),  is set for Sunday, December 4th from 12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.   

Businesses and organizations on or near the Metamora Square offer Christmas cheer, free make-and-take crafts, treats, smores, pictures with Santa, Christmas caroling, and more!  For a full list of activities and a map of participants, visit https://metamorabusiness.com/a-village-christmas

Join Metamora Parks and Recreation on Saturday, December 3rd at 5:00 p.m. for a tree lighting ceremony on the Metamora Square!  This is a first-time event that will include numerous lighted Christmas trees around the square, Christmas cookies by “Berta’s Snack Stop” available for purchase as well as rubber wristbands that say “Shine a Light on Metamora.”

Join Riverview students as they sing Christmas carols at the gazebo in the Metamora Square on Friday, December 9th from 5:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.  They’ll be singing all the traditional Christmas favorites!  Don’t forget your Santa hats and jingle bells!

St. Mary’s of Metamora will hold its annual Holiday Cookie and Candy Sale from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. (or until sold out) on Saturday, December 10th.  New this year is a special appearance by Santa.  Stop by for a photo op with Santa and purchase some holiday goodies.   

The sale will be held in St. Mary’s School gym, 400 W. Chatham, and will feature a variety of prepackaged cookies for $8.00 per dozen.  Candies, mixes, and other specialty items will also be sold.  This event is sponsored by St. Mary’s Altar & Rosary Society.

Take in the spectacle of a Live Nativity Drive Thru at the Christian Union Church at 925 West Walnut Street in Metamora on Saturday, December 3rd, from 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. The Live Nativity includes live animals and live music!  A free offering and supplies will be accepted to benefit the Metamora Open Arms Food Pantry and other local ministries.  

There is also a Walk-Up Nativity this same day from 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.  Get a closer look at the animals and take family Christmas photos!

The American Red Cross and the Metamora community need your help!  They are hosting a blood drive Monday, December 4th  from 1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. at Metamora Snyder Village SV Center and need of additional blood donors. The Red Cross blood inventory is currently at an EMERGENCY level. They need at least 15 more donors to come forth and donate to achieve our collection target of 25! 

Sign up at https://www.redcrossblood.org/give.html/drive-results?zipSponsor=METAMORA

The St. Mary of Lourdes Men’s Club is holding a sausage sale on Sunday, December 11th from 7:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.  Sausage orders must be pre-ordered by December 4th by contacting Bill Kessling at 309-645-7795.

The price is $4.00 per pound for bulk or link sausage.  The pick-up location is the St. Mary of Lourdes Parish Center at 424 Lourdes Church Road.

Metamora Izaak Walton at 725 Seven Hills Road in Metamora will host Breakfast with Santa on Saturday, December 10th from 8:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.  They will have pancakes, sausage, milk, juice, and coffee for cash-only donations.  

Bring your camera for photos with Santa and enjoy a puppet show at 8:45 a.m. and 9:45 am. (each show is 10-15 minutes long).

The Village of Metamora has a new texting program to communicate important Village news with residents.  Just text VILLAGE to 309-305-2420 to enroll.  Once enrolled, you will receive upcoming emergency information, updates, and other village notifications.

Metamora Township High School will present the 47th annual Madrigal Dinner on Friday, December 2nd through Sunday, December 4th, 2022. On Friday and Saturday, doors will open at 6 pm, and the show starts at 6:30 pm. On Sunday, doors open at 3 pm, and the show starts at 3:30 pm.

Tickets are $28 per person.  Please call 309-367-4151, ext. 574, or email kherrick@mths.us. Credit cards are accepted.

Visit the Square on Thursday, December 8th for the Village of Metamora’s Hometown Christmas.  The event is organized by The Julie Bowald Home Team, Timeless Treasure Market, Partridge General Store, and the Cottage Peddler.  Enjoy shopping, food trucks (weather permitting), Santa, and carriage rides from 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

MTCO is a drop-off location for the Woodford County Heartline and Heart House Tree of Hearts program that provides Christmas gifts to low-income people in Woodford County.  They are looking for new, unwrapped gifts for children ages newborn through high school.  Ideas include toys, games, arts and crafts, Legos, bedroom décor, clothes, sports items, cologne/perfume, wallets, etc.

Donations will be accepted at MTCO (220 N. Menard St., Metamora) until 9:00 a.m. on Friday,  December 10th.   In 2021, five gifts per child were given out to 102 families (277 children)!

Just in time for the cold weather and before the holiday rush hits its peak!  All SHOWTIME  channels will be free for all MTCO digiMAX TV subscribers starting at 6:00 a.m. on Friday, December 9th, and available through 11:59 p.m. on Monday, December 12th.  On digiMAX channels 620 – 634.

The first wave of new ChromeOS-powered gaming laptops, which offer the premise of solely cloud-based PC gaming, is here.  Cloud gaming delivers a great gaming experience by offloading the graphics and input processing to a remote server equipped with high-end graphics hardware.   Read more about this at https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/acer-chromebook-516-ge

Great American Family FREE PREVIEW from Dec. 1st - Dec. 31st.

The free preview has been extended one more month!  Enjoy a free preview featuring 24/7 Christmas movies and 18 Original Movie Premieres every Saturday and Sunday on the  Great American Family channel!  Free for all digiMAX TV customers on channel 496!

With the holiday season in full swing, so are gift card and prize scams. These scammers will often lie about being a known contact of yours to try and get you to buy them a gift card, or they may offer an amazing prize in exchange for your credit card information.   Read this article to prepare yourself for the dangers online https://blog.knowbe4.com/send-this-to-your-users-5-top-scams-to-watch-out-for-this-holiday-season

Sunday, December 11th

7:00 p.m. – Discovery

Mike Rowe gets back to work for an all-new season of “Dirty Jobs” on Sunday, December 11th at 7 p.m., revealing the hardworking Americans who have found their way to some of the most extraordinary jobs that make civilized life for the rest of us possible. Every episode of this fan-favorite series celebrates the unsung heroes and the communities that rely on these essential jobs across industries, ranging from construction to sanitation, manufacturing and more. And for Mike, the dirtier the job the better this season, as he tackles each with gusto and a no-nonsense approach which Discovery audiences respect and admire.

In the December 11th premiere of “Dirty Jobs,” Mike travels to West Palm Beach, Fl to take on the job of Pool Liner Fixer with second-generation pool fixers Dan Duecker, Dave Duecker and Juan Pablo, who lead Mike into the dirtiest pool in America to clean 17 years of accumulated filth. Later, in Orlando, Mike takes on the job of Hotel Soap Recycler and meets with Shawn Seipler and “Soap Whisperer” Carlos Anderson to recycle dirty hotel soap to donate to people in need.

Saturday, December 17th

7:00 p.m. – Paramount Network

More than 20 years ago, New York’s Z100, the most listened to pop radio station in the country, introduced Jingle Ball—a holiday concert with the year’s top artists performing their #1 hits. The show quickly became the most anticipated holiday tradition with tickets selling out in minutes. Jingle Ball has since grown into a globally-recognized phenomenon-now a sold-out multi-city national tour-and a must-stop appearance for the world’s biggest artists to get face-to-face with thousands of their most passionate fans.

Thursday, December 8th

8:00 p.m. – ABC

“CMA Country Christmas” rings in the holiday season annually with a night full of festive classics and one-of-a-kind musical performances. The event is filmed in Nashville, Tennessee and airs each holiday season on ABC Television Network. Now in its 13th year, the 2022 Christmas special will be hosted by Carly Pearce, with performances from some of today’s biggest Country Music stars!

Thursday, December 1st

7:00 p.m. – NBC

A modern-day movie musical about the making of a network TV special, “Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas” is the frenetic backstage story and delightful on-camera results of Dolly’s desire to uplift an exhausted world’s spirits by sharing the unique “mountain magic” she has always found in and around Dollywood at Christmas. Throughout the movie’s production numbers and rehearsal chaos, Dolly finds herself taking a private journey into her past, guided by the mysterious appearances of her personal Three Wise Men. When it’s time for her big special to air live, a renewed and inspired Dolly goes rogue and shows the world that the real magic of Christmas lies in the hearts of the children we all once were, the realization that Christmas is about the people we share it with and how her faith remains the common thread between Christmases past, present and future.