Back when I was the Calendar of Events editor for Ohio Magazine there was one event that stuck with me-The Walleye Drop. At least that's what I remember it being called. See, in Port Clinton, OH where the term bitter cold was probably invented, townspeople gather together for Walleye Madness on New Year's Eve. This year is the 12th time Wylie brings in the new year. Since Port Clinton is the "Walleye Capital of the World," why not?

Folks join in festive fun such as singing "Hang on Wylie" and dancing the "Wallerina" until the midnight countdown. This is when they drop Wylie the Walleye and fireworks go off. There's also food and performing groups. Everything takes place downtown. The Walleye Madness website has lodging information as well.

About Wylie. He's a 20-foot, 600-lbs.f ish made from fiberglass. The original one was made from paper mache. You can imagine how well that one lasted from one New Year's celebration to the next.

I mean, forgive me for being childish, but come on! Do you think we've not noticed the incredibly balmy (for Ohio in late December) weather? It was 45 degrees today. I wore a spring coat! It's just crazy. According to the National Weather Service, both Cincinnati and Columbus have seen only a "trace" of snow, as opposed to their usual December averages of 3.6 and 5 inches of snow, respectively. The Boston Mills and Brandywine ski resorts are both temporarily closed, and they have yet to announce an opening day. We are in for a warm, wet winter. And that just sucks.

You've noticed that needles fall off your Christmas tree whenever someone comes near it. Yep, time to take down that tree and put the ornaments and lights back in their boxes until next December.

The ornaments and lights might be done for the season, but the tree is not. According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, don't send your tree to a landfill but consider one of these ideas:

• Submerge your tree in a farm pond, if you happen to have one. Fish and pond life will live in it. Tie a cement block to it to get the tree to stay under water.

• You can also put your tree in a corner of your yard to provide shelter for wildlife.

• Or take your tree to a tree recycling place

• Or chip it up yourself to make mulch and compost material.

• Yard waste pick-up programs will also pick up Christmas trees and they will be composted. If your tree is over eight feet, cut it in half.

Before you dump your tree somewhere, make sure it's okay so you don't get nailed for littering.

Also, take off any tinsel and ornaments.

The Earth Day 911 website has some of the tree recycling centers in Ohio listed. You type in your zipcode. The ODNR website also has links to county tree recyling programs. Look for your county and click on it.

As I was driving home from what turned out to be a full 32 hours of holiday entertainment and et cetera (I love my big, unwieldy, on-the-opposite-ends-of-town family!), I was listening to the last few hours of WDOK 102.1's nonstop holiday music. It was pretty good, and they have quite a lot of different songs that run the musical genre gamut, and so I was not very surprised to hear a song that I'd not heard before. I was a little surprised that it was an original Christmas song, as opposed to an artist's cover of an older song. An original song! So I listened a little harder, and as I listened I realized that it was about having a Christmas in Cleveland! I was puzzled. I was intrigued. I listened. And subsequently learned that "Have a Merry Cleveland Christmas" was penned and sang by Alan Douglas, and actually has been included in an album called Mistletoe Melodies: Holiday Songs of Cleveland Artists (available through Little Fish Records)! Worth a listen, especially for lyrics that talk about how nice it is to celebrate Christmas in Public Square. So true. Of course, Public Square looks a little more like it does in the picture than it does in the song, all covered in snow, but maybe someday soon!

So sad, and yet so true. The twelve days of Ohio are over. In case you missed them, here they are again!

On the first day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: a state bird (by Jamie)!
On the second day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: a Twinsburg festival (by Tom)!
On the third day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: sports museums (by Katherine)!
On the fourth day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: women astronauts (by Jamie)!
On the fifth day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: great actors (by Tom)!
On the sixth day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: art museums (by Jeffrey)!
On the seventh day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: baseball World Series Championships (by Tom)!
On the eighth day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: presidents (by Jamie)!
On the ninth day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: doubled cities (by Katherine)!
On the tenth day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: famous Ohioans (by Jeffrey)!
On the eleventh day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: Native American tribes of Ohio (by Tom)!
On the twelfth day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: trivial Ohio facts (by Jeffrey)!

This video which was a OH 10 New Media Center Report on December 13 of this year captures it all. Warmth, love, good cheer and fireworks. Merry Christmas. Grab a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy. I hope your town, whereever you are feels like this one and Santa comes down your chimney or through your front door.

Cleveland has a lot to do with Christmas trees and holiday lights in the United States. First of all, in 1851 Dr. Henry Schwan, a Zion Luthern minister headed to the woods near Cleveland, chopped down a tree, set it up in his church and decorated it-- complete with candles. I think they were candles, or maybe they were lights. Regardless, rumor has it that this was the first decorated tree in the U.S., or at least in this part of the U.S. and some loved it and some hated it. Some thought it very unChristian. Well, people got over it.

Then in 1911, General Electric took up shop at what was once a vineyard at what is now 1975 Nobel Road. One thing led to another until 1925 when GE began putting up Christmas light displays at Nela Park, its home and the first industrial park ever. By 1970, the lights went for several blocks--and I'm not talking about any old lights. They are so grand that one of my sisters-in-law used to go to see the lights when she was a kid and took her kids every year even if it was just to drive by quickly.

Each year there is a different theme so the ornaments are created just for that year. A couple years ago after I heard about Nela Park, I had a hankering to head to the east part of Cleveland to see the display myself. That year the theme had something to do with years gone by. The year before that, I think, had something to do with around the world wonders like the Taj Mahal. The light display is unique in another way as well. Since 1922 Nela Park has provided the lights for the National Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C.

I think when I was looking for an inflatable Santa image I came across a shop near Kings Island that looks like a destination store, and you only have until the end of the year to get there before it closes until April. The Kings Mill Christmas Shop has been featured in the Toledo Blade, The Cincinnati Enquirer and Michigan Living to name a few publications. From the photographs on their website, it looks like one of those totally sensory rich places that are fun to browse around. If you're looking for specialty Christmas items, I'd head here. It seems they have ornaments to fit any theme. The merchandise also includes 150 different kinds of Santas and snowmen. I don't know if they have any inflatable stuff though.

Finding this shop got me wondering about others.Here is another shop I came across. This one is in Hocking Hills, and it is also only open every day until the end of the year and won't open again during weekdays until the spring. The Christmas Treasures Gift Shop is in Logan, OH. Besides Christmas related stuff, this one has all kinds of goodies, some Ohio-themed and some not.

For a mega Christmas shop experience, head towards 'Tis the Season Christmas Shoppe near Berlin, OH. This one is open all year around and is considered the biggest one in the state. There are 200 decorated trees, for starters. I can't imagine it's possible to walk into the store and then leave without buying something. The website has a video as well to get you in that shopping mood beforehand.

Remember when Festivus was just this incredibly little-known thing that was on Seinfeld? God, remember when Seinfeld was a little-known thing? We can kiss those days good-bye, since Festivus (along with that silly Kwanzakkuhmas thing) has become quite the standard holiday non-celebration celebration.

Festivus has three key components:

1. Feats of strength
2. Airing of grievances (usually about whomeever you're with)
3. A metal pole in the corner, with absolutely nothing on it, and not set up in any sort of stand

Even I have become part of it, which just makes me so sad! My company has bought into it completely, and we are going on a Festivus lunch to Hunan East in Richmond Heights - how exactly Chinese restaurants tie in with Festivus is beyond me, but since it is the most "authentic" Chinese restaurant on the East side, we let our China office call them with our order, which makes them feel just so close to us. And then Sidekick Girl and I are going to go to our favorite bar (Sea Level Lounge), which is having a big Festivus celebration on Saturday night. Sea Level is actually going to have the airing of grievances and feats of strength, as well as live bands.

When I contacted Applied Imagination to find out about getting a picture of the train display at Krohn Conservatory, I found out there was a train closer to my own backyard. Paul Busse's creation in the downtown Columbus Huntington Bank building on the corner of High and Broad Street across from the Statehouse is spectacular. The receptionist has the most awesome display right at her back, and it's the only one of its kind in town.

Busse is the creator of the Krohn Conservatory train as well. While there are similarities to the two displays, the one in Cincinnati gives a nod to the buildings there, while the Huntington Bank version is a Bavarian town on the Tauber River. Seven trains wind along the tracks that also include a waterfall, an 8-ft. castle and miniature people, snow and evergreens. Here's an interesting piece of information I just read on the sheet you can pick up at the display; the cathedral represents the Frauenkirche which is the Church of Our Lady in Dresden. The church was destroyed during WWII, but has been recently reconstructed. Huntington Bank helped with fundraising the reconstruction funds.

The only time you can see this exhibit is during the regular banking hours between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. After Dec. 31 it will be taken down until next year. You can also register to win a train set. For more about Paul Busse and his train displays, here is an article from Kentucky Living Magazine.

I did blog about the Christmas light display in Pickerington a few weeks ago, but after my up close and personal experience this past Saturday night after my friend and I took our two sons to see it, I wanted to emphasize again-Go! (And if any of you read my blog about ice-skating at the Statehouse, yes, this is the same day with the same friend and the same two boys. And yes, the house stayed a mess in the spirit of continuing with holiday cheer.)

In my past blog, I mentioned that last year there were four houses that had synchronized lights and the aim this year was to get almost the whole street involved. Happily, they did and the street can't be missed. First, of all, you'll see the lights as you head into the subdivision. The string of cars crawling along waiting to get onto the street and back out is a good clue as well. My friend parked the car so we could walk. The slight problem with this was that we couldn't listen to the radio station that plays the Christmas music you're supposed to listen to while you see the lights. I did see one family who was also walking. They were pulling a wagon with a radio tuned in. Smart!

We felt bad that we didn't have any canned goods to donate when we got to one of the original houses. When you go, you'll see a huge wooden box for donations. The elves passing out candy canes to passerbys who were also collecting the donations said that they empty the box a couple times a day and one of their garages is filled with canned goods for a Pickerington food bank. When we were hanging out waiting for Santa to come back outside, someone donated two cases of green beans. I think they were green beans. They were canned goods at any rate. Most everyone who passed handed the elves money. We hung out for awhile since the elves were friendly and the night was downright balmy. I think folks passing by thought we were involved somehow since, from time to time, we got a thank-you.

Evidently, this street is big news. It was on the CBS Sunday Morning show, I think. The elf informant told me it was going to be on between 9 and 10 AM. It's also been written up in the New York Times. One thing that really warmed my heart was the house that had a large inflatable menorah out front and blinking blue and white lights. It struck me that if we all had synchronized blinking lights all over the world we'd probably cheer-up. This light display is run by a computer. I wonder if world peace through synchronized lights is something Bill and Melinda Gates might consider?

The street is Hail Ridge Drive. I did see an inflatable Santa like the one in this picture. The deer and Santa move. Here's the link to the New York Times article. The Pickerington street is the last one mentioned and there's a picture of some of the houses and the mastermind.

I know that I don't really like shopping in the first place (unless it's a bookstore or craft fair), but malls during the holiday season are just not my cup of tea. Check out the Westfield Southpark mall in Strongsville, Ohio! That's just one line, people.