UNIVERSITY CENTER HOLIDAY EVENTS SET

Southeast Missouri State University students and the public are invited to find a little Home for the Holidays at the University Center beginning today.

University Center staff are sponsoring an entire week of activities centered around the different cultural and religious holidays occurring in December. Special events have been scheduled to celebrate Hanakkuh, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year's Day.

"We are trying to celebrate the different holidays that occur around Christmas time," said Lynn McIntosh, the secretary of the University Center.

McIntosh said a different aspect of the holiday season will be celebrated at the center each weekday through Dec. 11. All events will occur from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. on the third floor of the UC, McIntosh said, and snacks and drinks will be served.

Today's theme is "Coming Home," and students will have the opportunity to make ornaments for the UC Christmas tree and Christmas stockings to decorate the walls. Each day a treat will be left inside students' stockings, McIntosh said.

"This is something to give the students, something fun to do and get people ready for the holidays," McIntosh said.

Special cultural holiday activities are also scheduled during the week. There will be a Kwanzaa ceremony on Friday, McIntosh said, and Hanakkuh activities are scheduled on Monday.

Hanakkuh is an eight-day Jewish holiday celebrating the victory of Judas Maccabeus and the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem. People attending Monday will learn how to make dradls, and Dr. SueAnn Strom, vice-president of student affairs, will explain the holiday's history and help make special Jewish treats. Actual observance of the holiday begins Friday.

Kwanzaa is a seven-day African-American holiday celebrating African heritage and the seven principles of African harvest. People attending on Friday will see the special candle-lighting ceremony and learn more about the holiday's history. Actual observance of the holiday begins Dec. 26.

"There will also be different entertainment scheduled each day," McIntosh said. "Different people will perform each day, and there's Christmas karaoke, too."

The Christmas karaoke is scheduled for Thursday, on From Our Home to Yours day. Banners made by students from Washington Elementary School will also be hung that day.

Monday is Here Comes Santa Claus day, and Washington Elementary students will be on hand to make cookies.

The entire celebration will end with -- what else? -- a New Year's celebration. Wednesday, Dec. 11, is Going Home for the Holidays day, and McIntosh said the theme that day is New Year's Eve.

This is the second year for this event, and McIntosh said they expect 100 people or more to attend the events each day.