Store owners Rebecca Morse and Georjean Seeliger have made it a tradition to personalize the wooden sign with eye-catching outfits at 215 Cushman Street. Martha was created from a recycled door from a UAF dorm room, with legs of rebar, hair of wire rod and hands and arms that move to adjust to any outfit.
This December, Martha is wearing the latest in bubble wrap, a fashion statement accented with LED Christmas lights, inexpensive ornaments and gold tinsel.
The gift store is open until 8 p.m. today and until 4 p.m. Saturday. Brayana Jeannet is to perform on classical harp from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. tonight.
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SPECIAL GIFTS: A longtime Fairbanksan wants to help people who are having a hard time and can’t afford gifts for their kids on Christmas.
“I have been collecting toys, clothes and shoes for a few months to help parents that are struggling provide a happy Christmas for their kidlets. Everything I have to give has been cleaned and sanitized so that you feel confident handing stuff over to your loved ones. Some things will be in holiday bags and others will simply have a Christmas bow attached so that you can see everything clearly,” she wrote in a posting on craigslist.
The owners of Fairbanks Shoe Repair, 409 College Road, across from the Ichiban Restaurant, offered to help by providing a place to distribute gifts on the afternoon of Christmas Eve.
A lot of other people, some from Fort Wainwright, have become involved in the project during the past couple of weeks. About 500 to 600 gifts, some new and all in good shape, have been donated.
Fairbanks Shoe Repair is inviting people who could use a helping hand to stop by Saturday starting at 2 p.m. to receive some gifts. The shop is going to be open for regular business only from 9 a.m. to noon.
What they could really use now is some hot chocolate and some additional cookies and refreshments to help brighten the holiday atmosphere. Call Fairbanks Shoe Repair at 712-4470 for more information.
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MAIL THEFT: An alert Fairbanks delivery driver spotted a pile of what she thought was trash off Risse Road early Thursday.
Sandy, who delivers for a private company, looked again and found hundreds and hundreds of pieces of mail that had been taken from private mailboxes spread across a large area from Farmers Loop to Chena Hot Springs.
She handed off the recovered mail to the Chena Hot Springs Road mailman at about noon.
About 30 pounds of mail was in the bag. The mailman told her it appeared to be mail that he had placed in mail boxes Wednesday, so the theft must have occurred Wednesday night or early the next day. The delivery driver called Alaska State Troopers to report the incident.
She said anything that looked like a Christmas card was ripped open and there were pictures on the ground amid the envelopes. Most of the mail was not opened, she said.
The driver called me and said people should be alert in case whoever did this is planning a repeat performance.
Ninety percent of what she picked up, she said, was not opened.
It appears the thieves might have been going after the Christmas cards to grab cash and checks.
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HEAT WAVE: The average temperature during the first three weeks of December was 13.5 above, which is 16.8 degrees above normal. This is the second-warmest first three weeks of December in the history of local weather records.
Dermot Cole can be reached at cole@newsminer.com or 459-7530.
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