It has been a longtime holiday tradition for Valentine and the surrounding neighborhoods to prepare luminaria on Christmas Eve. These are candles placed in paper bags and lit at sunset, to line the streets and create a festive atmosphere on the night before Christmas.

However, it is a lot of work to prepare the luminaria and they are expensive. Since very few people participated in the preparation last year, the board voted to discontinue the tradition UNLESS someone or several people come forward to take responsibility for putting the bags together, distributing them and lighting them.

We do still have candles and other necessary components left over from last year, so we are planning to assemble the luminaria possible for the last time on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24 at 1 p.m. We have not yet chosen a location, but add this to your calendar and watch this newsletter for updates.

We will be gathering at 1 p.m. on December 24th to prepare bags for the Christmas Luminaria. The location will be communicated closer to the date.

Also note that the number of candles that get placed around the neighborhood is contingent upon the number of people who volunteer to help. IN other words, if you want to make sure there are luminaria in front of your house, you should show up to help.