The Crowd:

Nearly 1 million lights illuminate the Balboa Bay Club & Resort.

“I love the Christmas holidays, and it is important to be positive and send a message that it is a wonderful time of year and a time to be optimistic about the New Year 2010 to come,” said Henry Schielein, president and chief operating officer of the waterfront club. “This has nothing to do with the Chamber of Commerce prize of winning the ‘Best Decorations.’ It’s just about celebrating the season and providing a wonderful atmosphere for our many members and guests from all over Southern California and the rest of the country, who come to Newport Beach at this time of the year to see the boat parade and to enjoy Christmas on the California coast.”

The holiday season began in style at the club Dec. 1 with a formal program to usher in the Christmas season. More than 500 guests converged on the club’s front drive and courtyard, which had been lined with white folding chairs.

The crowd sipped hot apple cider and sampled chef Josef Lagader’s decorated Christmas cookies prior to taking their places for the big show.

The club’s board of governors chairman, John Wortmann, joined his wife, Anne, and children Devon and John Jr., in welcoming dignitaries, including Newport Beach City Councilman Ed Selich and his wife, Lynn, and members of the community at-large: Costa Mesa Ford dealer Bob Robins and his wife, Ginni, Northwest Mutual Insurance executive Bob Waltos and his wife, Carolyn, expecting their fourth child in springtime, a little boy, joining the family of three sisters, Coldwell Banker real estate professional Sharon Grimes and her petroleum industry executive husband, Gary Grimes, with daughter Taylor Grimes, a recent Stanford graduate working for an international consulting firm in the Los Angeles area.

As the crowd took their seats, the U.S. Marine Corps Band entered the porte cochere and led the crowd in a rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.”

The full band with more than 50 musicians and a solo vocalist treated the audience to a rousing Christmas show, performing all the standards and favorites from “Jingle Bells” to “Silent Night.” Joining the Marines, the Southern California Children’s Choir, led by conductor Lori Loftus, took their positions on risers and sang their hearts out to everyone’s delight.

Wortmann got the crowd on their feet with a countdown from 10 to one, culminating in the illumination of the lights, which surely sent a power surge across the Orange County electric grid.

Then it was time for the big guy in the red suit to make an entrance. Santa Claus left his sleigh and Rudolph across the street at Taco Bell and slipped into a Marine Corps Hummer with lights flashing and entered the driveway popping out of the Hummer as children screamed: “Here comes Santa, here comes Santa!”

Jolly old St. Nick got out of the car with an enormous bag of candy and came through the audience, hugging the children and asking them if they have been bad or good all year, ultimately coming up onto the stage and wishing one and all a very Merry Christmas.

Today is Christmas Eve. For millions of Americans and people around the world, it is the eve of one of the most sacred and treasured days of the year.

For the rest of humanity it is a day to reflect on the message of Christmas, which in large part is “Peace on Earth, good will toward men.”

In our sometimes difficult and overly complicated world, a world of pressure and what is often referred to as a “rat race,” one of the most special aspects of this day and Christmas day is the simple fact that the world really comes to a halt.

For a mere 24 hours, one can hear the silence of peace, a momentary and fleeting reminder that all can be right with the world if people endeavor to make it so. Merry Christmas, may it be a joyous day filled with hope and promise, good health and good will.

THE CROWD runs Thursdays and Saturdays.