VENTURA COUNTY WEEKEND : Unwinding in Wonderland as Holiday Nears : Brightly lighted homes, gingerbread displays and solstice events combine for the perfect antidote to pre-Christmas stress.

Holiday spirit, the joy of giving, Christmas cheer. Remember? That’s what the season is all about.

But that’s easy to forget when it’s wall-to-wall shoppers at the mall, and you’re fighting over a battery-operated reindeer sweater with seven other folks who are also dying to check the last name off their gift lists.

It can, indeed, be a festive time of year. But between high-stress shopping trips and gatherings with bizarre relatives whose names you can’t remember, it can be overwhelming.

There are, however, some low-stress, low- or no-cost activities for these last few days before Christmas.

Following is a sampling of the many houses and streets in Ventura County that are decorated to the max; a couple of gingerbread displays worth viewing; and, to calm the nerves and the spirits, a pair of winter solstice activities.

Decorated Homes

Betty Boop is back in the front yard of Paul Garrison’s home, and he couldn’t be happier.

“She got stolen the other day, but before dark I got her back,” said Garrison, referring to the plywood cutout. “I was really tickled to get her back. People know her. She’s been out there the last couple of years.”

The cartoon character is part of the Christmas display at Garrison’s Camarillo home. And Garrison’s display is part of a holiday celebration along Gemini Avenue that has earned the neighborhood quite a following.

“When it’s pretty weather out, it’s usually bumper to bumper on our street,” said Garrison. “Everybody enjoys what we’ve done, and we enjoy doing it.”

What Gemini Avenue residents have done, since the late 1980s, is pool their creative resources to create a uniformly dazzling display from end to end.

One home is a re-creation of the North Pole, with penguins, a lounging polar bear and igloos on the roof. Across the street is a greeting from life-size residents of Dr. Seuss’ “Who-Ville,” with a drop box for canned goods to be donated to local charities.

At another home, Garfield, Sylvester, Tweety, Miss Piggy and other animated superstars ski and sled their way down a snowy hill. A Nativity scene with angels fills another yard. And in one driveway, Santa and Rudolph sit in the front seat of a classic red Thunderbird, a load of packages piled high in the back seat.

“There’s a young lady on the street who’s an artist and she draws all the pictures. The men cut the characters out of ply board, and then the talented women on the block paint them,” said Garrison. “We usually meet once or twice before Christmas to decide on a theme.”

This year’s theme is Follow the Stars--with each home adorned with a Star of Bethlehem. Guiding the way, strung from one side of Gemini Avenue to the other in archway fashion, are the lighted figures of Santa and three reindeer.

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Just east of Gemini, on Dewayne Avenue in Camarillo, Bob Gale is likely to be sitting in his garage, making sparkling Christmas balls out of plastic cups and strings of lights.

To make each ball, Gale, a machinist by trade, drills holes in the bottoms of about 51 cups, melts them together to form a sphere and inserts two or three lights into each of the cup holes. And the ball is ready to twinkle.

Gale’s creations can be seen at several of the homes along Dewayne Avenue, where residents have gone all out for the holidays.

“For the last four years, this block has gotten bigger and bigger with our decorations,” said Gale. “Everybody just goes out to the hilt.”

The highlight of the street is 1818 Dewayne Ave. or, as the Christmas sign out front reads, “1818 Candy Cane Lane.” The garage door, wrapped in red ribbon and a red bow, features an oversized gift card that reads, “To: Camarillo, From: The Johnsons.”

And the gift is a colorful, animated display of lights and toys and automated machines. The roof is illuminated with a flashing “Ho, Ho, Ho.” Santa and his reindeer are climbing the roof of the house.

On the lawn, dolls sit on a moving carousel. And next to the driveway, a teddy bear rocks back and forth in front of a fireplace.

Across the street, at 1817 Dewayne Ave., there is plenty of activity as well. The front of the house is packed with a congregation of little gingerbread men, and to the right of the walkway a door opens and closes on an automated gingerbread house.

“I’ve been here 17 years. Before, it was scattered. Just a few of us put lights out,” said Gale. “Now everyone’s doing it.”

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About 60 lollipops line the front yard of 1332 Sycamore St. in Simi Valley. Oversized, inflatable ornaments hang from the maple tree out front. Snowflakes flutter in the air.

No wonder the residence is known by some locals as, simply, “The Christmas House.” It’s a children’s fantasy land gone wild.

To the right of the driveway is a circus scene consisting of, in part, a circus train, a carousel, a Ferris wheel, a popcorn cart and a dancing elephant. And to the left of the driveway are giant dancing polar bears, several wooden snowmen and a decorated Christmas tree.

A quick look doesn’t do the home justice. Up on the roof--resembling a castle guarded by toys--is Cinderella in a horse-drawn carriage, and some elves busy at work. And in front of the garage door is a giant display case filled with antique dolls.

The house is so popular, there is a sign out front detailing the hours that the Christmas lights will be on: 6 to 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday; 6 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 6 to 10 p.m. Sunday.

Gingerbread Houses

OK, here’s the special recipe. It’ll be perfect for that dessert you were roped into bringing to Aunt Flo’s house for Christmas dinner.

If you don’t already have these items in your cupboard, you’ll need to buy the following: 1,650 pounds of flour, 350 pounds of granulated sugar, 200 pounds of powdered sugar, 70 gallons of molasses, 500 pounds of shortening, six pounds of ginger, 10 pounds of cinnamon, 120 pounds of egg whites, 132 pounds of cookies and 300 pounds of candy (Hershey kisses, M & Ms, candy canes, chocolate bars).

Mix it all together, play with it a little, and you’ll have yourself a 3,500-pound, 25-foot-tall gingerbread house. If transporting it to Aunt Flo’s turns out to be a problem, just leave the architectural wonder in your front lobby--as did the folks at Ventura’s Doubletree Hotel.

For the seventh consecutive year, the hotel staff spent about three weeks baking and constructing the giant gingerbread house, which comes with windows, flower beds, a door and a chimney.

“Our engineering department built a wooden frame for it, like a house, because it has to support so much weight,” said John Walters, general manager of the Doubletree. “Our kitchen crew took about a week to bake the gingerbread, which is mounted with screws to the side of the house.”

At Christmastime last year, the Doubletree staff built a 19-foot house. Walters said the six-foot height increase this year indicates the mind-set of the construction team.

“It’s really become a challenge to the culinary crew to come up with something exciting for the holidays,” he said. “It keeps growing and growing.”

But Walters suspects the house may have reached its pinnacle. “The lobby ceiling is 30 feet high,” he said. “The house is such a monster now. It’s hard to get up and decorate the top already.”

The giant gingerbread house is the centerpiece of the Doubletree’s “Gingerbread World.” Adjacent to the house are miniature gingerbread villages constructed by students at Pierpont Elementary School in Ventura and Saticoy Elementary School. The Doubletree is at 2055 Harbor Blvd.

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Over at the Mandalay Beach Resort in Oxnard, hotel and restaurant staff compete annually for top honors in a gingerbread house contest.

This year’s competition resulted in an elaborate, imaginative, seven-structure display, standing in the foyer of the resort’s in-house restaurant, Capistrano’s.

Along with the more traditional gingerbread houses, there is a church with a fountain, a castle with a mote, and an Eiffel Tower. All structures were made to fit 15-inch-by-23-inch baking pans, and all consist of at least 95% food products.

Though the quantity of ingredients doesn’t quite stack up to that used at the Doubletree, the assorted gum drops, chocolate, licorice and other sweets--about 30 pounds of candy altogether--is enough to tug at any sweet tooth.

The Mandalay Beach Resort is at 2101 Mandalay Road.

Drumming Workshops

There may not be any lords-a-leaping, at least that we’re aware of, but we do know of some drummers a-drumming. And you could be among them.

Tonight, for women only, there will be a Winter Solstice Gathering and Drumming (and potluck) at the Ojai Woman’s Club. Then Friday the whole family is invited to Ventura’s Art City II for a Native American-style drumming ceremony and, again, potluck.

Celebration of the winter solstice--the shortest day of the year--has been taking place for ages.

“Beginning the next day, the days begin to grow longer and the sun begins to return. The winter solstice is a celebration of the return of light and of the beginning of our own and nature’s rebirth,” said Robyn Posin, an organizer of the Ojai gathering.

Participants in the Ojai gathering will form a drumming circle. At the center of the circle will be a Mother Drum, 48 inches in diameter and three feet deep.

“We will bless the circle by lighting candles and calling in whatever energies each one of us wants in the circle with us,” said Posin. “We are in a prayerful attitude when we start, but it’s nondenominational.”

Once the drumming gets going, said Posin, the sound takes on a life of its own.

“Sometimes it’s exuberant, sometimes it slows down almost to stopping,” she said. “The women play rhythms that come from their bellies. What always happens is that the rhythms come together. There’s a lot of whooping and hollering and people moving to the music.”

The gathering will conclude with participants joining hands in a circle, for singing and chanting.

At Art City II, the drumming will be more traditional Native American style.

“It is a free-form fun kind of evening,” said Virginia Lee, president of The Empowerment Place in Ventura, the sponsor of the event.

As part of the drumming, participants will be led through two Native American ceremonies. In one, they will call in the spirits of north, south, east and west.

“This is to honor the Earth and the four directions,” said Lee. “Each direction has a different attribute. North is wisdom, south is trust, east is illumination, and west is birth and death.”

In the second ceremony, wood will be added to a bonfire to symbolize the disposal of bad habits. “Basically,” said Lee, “the evening is really a time to let go of old patterns and then have a blast.”

Both gatherings begin at 6:30 p.m. Participants are asked to bring their own percussion. The Ojai Women’s Club is at 441 E. Ojai Ave. A $5 donation is requested. Art City II is at 31 Peking Ave., Ventura. Admission is free.