Back-to-Back Festivities Herald the Season

In Los Angeles, the surest signs of Christmas are the colorful Della Robbia wreaths on front doors and over mantels.

And the surest sign of the new year is the annual arrival of the Rand Calendar with its drawings of famous people and their profound quotes illustrating each month. For January, it’s E.B. White “. . . on Achieving Peace.” For March, Marie Curie writes “. . . on Dreamers.” For August, John Gardner is quoted “. . . on Plumbing and Philosophy.”

Anyway, what’s life without a Della Robbia wreath made by the youngsters at Boys Republic and a Rand Calendar? They’re symbols of this happy season.

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Five in a Night: On the Saturday before Christmas, five parties pushed the limit of festive rush-rush.

Joan and Frank Thompson opened their home to grandparents and grandchildren, parents and special friends. A gingerbread house decorated the dining room table. Cookies crumbled, and the Thompsons turned their pool house into an art room for tykes.

Later in the evening, Sandie and Fred Edwards in Toluca Lake hosted an ornament shower for Kristin Techentin and fiance Berkeley Harrison (whose progenitor is Benjamin Harrison, first governor of Virginia). Hanging their gifts on a small tree near the entrance before cocktails and buffet were a bunch including Bob and Janice Carpenter, Terry and Joann Gloege, Kristin’s aunt and uncle Cinny and Wayne Griffin (down from Sun Valley), and her parents, Laney and Tom Techentin.

Bob and Adri Butler, after a year’s respite, resumed their joyous caroling party with guests well filled on miniature hamburgers and potato pancakes topped with sour cream. Their daughter Connie will take a new position soon at MOCA in the area of photography. Nick and Patty Weber were joined by lots of their family, including daughter Hillary and her husband, Bayard Maybank. Stephanie and Palmer Murray brought their baby, Alexandra.

For Debbie and Terry Lanni, it was cocktails and holiday cheer in their new home in Pasadena. (Previous residents include Ginie and Henry Braun and Orel and Jamie Hershiser.) Lots of Westsiders, among them Mary and David Martin, joined Pasadenans such as Charlie and Christy Bakaly and Charlie and Eileen Read to see the beautifully decorated home. Also in the crowd was Tom Scully.

Concurrently and into the night, Nancy and Bill Burrows were celebrating big to honor their son Bob and his new fiancee, Suzanne Ingersoll, who live in Washington, D.C. They will wed in Cooperstown, N.Y., in the near future.

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Heritage Christmas Club: It’s a family party for the mostly post-college-age crowd, but one in which the younger folks remind parents they’re invited too. For the third year in a row, Joyce Hameetman, Pat Moller, Kitty Moses and Katie Osterloh presided at the Regency Club over great food, great music, great conversation.

The Wagensellers--Sherm, Janet and their son Laine--were there. Also, Doug and Marcia Young with children Traci and Greg; Maidee Smith with daughter Amanda and son Chip; Laurie and Gary Griff with children Kimberly and Beaven; Andy and Mary Lou Camacho and son Don; Roger and Julie Corman with Catherine; Paul and Doris Coleman with sons Derrick and Craig; Maggie Edwards with daughter Suzanne; the Armisteads--William and Susie with sons Jim and Billy.

Early in the evening, family Polaroids were taken. Then there was good food and drink, followed by rollicking dancing. When the DJ played “We Are Fam-i-ly,” Kitty Moses and son Teddy Keck took to the dance floor.

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Naciamento: Stephen and Susan Chandler hosted the naciamento celebration at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana. He’s chairman of the board, and the couple invited the museum fellows, the board of governors, and docents and staff as guests. The naciamento is the traditional Christmas decoration for homes in Mexico and can range from a modest table nativity scene to an enormous altar complete with icons of religion or culture--such as Elvis. The Bowers’ scene was about 15 feet long and was placed at the end of the museum’s galleria.

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Pre-Hawaii: Before Kathleen and Fred Allen left San Marino for Christmas in Hawaii, they gathered friends around a lighted ficus for feasting and fun. Just as guests arrived, son Paul walked in the door with a canvas tote, fresh from his UC Berkeley exams. One crowd gathered around the fireplace for a cheery time--Marybeth Brundage, Suzy and Don Crowell, John and Dee Maechling, and Kris and Jane Popovich.

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Holiday Cheer: Margaret and Tom Larkin hosted an elbow-to-elbow celebration in their Hancock Park home. Cheryl and Bob Baker, Stephen and Julie Russell, Gracie Fritzinger, Peter and Robin Barker, and Superior Court Judge Paul Flynn and his wife, Kee, were among guests . . . In Pasadena, Roger Burschinger’s Christmas tree was never more beautiful than for the large group of friends he hosted for an open house. In the dining room, Patty Burschinger’s decorated yule log and the chocolate mushrooms were hits with Dorothy and John Shea . . . Barbara and Chuck Schneider hosted their annual Christmas Cheer in Beverly Hills, a party that certain people would never dream of missing. On the menu: roast beef. Quite a few, including Marshall Rutter, had to leave for the Master Chorale concert, but the beat went on.

“Come Share the Holiday Grub and Grog,” said Don and Tam Dickerson on their invitation to Pacific Palisades. The night was nippy, but inside, the logs were burning brightly . . . And Joann McGarty hosted “Holiday Cheer,” collecting good friends Joan and Jack Mackey, Maggie and Gene Croft, Bonnie and Charles Black, Sandy and Tom Midgley, Jack and Gretchen Schumacher, and Earl and Maggie Russell.

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Elsewhere on the Social Circuit

Delta Delta Delta and its president, Tracey Hom, held the sleigh bell luncheon at the Beverly Hilton, benefiting Childrens Hospital . . . Patricia Fletcher, president of Town and Gown of USC, was at the helm of T&G;’s campus holiday luncheon . . . The Banta family--June and Merle, with their sons and daughters-in law Brad and Laura and Bert and Darrell--entertained at a mixed-generation party last week in San Marino.