Harbor Lights

The holiday parades have passed, but the lights are still blazing at both harbors in the county.

You’ll get an eyeful if you take an evening harbor cruise--boats with streams of color blinking from their masts, and pricey waterfront homes heavy with lights, Santas, reindeer and Christmas trees.

It’s the Southern California equivalent of a sleigh ride over new snow--if you can tweak your imagination that much. It’s not without it’s quirky touches too. Dolphins leap through the air in some lighted displays, and in one yard the glittering scene is an old-time movie set with a camera cranking away.

Both harbors offer these cruises up to New Year’s Eve.

Be prepared for an earful of Christmas music along the way, as well as chilly temperatures. Despite our balmy climate, on the water you’ll need to bundle up with a heavy coat, gloves, a hat.

At Ventura Harbor, the Bay Queen chugs out nightly at 6 and 8 p.m. for 90-minute harbor cruises that glide past boat docks and in and out of the keys where the homes are decorated.

Tom Rush, the owner and an 18-year harbor veteran, is at the controls. The 40-foot boat holds 49 passengers who can sip hot chocolate or something stronger, if they wish, during the ride.

The cost is $10 for adults and $5 for children. Reservations are a must; call 642-7753. Boarding is at Ventura Harbor Village, off Spinnaker Drive.

At Channel Islands Harbor, the smaller 22-foot Harbor Hopper can take up to 20 on an hourlong cruise that includes the Mandalay area and its exclusive homes. The boat, Gigi, is enclosed with plexiglass for a warmer, less windy ride, owner Cindy Lyon says.

Running from about 5 to 10 p.m., the Harbor Hopper’s holiday cruise is by reservation only.

The cost is $5 per person with a $30 minimum. For information, call 985-4677.

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If the urge to bake and build a candy-laden gingerbread house overtakes you during the holidays, but you’re not the artsy type, here are a couple of ways to stoke your imagination.

Ventura’s Doubletree Hotel, 2055 E. Harbor Blvd., goes all out for Christmas, erecting a 12-foot-high gingerbread house that stretches up to the mezzanine in the lobby. Made of real gingerbread and other edible ingredients, the house is plastered with decorative candies, such as M&M;’s that resemble a mosaic design on the door. The house sits on a bed of cottony snow, and a model train circles it.

Your efforts will most likely pale next to the Doubletree’s architectural wonder, which took nearly five days of baking and two days of decorating. The ingredients include 300 pounds of shortening, 600 pounds of flour, 200 pounds of sugar, 24 gallons of molasses and six pounds of ginger.

If you’re in Santa Barbara, check out the array of gingerbread houses in the lobby of Fess Parker’s Doubletree Hotel at 633 E. Cabrillo Blvd. There are 50 of them organized into a mountain village, all encircled by a model train. The houses were baked and decorated by local Boy Scouts and youth from the Boys & Girls Clubs.

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Want a break from Santa, eggnog and turkey? Think goose, Mother Goose, that is.

At Cal Lutheran University’s Little Theater, “The Strange Tale of Mother Goose” unfolds this weekend in several performances for families. Show times are 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 4 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $7.50 for adults and $5 for children.

This musical play, performed by the Agoura Hills-based Play House Junior Repertory Co., uses a different approach to depict this venerable mother of all mothers.

The play is an adaptation of a 17th century New England legend. According to that legend, a Boston widow named Elizabeth Goose was the original Mother Goose. Born in 1665, she married Isaac Goose at the age of 27. Not only did she become stepmother to his 10 children, but she later had another six of her own. Supposedly, she penned a book of rhymes, but no copy of the book has ever turned up.

The play picks up on this thread, using many of the familiar characters from Mother Goose rhymes. The actors in this production are all 9 to 17 years old. All participate in the Play House Junior Repertory Co., a 16-week theater workshop for youths. The group is also staging another evening production at CLU this weekend, Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons.” It will be offered at 8 p.m. Saturday and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10 for adults, $7.50 for children. For information, call (818) 981-6549.