THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 25, 1994 TAG: 9412230221
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 119 lines
Wednesday, Dec. 14
6 p.m. - Virginia Beach Boulevard.
The driver of a red Isuzu Trooper has the right idea on this gloomy and rainy day. Her license plate reads: 2D OSHIN.
- Holly Wester
6:05 p.m. - Laskin Road.
The message on a bumper sticker is as plain and simple as its black and white colors. It reads: No one is free when others are oppressed.
- Holly Wester
Thursday, Dec. 15
7:30 p.m. - Toys R Us at Lynnhaven.
The toy aisles are jammed with frenzied shoppers loading their shopping carts with games, dolls, trucks and puzzles to be placed under the tree on Christmas morning.
The din is briefly interrupted by a voice on the loud speaker calling out two children's names followed by this message:
``Your parents are at the front desk. They're tired and they want to go home.''
- Debbie Messina
8 p.m. - A home in Dunwoody.
Sign of the times.
``Hey, mom, check this out,'' yells a young lady, pointing at an item in the JC Penney sales sheet.
``What is it?,'' asks the mother, who is coming down the hallway.
The daughter points out the ultimate gift - a couch potato's dream. It's an oak remote holder that can hold up to four remote controls.
- Holly Wester
8:30 p.m. - Phar-Mor at Lynnhaven.
It's the middle of the Christmas rush and three cash registers are manned. Lines of customers, clutching wrapping paper, cards and candy snake into the aisles.
One impatient shopper tries to push her way to the front of the line but is repeatedly rebuffed by annoyed customers.
`` 'Tis the season to stand in line,'' she harrumphs, taking her place in the back of the queue.
- Debbie Messina
Friday, Dec. 16
9 p.m. - Near Bow Creek golf course.
It's the annual LightRope tour, and a Gallop bus load of holiday merrymakers is rating the suburban decor on official score sheets.
Houses get points for blinking lights, too much, way too much and ``mixed media,'' a category that requires the presence of both sacred and secular icons in the same yard.
But a few houses have prompted new categories for the '95 LightRope tour: extra points for ladders left outside the house and for more than one baby Jesus in the same yard.
- Lorraine Eaton
10:20 p.m. - Blockbuster Music, Laskin Road.
A female customer sets an assortment of cassettes and blank videos on the counter.
``Christmas shopping?'' asks the man behind the counter, store manager Rob Reynolds.
``Yeah, something like that,'' the young lady grunts.
Reynolds rings up the items and the total comes to $42.36. The customer pulls out her Visa card, which has a piece of Scotch Tape down the middle.
``What happened?'' he says, holding the card up to the light, checking out the crack in the credit card. ``Did you cut it up and change your mind?''
The customer, who looks embarrassed, as well as guilty, smiles and says, ``Oh, just run it through.''
- Holly Wester
Saturday, Dec. 17
2:30 p.m. - Lynnhaven Parkway.
A couple, not intending to shop at the mall, decides to take a shortcut home after lunching at a local restaurant. They turn right into North Mall Drive and promptly become snarled in a traffic jam. The car inches up to the perimeter road surrounding the mall and turns right, narrowly missing a Volkswagen waiting to turn into the Montgomery Ward lot.
The couple finally hits Bow Creek Boulevard and waits through two lights to make it onto Rosemont Road.
The husband turns to the wife.
``Can you imagine if we decided to go shopping?'' he asks. ``We'd still be looking for a parking space.''
- Pam Starr
Sunday, Dec. 18
1:15 p.m. - Villas of Glenwood parking lot.
It's cold and drizzly, with a chilly wind that whistles through the barren trees. Not one person is in sight, until a fire engine magically appears carrying Santa Claus and his elf.
The driver toots the loud horn and plays the siren as Santa jubilantly waves at the condos. Within seconds children and adults alike are running out of their units to greet Santa (alias Glenwood resident Brian Dempsey), who gives each person, whether little or big, a hug and a candy cane.
``Merry Christmas!'' he keeps shouting, clearly enjoying himself. ``Ho! Ho! Ho!''
The fire engine rumbles through the parking lot and continues on its jolly way to other Glenwood streets.
- Pam Starr
9:30 p.m. - The new theaters at Columbus Village.
The movie theater is one place where even the most environmentally minded feel free to litter. Except when it's a new theater.
A couple sits in the dark reading the credits for ``Disclosure'' and notices that almost everyone is carrying their empty cups and popcorn bags to the trash can, instead of trashing the theater.
- Lorraine Eaton
Monday, Dec. 19
2 p.m. - Laskin Road.
``On Dancer, on Prancer, on MasterCard and Visa,'' says the marquee at Bryant-Fentress Associates.
- Mary Reid Barrow ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
Scent of the season
Greg Lonegran and his son, Daniel, 4, sit in a sea of poinsettias in
various stages of bloom. Lonegran, who grows flowers full time, had
his four Pungo greenhouses at 3188 Indian River Road full of the
traditional Christmas plants this year.
by CNB