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Giving gifts

This holiday season, shop at businesses that give back to people and animals in need.

Treasures benefits

Feast of fruits and veggies

Who needs Whole Foods or Sprouts? Lake Highlands has a less expensive, more fun way to shop for fresh produce. 40

Gourdgeous art

Retiree sculpts hardrind fruit into decorative accessories.

The coning guru Gary Wright takes us behind the scenes of the White Rock Marathon.

13 Grand ol’ time

A new book by Lake Highlands grandparents offers tips for creating lasting memories. 14

Holiday outings

Don’t miss December events.

Too much of a good T hing

Are we stretching the most wonderful time of the year beyond recognition?

A few years ago, we wound up about 20 driving hours from home the day after Thanksgiving.

Destined as we were for a lengthy car ride, I thought I would brighten the drive by locating holiday-song-only radio stations and flipping from one to another, making this an all-holiday-tunes exercise, something my family could look back on and fondly remember someday.

Well, I’m happy to report that we do look back on this trip, but the word “fondly” isn’t part of the story.

All I was doing was replicating my personal pattern between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, when I give my daily diet of Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen and Boston a six-week rest in favor of holiday tunes. It’s a plan that seems to keep both genres fresh year-round.

But there’s a difference between listening to holiday tunes for 20 minutes at a time and listening to them for 20 consecutive hours. As we wound through the hills of Missouri and Arkansas and across the relative flatness of East Texas, it dawned on me that there are only about 30 actual holiday “favorites,” and once those have been played, the radio stations start looping them again. And again. And again.

Given enough repetitions, even Springsteen’s “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” begins to sound like fingernails on a chalkboard. If you don’t believe me, just ask my wife or sons, who spent a good portion of what should have been a restful drive for them (after all, I was behind the wheel throughout) complaining so loudly about this cruel and unusual punishment that I finally gave in and switched the channel.

We survived, of course, although one son still barks irrationally when a holiday song dares flash its title on the radio screen. But that ill-conceived idea says something about the unintended consequences of the ever-expanding holiday season.

We all know that within minutes of clearing the shelves of Halloween candy, many merchants fill their stores with holiday stuff. It still seems odd to find Santa waving hello when Thanksgiving is nowhere in sight.

I’m not pointing a finger at stores that start the holidays early; they are entitled to do whatever is best for their bottom lines, particularly in these curious economic times.

But I do wonder about the cumulative “damage” we’re doing to ourselves by allowing the holidays to become an overex- given enough repetitions, even Springsteen’s “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” begins to sound like fingernails on a chalkboard. posed part of our lives.

Our pastor used the term “extravagant generosity” during a recent sermon, and his point seemed to be the importance of giving generously to others from both our pocketbooks and our time.

The holiday season, more than any other, is a time when most of us feel an emotional pull to dig a little deeper to help each other.

Yes, we should feel that way every day of every year. But sadly, most of us just can’t operate that way. We need a special time to give in a special way, and the holiday season offers that opportunity.

Or at least it did. Now, with the season stretching from Nov. 1 to Jan. 2, that’s a long time to keep the flame burning without scorching someone, most likely ourselves.

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One stop. All glow. The Station gets you closer to the holidays. Check off your checklist, and add to your wish list. Hear caroling and go reveling. Find everything—and have it all.

Q&A: Gary Wright

collectively, there will be millions of thoughts racing through runners’ minds on White rock marathon morning, Sunday, Dec. 4: “Am I on pace? How much farther? man, I’m tired …” but most will not think once about all those orange pointy cones that line the 26.2-mile course. That’s left to Gary Wright, also known as “the coning guru.” He loves the sport, plus, he simply is the type of guy who happily gives of himself. In fact, when we catch up with him, he has just given blood, something he does regularly for a friend in need.

Someone told us you are the coning guru of White Rock Lake. How did you earn that nickname?

Hmm. More often than that I get called the “cone head.” I guess I started helping out with races back in 2002, with the Dallas Running Club. When the coning crew needed a hand, I helped out and learned how to set up a racecourse.

Do the cones go out the day of the race or sooner?

The morning of the race.

OK, so what does a typical White Rock Marathon day look like for you?

We meet at about 4:30 a.m. — there are three or four of us on three trucks. The third truck is the one that responds to problems that arise. That’s the one I’m on. Before race day, we drive the course and we get a list from the police of the locations we must cone for traffic safety. Then I work up the rest of the details — I try to envision what cues a runner might need. I will print maps for each section of the course identifying those spots. There are two main purposes for the cones: guide runners and block traffic. Before and during the race, I answer any problem calls. My truck follows the so-called “sag wagon” (the vehicle that picks up runners who can’t finish the race). It follows the last runners on the course. I drive along behind it, if all is going as planned, and pick up the cones.

How many cones do you use in The Rock?

1,200, give or take. They have changed the course slightly over the years, so it can vary. The lake section of the course really takes care of itself.

What is an example of a problem you might run into?

Well, once I got a call from police to come place a cone near a dan- gerous-looking pothole on McKinney. As I placed the cone, the lead runners were swiftly approaching and I barely got out of their way. Another time, a leading female runner in the half marathon got off course and when I saw her, she was running directly into three lanes of traffic. I got near her and she asked me where the course was. My voice was so hoarse from yelling at people all morning, all I could do was point.

Have you run the marathon yourself?

Yes, in the early ’90s I ran in The Rock for the first time. I’ve run it a few times, and other marathons.

How did you get involved in running?

I used do a lot of backpacking. I’d find myself in the altitude panting after a few minutes, so distance running became a means of conditioning. I knew a girl who went out and ran two laps around White Rock Lake one day [18-plus miles] and I thought, “I can do that.” Needless to say, she had been in training and there was a learning curve for me. But eventually I was able to cover that distance and more.

What motivates you to do things such as give blood and volunteer, especially as the coning guy on whom so much responsibility is thrust?

I don’t know. [Pause.] I do get a sense of satisfaction looking out at all the runners and seeing that things are going well. I gain motivation from the charities served by the White Rock and other events — Scottish Rite Hospital [The White Rock Marathon beneficiary]. I get involved because I see a need to contribute ... early on I was involved with March of Dimes and their fundraising events because I had a sister who died of birth defects. My backpacking buddy, Mark, almost lost his son because of the same problem that affected her. Mark died from cancer about nine years ago. My girlfriend, Bobbie, developed breast cancer three months after I met her. She had chemo, surgery and then radiation. The blood donations — those are for Renee, a fellow runner who got West Nile virus from a mosquito that bit her while she was running. It is about trying to make a difference. And, from donating blood to marathon coning, that is really the point.

—Christina Hughes Babb Questions and answers are

edited for brevity.