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Silver Spring residents returning holiday gifts after the New Year shouldn't count on parking at the Spring-Colesville parking garage. Starting on or about Jan. 1 all 585 parking spaces in the Spring-Colesville Garage (Public Parking Garage 21), with entrances on Spring and Cameron streets, will be closed for renovations for approximately two years.

The garage has experienced deterioration and requires restoration and upgrading. The newly restored garage will include: new floor slabs, elevators, stairs, new electrical and plumbing systems and a new brick exterior. Sixteen short-term spaces at the Spring-Cameron garage on Cameron Street will be converted into 10 handicap spaces to compensate for the lost handicap spaces in Garage 21. Also, 167 spaces in Garage 2 will be converted to Parking Convenience Sticker spaces to accommodate PCS parkers from Garage 21.

For more information and updates, visit www.motgomerycounty

md.gov/parking or call 240-777-8740. Call the Parking Sales Office at 240-777-8744 for information on monthly Parking Convenience Stickers.

Winter solstice celebration

The city of Takoma Park will hold its annual Winter Solstice celebration beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Takoma Park Maryland Library, 101 Philadelphia Ave.

The non-denominational celebration will feature performances by a variety of musical groups, including the Foggy Bottom Morris Men and ethnomusicologist and drummer Bill Jenkins. The event is free and open to the public. Children and adults of all ages are welcome to participate.

For more information, contact the library at 301-891-7259 or visit the Web site at www.takomapark.info/library/.

Christmas musical

at Calvary Lutheran

A free Christmas musical for families, preschoolers, and seniors will be presented by kindergarten through eighth-grade students at Calvary Lutheran School at 10 a.m. today, Thursday and Friday and 7 p.m. Friday. Calvary is located at 9545 Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring. For more information, call Elda Banks at 301-589-4001, Ext. 207, or e-mail mgall@celcs.org.

Community arts store

running holiday clothing drive

Help the homeless by dropping off new gloves, mittens, scarves, hats or thermal underwear at ArtSpring, Pyramid Atlantic's Community Art Store and Gallery. ArtSpring, located at 8519 Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring, will collect new items for backpacks that will be created and dispersed to the homeless by The Shepherd's Table, a Silver Spring-based shelter and service provider for the homeless. Please drop off your items at ArtSpring by Sunday to help keep everyone warm this holiday season.

City's leaf collection

up and running

Sure, the cozy tree cover and beautiful fall colors are part of Takoma Park's appeal, but much of the appeal of falling leaves disappears once they hit the ground and start to clutter up your yard.

In light of recent talk about banning gas-powered leaf blowers, what's a homeowner to do? Kick it to the curb, of course!

The city has mobilized its fall leaf crews to patrol the streets, picking up piles of leaves from the curbs in front of houses all throughout December. For the most efficient pick-up, residents are asked to rake their leaves into neat piles on the edge of the curb without obstructing the street, piling up around parked cars or blocking storm drains.

The city's specially equipped vacuum truck will head down select streets at least twice until Dec. 31, and residents are also encouraged to call the city's Leaf Collection Hot Line at 301-891-7626 to inform workers of piles at their houses.

For more detailed guidelines and tips, please visit the city's leaf-collection Web site at www.takomapark

md.gov/publicworks/leafsche.html.

Habitat partners with nonprofits for another Silver Spring home

On Dec. 12, Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans gathered at the future home of the Nega family to honor the work and financial contributions that made rehabilitating their home possible.

The new home, located at 11818 Pittson Road in Silver Spring, is the fourth completed as part of the Neighborhood Revitalization Program, a partnership between HFH-MC and the county Department of Housing and Community Affairs to purchase and rehabilitate vacant, foreclosed homes in Montgomery County. This particular home was a result of another partnership between Habitat for Humanity International and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit organization that gives financial assistance to approximately 2.6 million members.

This partnership, called Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity, has led to the completion of more than 2,000 affordable homes across the country and around the world since 2005.

Due to the success of the 2009 partnership between Thrivent Financial and HFH-MC, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans recently announced the continuation of the Thrivent Builds program in Montgomery County for 2010.

Hark the Takoma Park churches sing

Come out and enjoy some old-fashioned holiday fun at the Takoma Park Presbyterian Church, 310 Tulip Ave., where congregants and neighbors are invited to meet at 4 p.m. Sunday to split into Christmas caroling groups to spread holiday cheer. The singing will last until 7:30 p.m. and cookies and snacks will be provided afterward.

For more information, please contact the church at 301-270-5550 or visit the Web site at www.takoma

parkpc.org.

The caroling will continue from 5 to 7 p.m. Dec. 24, as the Takoma Park Seventh-Day Adventist Church at 6951 Carroll Ave. organizes its own candlelight holiday caroling event. Carolers will depart the church to begin the caroling at sunset.

For more information, e-mail mdove@groom.com.

Send Silver Spring news to Staff Writer Jason Tomassini and Takoma Park news to Staff Writer Jeremy Arias at The Gazette, 13501 Virginia Manor Road, Laurel, MD 20707. The fax line is 240-473-7501. Tomassini can be reached at 240-473-7559 or jtomassini@gazette.net; Arias can be reached at 240-473-7564 or jarias@gazette.net.

Free lupus support

groups at Holy Cross

The Lupus Foundation of America Greater Washington Chapter will offer free support groups for lupus patients in Private Dining Room 2 at Holy Cross Hospital on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. The next meeting is Dec. 23 at the hospital, 1500 Forest Glen Road in Silver Spring. The monthly sessions are led by trained professionals who understand the challenges of lupus, a chronic, autoimmune disease with no known cure that can damage any part of the body including the skin, joints, heart, lungs, blood, kidneys and the brain. About 75,000 people in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia have lupus — 90 percent of whom are women.

For more information, visit www.lupusgw.org or call 202-349-1167.

Washington area residents wondering if they may have lupus can check their symptoms and read actual patient accounts in both English and Spanish at

www.couldihavelupus.gov.

Dunk more than just cookies with Santa at Long Branch

The Long Branch Community Center, at 8700 Piney Branch Road in Silver Spring, invites residents to "Basketball With Santa"from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday.

"Basketball With Santa" is a fun and free community event for children ages 13 and younger and their families. There will be free activities for the children, including face painting, resource tables, games and arts and crafts.

Residents can also get a picture with Santa for $6 per person.

Teens are welcome to earn student-service learning hours by volunteering. For more information, call 301-431-5702.

Deadline near for MC career-path scholarship applications

A limited number of scholarships are available, pending funding, through Montgomery College Workforce Development & Continuing Education for students pursuing career paths with the intention to obtain entry-level employment. The scholarship of up to $1,000 will help cover tuition and fees. The application is due 5 p.m. Thursday. The scholarship may be applied to one or more eligible courses within the applicant's chosen career area, to pay tuition and fees not covered by another funding source or to waiver eligibility or payment plan (including employers). For information or to refer Spanish-speaking clients, call Liliana Arango, at 240-567-3824 or send an e –mail to liliana.arango@

montgomerycollege.edu.