A pack of letters that Kris Kringle himself let the Town Crier borrow. Instead of bringing you the usual news stories that fill the following page each week, we like to take a breather each year and let you look at the season through the eyes of the children in our community.

Offering an opportunity to pause for reflection and worship during the hustle of the holiday season, most of Idyllwild’s churches host special Christmas Eve and Christmas services.

Fimmaker David Spaltro brings his second feature film, “Things I Don’t Understand” to ICF 2013. He returns to Idyllwild after having attended in 2010 with his first film “Around.”

Idyllwild CinemaFest 2013 Chairman Phil Calderone announced festival selections on Dec. 17. A record 98 films — 22 features, 24 featurettes (lengths from 16 to 39 minutes), 29 shorts (up to 15 minutes), 17 documentary features, four documentary shorts (from 2 to 29 minutes) and two web series, including ICF 2013 Featured Filmmaker Ignatius Fischer’s “Freelancers” — will screen in four venues.

Idyllwild Master Chorale, Sherry Williams, Marshall Hawkins and Buzz Holmes appear at the Idyllwild School, at 7:30 Saturday, Dec. 22, and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 23.