Holiday galas

The holidays in Aspen are filled with one gala after another. Maybe it’s because Dec. 21 is the shortest day of the year, cold and dark. All the parties fill the time and keep everyone excited and happy.Haley and Jason Binn of Niche Media and Aspen Peak magazine hosted two parties, one at the Boxing Day Celebration on Dec. 26 at the Hotel Jerome and another on New Year’s Eve at the Sundeck. Guest of honor was Mariah Carey, the star songbird who appears on the winter cover of Peak Magazine. Talk about crowds!

The Galerie Maximillian celebrated its 10th anniversary with owners Dorothy Wildman and Albert Sanford and Aspen Magazine editor and publisher Janet O’Grady giving a reception at the gallery to waves of guests.Giving a Christmas Day open house in their Waters Avenue home were Les and Ellen Holst. They specified no shoes or horses in the house.The Christmas Party Girls Judi Francis, Carol Mark, Patti Pope and Donna Rowlands gave a holiday buffet at Donna’s Cemetery Lane home.The Aspen Chamber and Resort Association held its annual Wintersköl luncheon this year at the Crystal Palace. Co-hosts were Aspen Skiing Co. and the city of Aspen, while media partners were The Aspen Times, Men’s Health magazine and Your Radio. Lunch and musical comedy was by the Crystal Palace Theatre Group.If you want to go to New York City to celebrate Aspen Santa Fe Ballet’s return engagement at the Joyce Theatre on Jan. 23, call (970) 925-7175. The performance and gala supper afterward is sponsored by Sherry and Eddie Wachs at the North Cabana at the Maritime hotel.The Breast Cancer Research Foundation will hold its annual Hot Pink Party, with Elton John as guest star, on Thursday, April 24, at The Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. Founded by part-time Aspenite and New Yorker Evelyn Lauder, the foundation has raised $150 million since 1993, and awarded $24.3 million in October 2006 to 115 researchers across the U.S., Europe, Canada, Israel and Latin America. For reservations call (646) 497-2606.

The January-February issue of Colorado Home and Lifestyles features a house designed by Aspen architect Augie Reno that has many gables and dormers.Jewelry designer Christopher Walling of Aspen and New York City has several of his pieces included in a big cocktail-table book, “Jeweled Garden: A colorful history of gems, jewels and nature,” by Suzanne Tennenbaum and Janet Zapata. Shown are Christopher’s design for quince blossom earrings, with the flowers set with pink diamonds and leaves of garnets. On the same page is his aspen-leaf brooch design with a Siberian amethyst as the center stone, surrounded by pink sapphires. On another page are Christopher’s tulip design for ear clips that convert to clip brooches. The flowers are pave-set diamonds, and the leaves are sapphires.Undercurrent … Don’t you just love those advertisements in the slick magazines of beautiful women making love to handbags!