We attended a wonderful event at the Scarborough High School auditorium – a multicultural holiday concert at 10 a.m. on the Friday morning before Christmas, with 49 enthusiastic students serenading a large audience of senior citizens, parents and fellow students. The stage was decorated to fit the season, outlined with red and gold lights, big circles of snowflakes on the blue backdrop, red poinsettias at either end of the stage and a small menorah at center-front.

Suzanne Proulx is the choral director and she is to be congratulated for her selection of music, her grand rapport with the singers, her conducting ability, and her nimbleness with the castanets! Members of the choir are to be congratulated for their fine diction, their concentration, their knowledge of the music and their ability to sing as a cohesive group.

We first enjoyed a carol of resounding praise in Latin, then the Ukrainian “Carol of the Bells,” followed by a jazzy version of the same, and then by the exquisite “Cantique De Noel.” Spain was represented by the rhythmic “Riu, Riu, Chiu,” accompanied by those incredible castanets, by a lovely selection honoring Kwanzaa and four catchy songs celebrating Hanukkah.

A sober note was heard in the ballad, “Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier,” dedicated by Ms. Proulx to the nation’s military and in particular to one former member of the choir who has returned to Scarborough on leave after finishing his basic training. “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” repeated that plaintive theme.

A happy note returned with “Santa Baby” which gave many of the singers solos, performed with obvious pleasure. “Twelve Days of Christmas” was not what the audience expected – it metamorphosed into a clever medley of popular tunes and had everyone laughing. A sing-along of “Sleigh Ride” brought people to their feet. The finale was a splendid rendition of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” a fitting end to this joyous holiday event.

Colby College is now the proud setting for the highly acclaimed Alfond-Lauder Family Pavilion, a new addition to its already well-known Museum of Art. Built to house the collections of Peter and Paula Lauder, numbering more than 500 pieces, it makes this private, liberal arts college the home of Maine’s largest art museum and boasts free admission to all – students and visitors alike. The Lauders (he is a nephew of philanthropist Harold Alfond of Dexter Shoe) spent many years buying what they liked – Peter was drawn to the art of the American West – Paula to landscape artists such as Homer and Whistler, but as time went on, they also developed a taste for contemporary art.

We were lucky enough to visit the museum before the snow flew and it was well worth the trek to Waterville. Friendly staff greeted us in the gorgeous new lobby and offered us maps and advice as to how to make the most of our visit. I was immediately drawn to the oil on canvas, “Canoe,” painted by Alex Katz in 1974. Katz’s enormous works, displayed in huge rooms downstairs in the museum, are definitely not my favorites, but I found this painting to be fascinating. The cream-colored canoe, with its pink interior, floats quietly in turquoise water – there are no paddles visible, no ripples in the water, no sky – just the stationary canoe. Katz himself notes that he “loved painting the fake birch bark” and that the “bottom line of the canoe might be the best-controlled long line that I had ever painted.” He still uses the canoe on a pond in Lincolnville, and it is perhaps his affection for it that makes the painting so appealing.

As we entered the next room, a startling sculpture immediately captured our attention. Called “Old Man Playing Solitaire” by Duane Hanson, it was so amazingly lifelike that it was difficult to believe that the old man would not soon stand up, stretch and say something like, “I’m not winning, so that’s enough of that!” His wispy gray hair, glasses, checkered flannel shirt – the battered card table, half-empty cup of coffee, kitchen chair – were all so realistic, it was almost impossible to accept the fact that it was indeed a sculpture.

I always look for paintings by Winslow Homer and was rewarded by finding the oil on canvas, “Girl in a Hammock,” 1873. A serious young lady, dressed in an ankle-length white dress lies stretched full length in a hammock strung between two trees. Her black leather boots hang over one side of the hammock as does the lacy bottom of her dress – the tip of a red shawl hangs loosely over the other side. She is intent on her book and nothing interrupts her concentration – the sunlit grove of trees surrounds her, not a breath of air stirs the glowing leaves – it is a perfect example of a summer afternoon spent in the quiet companionship of a book.

The museum offers many other works of art in addition to the new Lauder collection. A prime example of art that can be used by Colby students to enrich their study of American history is the oil on canvas, painted in 1847 by Junius Brutus Stearns, “Hannah Duston Killing the Indians.” It is a horrendous picture of three women, two of them with upraised tomahawks, preparing to scalp sleeping Indians. The actual event took place in 1697 when Hannah, a 40-year-old Puritan mother of eight, her nursemaid, and her 6-day-old baby were captured from their Haverhill, Mass., home by Abenaki Indians. While being held on an island in the Merrimack River, she was forced to watch the brutal killing of her baby and of several of her neighbors. A few days later, Hannah and the nursemaid managed to seize tomahawks and to kill their guards while they slept, carrying the scalps of two warriors, three women and seven children back to Haverhill. In 1847, this painting helped to justify the slaying of “savages,” a cornerstone of U.S. policy at that time.