To open holiday celebrations with elegance, festivities and fun, Altrusa International Inc. of Temple presents its 22nd annual Taste of the Holidays. This year’s event, called “A Christmas Carol,” will feature fashions, music and delicious homemade dishes prepared by the 60-plus members of this local service organization.

“A Christmas Carol” will begin at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 20. Doors will open at 11 a.m. Seasonal music will entertain guests and a fashion show by Sherri Davis at Sherri’s The RoseBud will add to the gala atmosphere.

The event will offer a touch of old world charm with a large Christmas tree complete with wooden toys, dolls and teddy bears on display. Where guests dine, tables will also contain beautifully filled cornucopias. Potted Christmas and Poinsettia trees will line the stage and the model’s runway.

Chair Tamara Clothier and co-chair Janna Bonnett along with the decorations committee, Cyndy Jackson and Dianne Hensley, have been hard at work organizing and creating atmospheric accents.

A number of valuable prizes will be awarded during the Taste of the Holidays. Drawing tickets will be sold by members and at the door.

Tickets are available from members or Sherri’s The RoseBud. Invitations are also available at the club’s Web site, www.altrusatemple.com at the Taste of the Holidays tab.

Reservations are limited and the event is usually a sell-out. The price is $25 per person or $192 for a reserved table of eight. Table assignments, for those reserving full tables, will be assigned as reservation forms, including payment, are received.

Deadline for reservations is Oct. 24. No tickets will be available at the door.

Altrusa International of Temple supports many community projects in Temple and the surrounding areas. This year’s projects include Caring Ball 2009, Temple Community Free Clinic and Make a Difference Day. The Club also provides college scholarships to deserving students and supports Families in Crisis, Project Apple Tree, Communities in Schools, Junior Master Gardeners, Camp Dreamcatcher, Wheatley Alternative School and Project Heartbeat.

Altrusa International, Inc. of Temple is a member club of the international organization that was founded on the ideal of service to others. This ideal is one to which the members of the Temple Altrusa Club have been dedicated since it was chartered in 1960. This remains the core of the organization’s activities as seen by the projects selected to assist our communities. As stated in club principles, ‘Altrusans are committed to the philosophy of unselfishness, the joy of giving rather than getting, and to the search for that happiness which is based upon spiritual worthiness.