Get your pet to smile for the camera while posing with Santa during a fundraiser that benefits the Sandhills Animal Rescue League, Animal Advocates of Moore County and The Haven.

Santa will be at the Aberdeen PetSmart Saturday, Dec. 12, Saturday, Dec. 19, and Sunday, Dec. 20, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. SARL will bring adoptable pets Dec. 12, and the Haven will have pets available next weekend.

A portion of the $9.95 cost will go to the shelters for their continuing rescue and adoption of homeless pets.

Holiday Show

Flynne's Coffee Bar and Downtown Art Gallery will host four musical acts as well as a number of solo performances beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12.

The four main acts are Jeremy Gilchrist, Hot Phuz, Tim Wilson and I Heard They Suck. They will be performing their own different styles of music, including everything from acoustic folk to traditional rock -- and of course some Christmas music will be sprinkled in for good measure.

Admission to the show is one new, unwrapped toy to be donated to DSS of Moore County for needy children in the area.

For more information, call (910) 693-1999.

Band Concert

There will be a holiday big band and gospel concert featuring the Heart of Carolina Jazz Orchestra, directed by Gregg Gelb, along with the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Choir of Lee County, directed by the Rev. Iris Jordan, at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12, at the Lee County Community Arts Center.

Tickets, which will be sold at the door, are $15 for adults and $10 for students and children.

The center is loccated at 507 N. Steele St., Sanford.

For more information, visit www.carolinajazz.com.

'Away in a Manger'

More than 50 nativity scenes are on display through 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 13, in the main lobby of Belle Meade Retirement Community. Admission is free, but donations are being accepted to benefit the Sandhills Coalition for Human Care.

"Most of the nativities are different from those shown at prior events," says Caroline Eddy, executive director of the Coalition. "They come from all different parts of the world and have been shared with us by local residents."

A fundraising dinner and luncheon were held earlier this week.

Belle Meade is located on Camp Easter Road, Southern Pines.

For information, call the Coalition at (910) 693-1600.

Christmas Open House

Enjoy old-time decorations appropriate to the early days, warm apple cider and cookies at the annual Christmas Open House at the Shaw House Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Dec. 11-13, from 1 to 4 p.m. The circa 1820 Shaw House, at the corner of Morganton Road and Broad Street in Southern Pines, is open free to the public to let people see how early Southern Pines and Sandhills residents lived. This year's traditional holiday open house is in memory of Barbara Blake, who for many years was a hostess and strong supporter of the Moore County Historical Association.

The Shaw House is fully furnished and its rooms look much as they did when their early residents lived in them. The house was occupied until 1948 by descendants of the original Shaws.

Demonstrations of open hearth cooking and weaving are also planned, tentatively for Saturday, Dec. 12, in the Garner House, also on the Shaw House site. Both the Garner House and the Britt Sanders Cabin at the back of the lot were built in the 1700s and occupied by early settlers in northern Moore County.

Holiday gift purchases can be made at the shop in the Shaw House that has a complete supply of new Christmas cards with a photograph of the Shaw House, with a cheery red ribbon in the design. Books about local and regional history and other gift items are also available from the shop. Proceeds from the gift shop sales help support the nonprofit MCHA's ability to maintain and operate five restored dwellings from the 1700s and 1800s.

For more information, visit www.moorehistory.com, e-mail moorehistory@connectnc.net, or call (910) 692-2051.