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Forty years ago, Marilyn Greenawalt did an unheard of thing – she held a craft show in her home at Christmas time.

Midwest Museum of Natural History Tree Festival: Through Jan. 3 at the museum at 425 W. State St. The museum’s exhibit hall is decked with lighted trees decorated by local groups and visitors, who throughout the festival will be able to make an ornament to hang on one of the trees. Special activities also will be scheduled. For more information, visit www.mmnh.org or call 815-895-9777.

Malta Library Building Fund Committe will host a Donor Appreciation Reception from 4-6 p.m. Dec. 5 at the Malta Township Public Library, to show the committee’s appreciation to the many donors who have contributed time, money and other resources toward the completion of the building project.    

Free Thanksgiving Dinner: noon-2 p.m. Thursday at St. John Lutheran Church at 26555 Brickville Road in Sycamore. The traditional homemade dinner includes turkey, dressing, squash, green beans, mashed potatoes, salad, a variety of breads and homemade desserts. TransVac rides will be offered from several strategic locations; call 815-895-5952 for a ride or information.

Valley West Community Hospital Cancer Patients Support Group is held from 6-7 p.m. the first Thursday each month at Midwest Center for Cancer and Blood, 15 Pleasant Ave., Sandwich.

Monday Big Book Study Alcoholics Anonymous: 9:30 a.m., 312 E. Taylor St., DeKalb. 800-452-7990; www.dekalbalanoclub.com.

Monday DeKalb loose-leaf collection: 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday. Vacuum trucks will collect leaves from streets north of Lincoln Highway this week, depending on weather conditions. Residents should rake the last of their leaves onto the parkway – between the sidewalk and the street, but not in the gutter, which during rainy weather could cause flooding by blocking storm sewers. Leaves may be placed in open garbage cans or yardwaste bags on garbage pickup days, or in landscape waste containers at specified locations. For information, call DeKalb’s operations division at 815-748-2040.

Two of Family Service Agency’s departments will team up this month to host a Child Abuse Prevention and Internet Safety program. The Big Brothers Big Sisters program will join with the Children’s Advocacy Center to discuss child abuse prevention from 6:30-8 p.m. Nov. 23 at Family Service Agency, 14 Health Services Drive in DeKalb.

Parents and caregivers are encouraged to drop by with young children for story times, which are free and will continue through mid-December at Sycamore Public Library.

Women are invited to W.I.N.S.

Annie was a woman who grew up in a small farm community with a goal to marry a farmer and she did. Annie spent her lifetime learning how to be an involved business partner with her farm husband.Together they did great things, but it wasn’t easy, according to a recent news release.

The Indian Creek FFA Alumni will host its 12th annual Club Calf Sale at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Lee County 4-H Fairgrounds on Route 30 near Amboy, a half mile east of Route 52. 

Kaneland boys basketball fundraiser: 6-8 p.m. Thursday at the Kaneland High School cafeteria. This spaghetti dinner will cost $5 per person. Contact Brian Johnson at brian.johnson@kaneland.org or 630-365-5100, ext. 347, to RSVP.

St. George Greek Orthodox Church annual Thanksgiving Bake Sale: 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday at 320 S. Second St., in the church hall. This major fundraiser for philanthropic outreach of the church has occurred in DeKalb every fall for decades. Greek pastries will be featured, including homemade baklava, galatobouriko, diples, kataifi, kourambiedes, koulourakia and karidopita, and frozen Greek foods to go – spanakopita (spinach pies) and pastichio (Greek version of lasagne). Free coffee and samples will be available. Sponsored by the Ladies Philoptochos Society, proceeds benefit the needy, disaster victims, medical research, and youth missions. Opa!

Monday Overeaters Anonymous: 3:30 p.m. at Senior Services Center, 330 Grove St. in DeKalb; 815-758-4718.

Monday DeKalb loose-leaf collection: 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday, with vacuum trucks will alternately collect leaves – from Lincoln Highway and streets south of Route 38 this week and streets north of Lincoln Highway next week – through November, depending on weather conditions. Residents should rake their leaves to between sidewalk and street, but not in the gutter where leaves could cause flooding by blocking storm sewers. 815-748-2040.

Pre-1950s toys and dolls of all types will be featured at the annual Holiday Open House at DeKalb’s Joseph F. Glidden Homestead and Historical Center.

Veterans are sought to speak

Waterman Lions Club Gobbler Gallop 5K Run/Walk will begin at 9 a.m. Nov. 21. The run begins and ends at Waterman Elementary School and covers a flat course along the scenic village streets. The distance is certified and the participants are individually timed. The club will award prizes to the overall top finishers and as well as top finishers in various age categories.

Genoa-Kingston United Way fundraiser: 5-6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Genoa-Kingston High School, 980 Park Ave. in Genoa. Each two pork chop dinner, $10 each, must be ordered before the drive-thru dinner event. All proceeds will benefit the 21 agencies of the Genoa-Kingston United Way, which rely on United Way funding each year. Contact Melissa Stoffregen at 815-784-2843 to purchase tickets. The pork chop dinner catered by Whitman’s Catering also will include potato salad, baked beans, applesauce, rolls and butter.

Greenery Sale deadline: Tuesday for Big Rock Boy Scout Troop 19’s sale. Call 815-286-7228 or 815-286-7275 to order fresh balsam items with large red velvet bows, including wreaths in six sizes, 25- or 50-foot-long roping or garland, memorial pots and grave blankets in three sizes, swags, canes and crosses, which will be delivered Thanksgiving weekend.

Monday

Monday DeKalb loose-leaf collection: 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday, with vacuum trucks collecting leaves from streets north of Lincoln Highway this week and from Lincoln Highway and streets south of Route 38 next week, depending on weather conditions. Residents should rake their leaves onto the parkway – between the sidewalk and the street, but not in the gutter, which could cause flooding by blocking storm sewers. Leaves may be placed in open garbage cans or yardwaste bags on garbage pickup days, or in landscape waste containers at specified locations. 815-748-2040.

Let your passion for chocolate go wild and sample all kinds of chocolate – cookies, brownies, cakes, cheesecake and ice cream – at Safe Passage’s Evening of Chocolate.

Military veterans and service members are eligible for one free oil and filter change from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, at certain DeKalb County businesses.

NIU Veterans Club Veterans Day Public Roundtable: 6 p.m. Thursday in the Heritage Room on the second floor at Holmes Student Center, at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, this is a free event that is open to the public. Topics of the discussion will be the positive and challenging elements of the military experience, what makes veterans tick and how this affects the public.

Kishwaukee Sunrise Rotary Club is asking the community to assist in re-stocking the DeKalb and Sycamore food pantries.

Midwest Museum of Natural History, 425 W. State, Sycamore, will host an information session at 2 p.m. Nov. 11 about a trip March 7-16 to Mexico’s Barranca del Cobre – Copper Canyon – which is a group of six distinct canyons in Sierra Tarahumara in the southwestern part of the state of Chihuahua, Mexico.

Residents of rural homes that are constantly exposed to the wind could save money by installing a windbreak.

On Sept. 1, Sycamore Woman’s Club began its 102nd club year. Organized in 1908 and incorporated in 1915, the club still stands by its motto: “The Greatest Good to the Greatest Number.”