The Christmas tree along Worth Avenue.

By Hilary Geary Ross It wasn’t a white Christmas in Palm Beach but I was humming “it is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas” as we opened the door to the beautiful casa of Emilia and Pepe Fanjul for their annual Christmas dinner. The Fanjuls’  grand house was decorated  for the holiday with wreaths, holly, garlands, poinsettia, mistletoe and best of all, a fifteen foot tall fully decorated Christmas tree surrounded by tons, tons, and tons of presents. The beauteous Emilia greeted us in a silver and white Azzarro, Pepe was "best dressed" in velvet smoking jacket, and everyone else looked very glam in their black tie finery as we sipped cocktails in the wood paneled library with Christmas cards from their worldwide assortment of friends on display. Afterwards we were ushered into a seated dinner starting with Leek and Potato soup, Roast Beef and Buche de Noël for dessert.   Arnold Scaasi, Alexandra de Borchgrave, Muffy Miller, and Arnaud de Borchgrave at a party hosted by Wilbur and I for Harry Benson's Tivoli Gardens At the end of the delicious  dinner each guest was given as a party favor to take home -- either a two-foot snowman or a penguin, and let me tell you, captains of industry were having trouble deciding which one to take. I think it was because they wanted both as they were so irresistible!   Amongst the guests were Alfy and Raysa Fanjul (she gets the best dressed award in silver sequins pants) Brian and Mila Mulroney, Lally Weymouth, Christina de Caramen, Percy Steinhart, Pauline Pitt and Gerry Seag, Raymond and Maria Floyd, Pari Sima Pahlavi, Dixon and Arriana Boardman, Peggy Siegal, Arnaud and Alexandra De Borchgrave, John Mashek, Diana and Llwyd Ecclestone and more. What do you do when a dear friend creates a book? Well, throw a party and that is exactly what Wilbur and I did when the great Harry Benson and John Loring got together to create Tivoli Gardens. Harry Benson is one of the world's greatest photographers and is the only living photographer to have a retrospective at the National Museum of American Art in Washington, DC amongst other numerous achievements. John Loring has penned more than a dozen books so this is a must buy! Everyone popped in to toast the duo from Paige Rense and Ken Noland to Arnold Scaasi, Parker Ladd, Arnaud and Alexandra de Borchgrave, Michele and Howard Kessler, Muffy and Don Miller, Sharon Hoge, Terry Kramer and Nick Simunek, Gigi Arledge, Roberto and Joanne de Guardiola, Hillie Mahoney, Tom Quick and more.

Stacks of Tivoli Gardens before the guests gobbled them up.

Catching up with Palm Beach: The March of Dimes “Glitz” fundraiser was held at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach on December 14th. The theme was “007 Bond Style.” At the Breakers for The March of Dimes “Glitz.” The cocktail hour featured a silent auction with a huge selection. There was also a display of a Ferrari and an Aston Martin from Star Supercar Life. A model was wearing a diamond necklace from Bulgari which later sold for $20,000 at the live auction. The final proceeds from the auctions was more than $500,000.  Among the guests were Florida Governor Charlie Crist, Victor Spillatra and his fiancée, and Carlos and Renee Morrison. After dinner the guests danced to the “Sultans of Swing. For the final event there was an “art performance” when a nearly naked girl was rolled out on a platform daubed in gold paint a la “Goldfinger.” Lori Stoll and Annie Falk chaired the evening.

Elizabeth Belkin, Vanessa Beyer, and Jill Silverman

Kerry Kensington, Adam Falcoff, and Cynthia Lehman

Karen Gladstone and Jeff Sugars

Auctioneer Mike Kagnis, Leslie Lindar, and Doug Caparrino

Ali Gerard, Diane Giamm, Tod Waks, Lisa Waks, and Shawn Knowles

Mickey and Jill Silverman

Valerie Kaan, Bill Lilly, and Briana Brummer

Sara Harryman and Tony Messina

Judith Rothberg and John Allen

Roxanne Cella and Bonnie Roseman

Martha Gschwend and Mariane Merrero

Ann Roth, Mitzi Oreman, Tom Bates, and Katia Bates

George Cloutier, Briana Brumer with friend in Tiffany Blue, and Marie Ellen Mosca

Brenda and Bobbie Castellano

Will Shagets and Elizabeth Patipa

James and Shirly Bean

Liah Patipa

Anna and Nick Loeb

a la Goldfinger

Cory Saban and Adriana Quijano

Lisa Hagar, Robin Boner, Pat Herest, and Amelia Ostrosky

Jan Otto, Doug Capporina, and Jim Braden

Darrel and Rocki Branch

Kirsten Braden and Leslie Lindar

Alison and Ann Dadon with a friend

That toddlin' town Chicago: More than 1300 gathered at the Hyatt Regency Chicago on a Saturday earlier this month for the 49th annual Children’s Ball which is sponsored by the Medical Research Institute Council (MRIC) of Children’s Memorial Hospital. The ball was a celebration of the MRIC 2007 campaign which raised $3.1 million for pediatric medical research. Co-chairs were Lisa Lewis of Oak Park and Jenny Patinkin of Chicago. The theme was Galaxy Gala, a nod to the era of space exploration of the 1950s and 60s. The space ship theme was evident from the cocktail hour with time machines, an alien band of musicians, robotic drink-dispensing machines as well as roaming “alien” guests in black tie.

Phoebe, Lila, and Olivia Patinkin

Lisa Lewis with daughter Lainey and husband Ray

Co-chairs Jenny Patinkin and Lisa Lewis with the alien band and alien guests

Michael Lerich’s 17-piece orchestra provided the evening’s soundtrack, with professional dancers boogeying on stage with the crowd boogeying on the dance floor. They announced the co-chairs of the 2008 campaign and ball: Meredith Bluhm-Wolf and Emily Emmerman. The Medical Research Institute Council was established in 1951 as a private independent initiative to raise funds for innovative biomedical research. Since 1991, the MRIC has been raising funds exclusively for research at Children’s Memorial Hospital. Children’s Memorial Hospital, Chicago is recognized as one of the top pediatric hospitals in the country by rankings published in the U.S. News & World Report. Its physicians are on the faculty at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

Co-chairs for 2008 Emily Emmerman and Meredith Bluhm-Wolf

Liesel Brown

Beth and Randy Gross

Marilyn and Larry Fields

Illinois State Comptroller Dan Hynes and Pat Magoon, Children's Memorial Hospital president and CEO

Marilyn Freund and David Anderson

Ill. State Sen. Don and Teresa Harmon of Oak Park and Honey and Sam Skinner

Michelle Harris and Alana Schlifke

Gwen Callans and Biff Ruttenberg

Patrick Dati, Jaqueline Jackson, and Erik Himel

Aliens at the drink machine

Ron and Ellen Saslow

JoAnn and Marshall Eisenberg

Jackie Friedman of Highland Park with Shelly and Debbie Friedman of Northbrook

Ronna and Steve Zoll

Bill Budinger and Valerie Conn

Captain Jim Lovell of Apollo 13 and Mary J.C. Hendrix, PhD

Brad Griffith and Tiffani Kim

Rick Tannenbaum, chairman of the MRIC, Mary J.C. Hendrix, PhD, president and scientific director of Children's Memorial Research Center, and Pat Magoon

Jeremy Wynes, Lesley Kagan, and Katrina Lehman

Ruth and Larry Geller with Linda Dickens

Orren Pickell of Mettawa

Bill and Joan Brodsky with Loretta and Sen. Dick Durbin

Michelle and Corey Harris

Karen Segal and Betsey Pinkert

Nancy Berberian and Mimi Sherman amongst alien friends

Lisa Lewis and Jenny Patinkin with time machine

Anne and Zach Lazar with Nancy Berberian

Rick Tannenbaum, MRIC chairman, and his wife Ellen Distelheim