Christmas Party

It was a mob scene at the Saloon, the popular South Philadelphia restaurant, during a Christmas party for a bunch of wiseguys. And it nearly landed mobster Steven Mazzone back in jail. Instead, Mazzone, 46, was sentenced yesterday to six months of electronically monitored house arrest for violating the terms of his probation by attending what authorities have described as a Cosa Nostra Christmas party Dec. 17. Mazzone, released last year after serving the bulk of a nine-year sentence for racketeering, is currently serving a three-year term of supervised release.

Kathy McBratnie still gets choked up when she remembers a little 7-year-old girl at last year's West Chester Community Christmas Party. "All the other children had opened their gifts, but she just sat there holding hers. When I asked her why, she told me that if she opened it up she wouldn't have anything under the tree Christmas morning. " McBratnie, director of the West Chester Recreation Department, is just one of dozens of volunteers instrumental in this year's community Christmas party.

With his nomination, Clarence Thomas faces a Supreme Court docket packed with more than 1,000 cases - and the responsibility for putting on the high court's Christmas party. Thomas would immediately become the junior justice, replacing Justice David H. Souter, who took his seat on the court last year. Souter has the job now of taking Thomas, the nation's 106th Supreme Court justice, in tow and getting him oriented to the inner workings of one of the nation's most secretive institutions - and walking him around the sometimes- drafty marble building that houses it. The junior justice will take over the offices of Souter, who already has moved into the chambers vacated by the retired Justice Thurgood Marshall.

A gunman shot two people when he fired randomly into a crowd of 30 at a Christmas party inside a tavern near the Deptford Mall early yesterday, officials said. Two Washington Township residents were arrested at the Adelphia Restaurant on Clements Bridge Road after partygoers wrested the 9mm semiautomatic pistol from the gunman at 1:15 a.m., according to Deptford Township police Detective David Wentz. A woman shot in the arm and a man shot in the leg were treated for wounds at Underwood-Memorial Hospital in Woodbury and were released, said a hospital spokeswoman.

Strings of cranberries, shiny apples, sprigs of baby's breath and white lace decorated the tree in the pine-paneled drawing room at Appleford, the former Parsons estate in Villanova belonging to Lower Merion Township. The house was spruced up by the Appleford Committee for the group's annual Christmas party, held the evening of Dec. 15, with about 250 attending. In addition to fresh garlands and pine cones, Yuletide decorations in the house also included Williamsburg-type arrangements of fruits and vegetables in the dining room.

The teenagers came in 20-minute shifts to the annual Christmas party yesterday, surrounded by watchful guards and tired counselors and optimistic members of civic groups determined to get through to the children before they ruined their lives for good. No, this was no ordinary Christmas party. The teenagers were residents of the Youth Study Center at 2020 Pennsylvania Ave. - 13- to 18-year-old juveniles awaiting either trial, for such crimes as arson, burglary, purse-snatching, rape and murder, or transfer to state facilities that at the moment had no beds for them.

Controversial rapper Flavor Flav played peacemaker instead of peacebreaker yesterday, when a fight broke out at a Christmas party that he was attending. The New Jersey nightclub brawl sent one patron to the hospital. Witnesses said the rapper, whose real name is William Drayton, grabbed the DJ's mike and pleaded for calm after a fight erupted around 2 a.m. at Saint's Cafe. "He was trying to calm everybody down," said party promoter Grege Morris. "It's Christmas. There's no need for everybody acting wild.

When Ronnie Spector was 13 or so - she was Veronica Bennett then - she and her cousin Nedra Talley came to Philadelphia from New York to compete in a sock hop talent show. As winners, they got to meet Frankie Lymon, the doo-wop star of the hit "Why Do Fools Fall in Love. " That was around 1956, and it wouldn't be until 1963 that Nedra, Ronnie, and her sister Estelle became famous as the Ronettes. But Lymon remained a touchstone for her, and on her recent album, The Last of the Rock Stars, she covers two songs he did, the ballads "Out in the Cold Again" and "It's Christmas Once Again.

The chief administrator of the Philadelphia courts pledged yesterday to take a hard look at an allegation that offices of the Family Court system effectively closed without authorization Thursday afternoon for a Christmas party. First Judicial District Administrator Joseph Cairone was responding to an account provided to The Inquirer by social worker Linda Hsiao. Hsiao said she was turned away from court early Thursday afternoon by a beer-drinking front-desk employee who told her the place was closed for the day. Cairone said there was a catered party for employees on court premises that was not to have interfered with normal court operations.

Law enforcement agencies are investigating the disappearance of a 21-year- old Camden secretary who was last seen Dec. 12 after attending her office's Christmas party in Princeton. Thus far, police say, they have no clear sign of whether Tanyitia Cole, a minister's daughter, met with foul play or simply chose to go somewhere. She appeared calm and in no danger when an automatic teller machine's video camera taped her a few days later in Philadelphia, police say, but she missed her twin sister's wedding on Dec. 19. Cole, an executive secretary for a Princeton-area engineering company, was last seen about noon Dec. 12 by a co-worker with whom she had spent the night after the office party, police said.

Friday-Monday Catch the train The Morris Arboretum's fantastic Garden Railway Display features model trains on a quarter-mile of track with loops, tunnels, and nine bridges (including a trestle bridge you can walk under). But it's just about at the end of its run, finishing on New Year's Eve. Morris Arboretum, 100 E. Northwestern Ave. Admission: $16; $14 seniors; $7 students and ages 3 to 18; children under 3 and members free. Time: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Monday. Information: 215-247-5777.

A 73-year-old Bensalem woman whose body was recovered Thursday from the Delaware River accidentally drowned, Bucks County Coroner Joseph Campbell said Friday. It was not immediately clear, he said, if alcohol was a contributing factor in the death of Jean Carson. Toxicology results will not be known for a month. Carson, a legal secretary, attended a Wednesday night Christmas party at a house on Haunted Lane in Bensalem. She was last seen smoking near the Neshaminy Creek, which runs behind the house and flows into the Delaware.

Rana Walker had recently finished breast cancer chemotherapy and was healing from a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery when she first laid eyes on him. Kevin Savage was tall, good-looking, and 13 years younger. He had come to her aid when she was lost in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. As Savage, a telemetry technician, guided her through the long corridors, Walker, 45, never thought he was doing anything but being helpful. At the time, dating wasn't exactly at the forefront of her mind.

The front lawn of Dave Sulock's house in Haddon Heights was looking like a Halloween-theme bicycle showroom. But the real fun was out back. Upward of 100 cyclists, a few walkers, and even a driver or two partied there under the stars as they kicked off the third annual "Tour de Heights. " By the time the 2012 tour finally wound down early Sunday, some in the crowd had cycled onward to three more backyard bashes within a few blocks of each other on the east side of the White Horse Pike.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - An Ohio Amish man who fired a shot into the air that killed a 15-year-old girl driving a horse-drawn buggy more than a mile away will go to jail for 30 days, a prosecutor said Wednesday. As part of an agreement with prosecutors, Marion Yoder, 28, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor count of negligent homicide, said Steve Knowling, the prosecutor for Holmes County in northern Ohio. A judge sentenced Yoder to the maximum 180 days in the county jail, but suspended all but 30 days of the term.

It was a Sunday in the park for children in West Philadelphia, a day of free cotton candy, popcorn, hot dogs, and pony rides. Five barbers gave dozens of boys free haircuts, and the girls got complimentary manicures and jewelry-making lessons to craft their own bracelets. About 300 youngsters who came to Malcolm X Park at 51st and Pine Streets received complimentary school backpacks filled with notebooks, pencils, glue sticks, folders, and paints - everything they might need for the first day of classes.

One possible reason for our current employment woes may be that Ed Rendell holds every conceivable job. Law partner, Penn professor, sports columnist, MSNBC commentator, Eagles analyst, energy adviser, professional speaker, board member, and, for a few weeks earlier this year, potential chairman of The Inquirer and Daily News. Now, the former governor has written a book, A Nation of Wusses , although written may be too taxing a verb. Dictated seems more likely.

Upper Darby police had an uninvited guest at their Christmas party, and she ended up getting arrested. Officers from the bicycle patrol unit and their wives were waiting for a table at Ruth's Chris Steak House in Center City on Sunday night when Sgt. Jim Reif noticed a patron sticking her hand into someone else's purse. "The next thing I hear is, 'You are locked up,' " said Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael J. Chitwood, who was seated nearby. "Her hand was right in the handbag.

WE KNOW the holiday season is more about giving than getting, but let's keep it real. It sure is nice to get cool stuff for Christmas. And it's even better when it's unexpected. So, without further ado, can I get a "Ho, ho, ho!" to announce the winners of the Daily News ' My Favorite Things holiday gift giveaway. Ten lucky people are about to get some really good stuff. We may be bragging, but we're giving away VIP cheese baskets from DiBruno Bros., luxurious Hudson Park throws from Bloomingdale's, leopard-print robes from the Klimpton Hotel chain, soap from duross & langel, wine totes from Open House and more.