Smooth Jazz Christmas will bring holiday joy with Dave Koz and friends Peter White, Brenda Russell and Rick Braun. Expect sounds from Koz's CD "December Makes Me Feel This Way" featuring such classics as "White Christmas," "The Christmas Song," and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town." 7P.M. Dec. 17. Westbury Music Fair. Tickets: $30, (631) 888-9000.
Christmas with the Nassau Pops
The Nassau Pops Symphony Orchestra's holidayconcert includes music from the classical"Messiah" and "Nutcracker" to a sing-a-long- of Christmas favorites --also with the Mineola ChoralSociety. Admission Free. Corpus Christi Church, corner of Willis & Garfield Aves., Mineola. Info: 565-0646. 3 P.M., Dec. 10.
Special Events
Tree lighting
LI's own 17th annual EAB Plaza Tree Lighting ceremony begins with pre-event activities for children in EAB lobby at 2 P.M. and continues with lighting ceremony outside between 5:30-6 P.M. Dec. 2. EAB Plaza, Uniondale. Park free at 90 Merrick Ave. & Bishop Kellenberg Memorial H.S. and until 5 P.M. at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Brotherly love
With a brother like Fudge, life is never dull and more excitement is on the way. Judy Blume's children's bestseller Superfudge will be performed by Theatreworks at Friends of the Arts Carousel Series for Children. Jeanne Rimsky Theatre, Landmark, Port Washington. 1:30 & 3:30 P.M. Dec. 10. Recommended: children 5-10. Tickets: $8 all ages.
Bloomin' nights
The "Blooming Lights" celebration offers whimsical botanical and winter scenes with 46 illuminated sculptures and garden scenes. Over 250,000 sparkling lights. A "Blooming Lights Station" outdoor tent exhibits large G-scale model trains set in a "Winter Wonderland in the Mountains." Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Fri.-Sun. 5-9 P.M. through Dec. 24/every night from Dec. 26-31.
Festive graceOld Westbury Gardens has become a family tradition on L.I. From madrigal singers to Santa, a variety of activities for young and young-at-heart take place amid the decorated rooms of Westbury House. Old Westbury Gardens, Old Westbury. Open 11 A.M.-4 P.M. Dec. 2, 3 and 7-11.Visit West Porch with its "Enchanted Forest" decorations for hot cider and cookies and visit with Santa. For complete times and dates, entrance fees and complete holiday schedule call 333-0048.
Theater
Children's theater
Through the magic of musical theater, favorite children's classics come to life in American Family Theater's Babes In Toyland on Dec. 2, and Valley Forge Dance's The Nutcracker on Dec. 28. Tickets: $12.50. Westbury Music Fair box office, and Tickmaster: (631) 888-9000.
50's music"Forever Plaid" celebrates the goofy reincarnation of four male singers killed in a car crash on the way to their first big concert, and now miraculously revived. Includes a series of well-loved pop hits as "Three Coins In The Fountain," "Moments To Remember," "Catch A Falling Star," and "Heart and Soul." The Stage, 2222 Hewlett Ave., Merrick. Through Dec. 12. Tickets: $15. Seniors/$10 on Sundays only. Reservations: 868-6400.
'Pippin'
Musical "Pippin" presents a modern flavor and leading player tells the tongue-in-cheek story of Pippin, son of the 8th-Century King Charlemagne, who is on a quest to find his true calling in life. Cultural Arts Playhouse, 714 Old Bethpage Rd., Old Bethpage. Through Nov. 25. Call for times. Tickets: $18/adults, $16/seniors, students. Matinee: $15. 694-3330.
Belle and the beast
Operetta was written by Barbara Schaap and is based on the classic French fable "Beauty and the Beast." Children will enjoy ocean voyage, tropical storm, and shipwreck even more than love story between Belle and Jean-Luc. Tickets: $8. "Into the Woods" by Stephen Sondheim is blended with "Cinderella" fairy tale into a musical with a twist. 8:30 P.M. Fridays. Performance times vary: 599-1982. Tickets: $15 adu7lts, $13 seniors/students. Fantasy Playhouse, 317 Mewrrick Rd., Lynbrook.
Music
Hot cold nightHot Winter Night III, featuring rock and roll trendsetters Paul Revere & The Raiders, Gary Puckett, and The Buckinghams will explode with the chemistry of Revere's fun loving personality and hits that made them famous. Westbury Music Fair. 8 P.M. Dec. 9. Tickets: $32.50, (631) 888-9000.
Roberta Flack
Since 1992, The Colors of Christmas tour has brought together, on one stage, a host of beloved award-winning artists, performing songs of the season as well as their own familiar hits, accompanied by a full orchestra and gospel choir. This year, "The colors of Christmas" features Peabo Bryson, Marilyn McCoo, Bill Medley, and Roberta Flack. Westbury Music Fair. 8 P.M. Dec. 1. Tickets: $37.50, (631) 888-9000.
Don't it make your brown eyes..Crystal Gayle will bring out holiday spirit in everybody as she sings songs including selections from her two inspiritational CDs. Westbury Music Fair. 3 P.M. Dec. 10. Tickets: $30, (631) 888-9000.An Irish ChristmasAnthony Kearns, Ronan Tynan, and Finbar Wright, also known as The Irish Tenors, will enchant as some of the world's best three-party harmony moves over the audience. The trio has been seen on WLIW's recent pledge drives and have received world-wide acclaim. Westbury Music Fair. 8 P.M. Dec. 14. Tickets: $50, (631) 888-9000.
Jazz vocalist Michael Franks, one of modern pop music's most enduring and romantically inclined performers makes a rare NY appearance in Reckson Jazz at Tilles. His smooth, silky vocals on such hit recordings as "Popsicle Toes," "Your Secret's Safe With Me" and the recent "Barefoot on the Beach," thrill jazz lovers. 8 P.M. Dec. 8 Tilles Center. Tickets: $32, $20 (seniors $29, $27). TillesCharge 299-3100.
Classical fluteJames Galway, one of the world's supreme interpreters of the classical flute repertory, appears with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in a program of music by French composers including Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin, Faure's Fantasie for flute and chamber orchestra, Bizet's Symphony in C major and Ibert's Concerto for flute and orchestra. Tilles Center. 8 P.M. Dec. 2. Tickets: $58/$42 (seniors/students: $55/$39). TillesCharge, 299-3100.
String us along"Bach for the 21st Century" features violinist Dora Schwarzberg and oboist Humbert Lucarelli as Naumberg-winning Miro String Quartet performs in concert. Program includes Concerto for Violin in E Major, Concerto for Piano in D Minor, Concerto for Violin and Oboe and Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. Hillwood Recital Hall, Tilles Center. 3 P.M. Dec. 3. Tickets: $28. TillesCharge 299-3100.Art
Dali and friends
Two Surrealism exhibitions "Dali: Works on Paper" and "Surrealism" offer rare opportunity to experience locally the works of the century's artistic masters of dreams and the unconscious. Through Jan. 14. "Wines of Spain" - Dali's Birthplace - sampled at Tasting conducted by Julie Harris. Sampling of world-class wines include Spanish regions of Riojas, Rubero del Duero and Penedes. 7 P.M.Dec. 1, preceded at 6 P.M. by a docent-led tour of two exhibitions. Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor. Hours: 11 A.M.-5 P.M. Tues.-Sun. Admission: $4 adults, $3 seniors, $2 children. Docent-led tours, 2 P.M. each day except Sun. Info: 484-9337.Pollock to Wyeth Aaron Copland's New York, shows the sharp contrasts of New York City as a sleepy seaport with the angular, soaring thrust of skyscrapers, the speed and complexity of the subway system and sometimes the serene pleasures of the city's leafy parks. (Through Jan. 7). Aaron Copland's America exhibition includes depictions of the composer by a diverse group of American artists and photographers, and also by an exploration of Copland's American spirit and its parallels in the visual arts through the inclusion of works by artists such as Picasso, Chagall, Dali, O'Keefe, Benton, Weber, Wood, and Hartley among others. (Through Jan. 21.) Heckscher Museum, Main St. (Rte 25A) and Prime Ave., Huntington. Hours: 10 A.M. - 5 P.M. Tues. - Fri. Admission: suggested donation $3 adults/$1 children. Info: (631) 351-3250.
Friends and colleagues
A special exhibition, Four Artists, Four Objects, Ten Years, features the artwork of four contemporary American female artists and their still-life paintings through Dec. 15. Showing the work of Janet Fish, Sondra Freckelton, Nancy Hagin and Harriet Shorr, four talented painters who are friends as well as colleagues. Emily Lowe Gallery. Hofstra University. Admission is free. Hours: Tues.-Fri. 10 A.M. - 5 P.M.; Sat.,Sun. 1 P.M. - 5 P.M. Closed on holiday weekends. Info: (516) 463-5672.
