In 1992, the mail received by La Jolla native Coleen Jan Paderewski drove her postal carrier insane with curiosity. He had never delivered an actual envelope from the White House to anyone before, much less two dozen in two weeks. Finally, the guy just blurted it out: “Who are you?!!” It can be safely assumed that the carrier was neither a big fan of classical music nor an American of Polish descent.

Now that it’s the New Year and the rapid succession of fall-to-winter holidays has passed, it’s time to get more organized and properly store holiday decorations away. Most people enjoy breaking out decorations to add a little festivity during the holidays. But sometimes that trip to the garage can leave you scratching your head — like where did you store the holiday decorations or that special set of holiday place settings? Or who put the big tabletop turkey in with the Halloween costumes? There are simple ways to get more organized, and Solana Beach Storage and Morena Storage have some strategies for getting organized in the New Year — and storing things properly to help take some stress out of 2020 holidays to come.

Yearning for a mid-winter getaway to Italy? The La Jolla Community Center is offering the next best thing — an Italian Film Series, arriving Jan. 23, 2020 and departing Feb. 14 at 6811 La Jolla Blvd. “There will be a four films shown, all with English subtitles,” said Barbara Burton Graf, the center’s marketing director. “A social will precede the screenings at 6:30 p.m., and the films will begin at 7 p.m. on four consecutive Thursdays.” She added that film curator Giuseppe Annino selected the titles from the vast number of memorable Italian films, and “each captures the culture of Italy, the character of its people, and tells a story of people dealing with difficulty, but with the element of humor.”

Put sushi on the menu and Nak Joon Kim behind the bar and you have Haru Sushi, La Jolla’s “neighborhood” sushi bar since fall 2018. “I don’t want a big restaurant,” he said. “I prefer a smaller, quiet one (it seats 60) where we’re part of the neighborhood and our customers are our friends.” Kim believes that good food makes you comfortable and 90 percent of Haru’s patrons are locals: “They come in and enjoy the environment, the experience and the food.” They must. Kim claims that 50 percent of first-time customers come back. One customer told Kim he enjoyed Haru because he “didn’t like to feel like a mackerel in a can.”

An estimated 400 people dipped into the slightly chilly Pacific Ocean on New Year’s day 2020 for the annual Polar Bear Plunge in La Jolla Shores beach.

Jackson Design and Remodeling’s award-winning team of designers and architects have compiled their annual list of the top design trends for the new year. Continuing an evolving movement toward expressing individuality in home design, 2020 trends range from the humble to the bold. Organic handmade elements, “lived in” minimalism and “Japandi” design connect with an emphasis on simplicity and wellness. On the other end of the (decidedly retro) spectrum are bold geometrics, 3-D walls, and nostalgia for colors and materials from the 1970s and 1980s.

La Jolla Community Calendar: Jan. 2-8, 2020 — Local activities, events, club gatherings and civic-group meetings

According to a 2015 Nielsen survey, the most common New Year’s Resolution is losing weight/getting in shape. Since the biggest gym in La Jolla history just opened a couple of weeks ago — with more square feet than an average Whole Foods — we asked Life Time, and the nine other cardio and strength-training facilities in town, for their advice on how to shed holiday pounds. What follows are the answers from those who responded to the Light’s e-mails and phone calls over the holidays.

Only 24 hours after Satchidananda Panda, a biologist at the Salk Institute, published a paper in the journal Cell Metabolism on Dec. 5, a dozen of my Facebook friends were suddenly on a time-restricted diet.

With 2020 at the starting gate, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is reminding Californians of the upcoming federal enforcement date for REAL ID. Starting Oct. 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will require a valid passport or other federally approved document, like a REAL ID driver license or identification card, to board flights within the United States and access secure federal facilities and military bases.

La Jolla resident, Kiwanian and chair of the La Jolla Community Center, Glen Rasmussen, has a new heart. He received a transplant at UC San Diego on July 20, 2019 and five months later on Dec. 13, he told his story during a Kiwanis Club meeting at La Jolla Community Center. Rasmussen was diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis, he explained — a rare condition that creates deposits within the heart walls, making them thicker and less efficient to pump or receive blood.

The San Diego County-based Doris A. Howell Foundation for women’s health recently named Karen Wilson as its first executive director. Wilson said she is more than ready to use her skills, passion and knowledge “to take this organization to the next level.”

Only the Trying opens with the assassination of a man swimming from The Cove to The Shores.

Two new exhibitions have opened at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla — “Christine Oatman: Stories of Innocence and Experience: Altered Mid-20th Century Children’s Books in Pedagogic Tableaux” and “Artists’ Books from the Steven Leiber Catalogs.” The exhibits are on display Jan. 11-March 7, 2020.

Byron Dorgan (U.S. congressman and senator from North Dakota for 30 years before retiring in January 2011) will discuss his book “The Girl in the Photograph: The True Story of a Native American Child, Lost and Found in America,” 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020 at D.G. Wills Books, 7461 Girard Ave., La Jolla. Through the story of Tamara, an abused Native American child, Dorgan describes the plight of many children living on reservations and offers hope for the future.

“The Great Leap,” a basketball-centric play, is coming to Old Town San Diego’s Cygnet Theatre Jan. 22, 2020. Written by multi-award-winner Lauren Yee, it was one of the 10 most-produced plays in the United States in 2019, along with her “Cambodian Rock Band,” recently staged at La Jolla Playhouse. “The Great Leap,” which premiered in Denver in 2018, is about an American basketball team going to China for an exhibition game. There’s more than a game at stake; there are long-buried personal histories, a clash of dreams and ambitions, and the main setting is Beijing in 1989, when student protesters were about to be massacred in Tienanmen Square. With all this going on, there’s still plenty of humor — one of the playwright’s conspicuous gifts.

Love participating in your library’s summer reading program? The San Diego Public Library is offering a new winter version that is only available i January 2020. “Litera-SEA” is the theme for the inaugural Winter Reading Challenge, with prizes and reading suggestions for all ages having a maritime and ocean theme. Of course, participants are welcome to read anything to qualify for prizes.

We do have some powerful self-protective weapons at our disposal — food selection and handling being the most effective. Ancient cultures relied on that for their health; even before old Hippocrates advised using food as medicine. So, while you arm yourself with tools provided by personal trainers, meditation gurus and other healers, I’ll provide the edible components of your healthy lifestyle to keep you vibrant for years to come.

At the supermarket produce aisle, I befriended a shopper choosing assorted leafy greens and venting about how she must pay the piper for an indulgent holiday food orgy. She grumbled about the light, airiness of salads, and how “rabbit food” was hardly a satisfying meal. Looking outside the bowl, you can easily find an exciting bounty of roots, fruits, seeds, grains, gourds, greens, succulent seafood and other lean proteins to beef up an otherwise anemic salad, giving it a nutritional and gratifying oomph.

Only nine months after assuming the role of president/CEO of La Jolla Music Society (LJMS), Ted DeDee announced that his tenure will conclude at the end of the first season of The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center.

Best Bets for events in La Jolla and San Diego area: Dec. 26, 2019-Jan. 1, 2020

In case you’ve forgotten all the major news events this year in La Jolla, here’s a month-by-month recap of 2019, including: The proliferation of electric scooters continued to rouse ire and safety concerns from residents; July 4th fireworks were announced as returning to La Jolla Cove in 2020 after a two-year absence; The $82 million Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center opened as a state-of-the-art, special-events facility and new home for La Jolla Music Society.