Halloween is just weeks away. Thanksgiving is around the corner. But members of the Naeve Hospital Auxiliary are already thinking Christmas.

The auxiliary will hold its second annual holiday boutique Oct. 22-24 in the gift shop at Albert Lea Medical Center. Hours are from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

The boutique and gift shop will have jackets, mittens and decorating ideas. There will be jewelry, watches, men’s items, “icy” items, boxed cards, nativity sets, ornaments, decorated wall items, candy dishes, holiday table linens, dolls, children’s books, claendars and cookbooks. There will also be women’s accessories, including purses, wallets, scarves and pins.

“Our theme is ‘An Old-Fashioned Christmas,’” said gift shop committee member Corrine Schultz. “We have lots of Santas, wall-hangings, pictures and wreaths.”

A featured item on the front wall of the gift shop is an unusual Christmas tree, which is simply branches covered with snow and birds.

There will also be some small decorated Christmas trees, appropriate for care center rooms and assisted living facilities, Schultz said.

In addition, the gift shop will again feature its popular chiller bowls and dips. People will be able to sample the dips.

“We’ll have lots of new items at this event, and we’ll continue to put out new items throughout the holidays,” said Sharon Jahnke, gift shop committee member.

There will also be a raffle for holiday items. Tickets are $1 each and will be available during the boutique.

“Come and see us. We have a nice variety at a good price. We’ve truly got something for everybody,” Schultz said.

The auxiliary members encourage others to join them.

“We’re a fun bunch of volunteers,” Schultz said. “We’ve met new friends we never would have met any other way.”

She added that members come from different churches and different communities. They work in pairs in both the gift and coffee shops.

In addition to those two areas, auxiliary members volunteer in the Albert Lea Cancer Center, distribute donated magazines throughout the clinic, give tours to first-graders, make comfort blankets and hand-knit caps for babies, and donate combs and brushes for newborns and plush toys for children in same-day surgery.

All funds raised by the auxiliary go to fund items on the Albert Lea Medical Center’s wish list. This year, the auxiliary donated $80,000 that was used for sophisticated mammography software.

“It’s already detected a couple early-stage cancers,” Schultz said. “So it was definitely worth it.”