What To Do (Part II): Long-running holiday events to enjoy

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times

Spending a day enjoying an annual Christmas event in the Brandywine Valley has become a family tradition for many. Visits to sites such as Brandywine Museum, Longwood Gardens and Hagley Museum are highlights of the family holiday calendar.

Longwood Gardens (Route 1, Kennett Square, 610-388-1000, www.longwoodgardens.org) has shifted into holiday mode with the arrival of “A Longwood Gardens Christmas.”

The festive holiday display at Longwood Gardens, which is running now through January 12, features more than 500,000 spectacular lights, lavish decorations, holiday music and colorful displays featuring thousands of brilliant poinsettias, brightly decorated trees and fragrant flowers — all inside the heated Conservatory.

A new attraction this year is the “Taste of Christmas” at The Fountain Room in the Gardens. The Fountain Room recently opened as part of “Longwood Reimagined.” In addition to tasty food, it also offers a premier view of the Main Fountain Garden.

The restaurant has 240 seats and features new dining options, new seasonal menus, and a private dining room, plus a bar and lounge.

There will be stations featuring gourmet entrees, a wide array of sweet treats, non-alcoholic beverages and hot chocolate. Special tickets are required.

Tickets for “Taste of Christmas” at The Fountain Room, which include gardens admission, are $178.74 for adults (ages 21+), $117.34 (ages 13-20); and $74.94 (ages 5-12); members $136.74 (21+), $94.34 (ages 13-20), $51.94 (ages 5-12). Kids age 4 or younger are free.

The highlight of “Longwood Reimagined” is the new West Conservatory. The 32,000-square-foot glasshouse was designed by Weiss/Manfredi while the gardens and water features were put together by Reed Hilderbrand.

The colorful annual event, which appeals to the entire family, also has a lot of outdoor attractions such as fountain shows and nighttime light displays.

Longwood’s Christmas celebration also includes a wide array of seasonal music — holiday concerts, organ sing-alongs and carillon performances.

When darkness arrives at Longwood, a night-blooming garden of more than a half-million lights strung on close to 100 trees with approximately 40 miles of wire comes to life. A carillon with 62 cast bells plays holiday music every half hour during daylight hours. Longwood’s Open Air Theatre fountains dance to holiday music each half hour — temperature permitting.

As always, admission by “Timed Ticket” — tickets issued for specific dates and times. Timed ticketing limits the number of people in the Gardens at any given time and allows guests to enjoy minimal lines and a better viewing experience.

Visitors to “A Longwood Gardens Christmas” can also check out Longwood’s Garden Railway — a whimsical display set into motion with G-scale model trains. This is the 18th year that the railway has delighted visitors with special water features and custom trains traveling in and out of bridges and tunnels.

Tickets are $42 for adults and $23 for youth.

The annual staging of “Holidays at Hagley” is an event that is always one of the most eagerly anticipated holiday attractions in this area every year.

The popular Brandywine Valley exhibit, which is included with regular admission, is running now through January 1 at Hagley Museum and Library (Route 141, Wilmington, Delaware, 302-658-2400, www.hagley.org).

“Holidays at Hagley” returns with the theme, “White Christmas Treasures and Traditions,” and will feature Holiday Home and Garden Tours, the sixth-annual Gingerbread House Contest, Santa Day, Holiday Nights Tours, and more.

This year’s edition of “Holidays at Hagley” features tours of Eleutherian Mills, which is the first du Pont family home built in America. The tours, which will be presented each day from 10a.m.-4:30 p.m., feature decorations in a combination of styles from both the 19th and 20th centuries.

During the Victorian years when candle-lit tabletop Christmas trees were the norm, hand-made gifts were attached to tree branches, and winter scenes were displayed underneath the tree. The upstairs Victorian Library shows how magical that looked with its mid- to late-nineteenth-century toys, games and dolls. The upstairs Parlor features a case filled with small ceramic animals well-loved by some of the du Pont family children.

Early du Pont family French holiday traditions are remembered with a display of gifts that were given to E. I. du Pont’s children on New Year’s Day as well as the Twelfth Night party illustrated by the ornate French dessert service in the Dining Room.

Well-loved displays returning include the elaborate Twelfth Night celebration in the dining room and the Victorian library’s Christmas for children with its table-top tree surrounded by toys and games. Of course, there will be warm glowing lights and poinsettias.

Admission is $20 for adults, $16 for seniors and students and $10 for children (ages 6-14).

One of the best holiday events in the area is the annual “Yuletide at Winterthur.” This year’s 41st annual staging of the event, which runs through January 7 at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library (Route 52, Wilmington, Delaware, www.winterthur.org).

Visitors can revel in the beauty and warmth of the holidays and explore treasures of Christmases past with displays of holiday traditions from the 1800s to the early 20th century, including displays of: the earliest types of colorful lights decorating house exteriors; the du Pont family holiday celebrations; and the evolution of Christmas trees over the decades from the 1880s to 1960s.

A new feature is a Christmas tree covered in lime green, electric orange, and shocking pink silk-screens — images depicting items found in the room.

“Pop! Goes the Collection” by Mack Truax and Bob Trent is one of seven holiday trees inspired by the current exhibit, “Transformations: Contemporary Artists at Winterthur,” highlighting the museum’s Maker-Creator Fellows.

The current exhibit features the work of more than 30 nationally recognized contemporary artists inspired by Winterthur’s collections, grounds, and history.

One of visitors’ favorites every year is the 18-room dollhouse mansion created by designer and philanthropist Nancy McDaniel over a period of 30 years. It features amazing intricate details in each room and is even decorated for the holidays.

As always, the rooms will be enhanced with the floral displays so essential to du Pont’s decorating, and with special Christmas trees inspired by the beauty of Winterthur’s gardens — including the popular Dried Flower Tree in the Conservatory.

Returning this year is a toy train display, featuring Standard Gauge toy trains. The display is presented by the Standard Gauge Module Association, whose members will construct the display at Winterthur. The display is open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, and 5-8 p.m. on Wednesday evenings in December.

Special holiday programs throughout the season include “Wonderful Wednesdays” in December, evening events featuring live jazz performances, caroling, and workshops. In addition to the Wednesday evening festivities, visitors can enjoy a live one-man performance of “A Christmas Carol” by Gerald Charles Dickens, the great-great-grandson of Charles Dickens, wine and cocktail tastings, and family events with Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus.

Timed Yuletide Tour reservations are required.

There will be a special “Candlelight Concert” at Winterthur on December 14 from 6-7 p.m. Surrounded by hundreds of candles, OperaDelaware will perform seasonal classics such as “Oh Holy Night” and “White Christmas,” as well as popular standards such as “Strangers in the Night” and “Some Enchanted Evening.”

Admission to Winterthur is $22 for adults, $20 for seniors and students and $8 for children.

Nemours Estate (850 Alapocas Drive, Wilmington, Delaware, www.nemoursestate.org), which is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., has reopened for “Noël at Nemours.” It will run through December 29.

Ever since 1910, when Mr. and Mrs. duPont began living in their newly built mansion, the holiday season has been a festive time at Nemours. The Christmas decorations at the Nemours Mansion are often inspired by the architecture of the home, the customs of the duPonts or the French influence.

The Mansion is also decorated by some of the duPonts’ original decorations, including a German crèche, which dates from the late 19th century. The figures are soft ceramic, unglazed and hand colored.

Visitors can enjoy Christmas trees, wreaths, and hundreds of feet of garland on grand display in the Visitor Center, Chauffer’s Garage, Mansion and grounds.

All three floors of the Mansion will be decorated as well as the Chauffeur’s Garage and select areas of the gardens. Decorations will coincide with the story of the Estate along with a festive Versailles-inspired motif.

Live music performances will be held in the Mansion throughout the season.

Nemours Estate features an exquisite, 77-room Mansion, the largest formal French gardens in North America, a Chauffeur’s Garage housing a collection of vintage automobiles, and 200 acres of scenic woodlands, meadows and lawns.

Nemours was the estate of Alfred I. duPont.

Alfred named the estate Nemours, after the French town that his great-great-grandfather represented in the French Estates General. While looking to the past and his ancestors for inspiration, Alfred also ensured that his new home was thoroughly modern by incorporating the latest technology and many of his own inventions.

Admission to Nemours is $20 for adults, $18 for seniors and $10 for children.

The Historic Odessa Foundation (Main Street, Odessa, Delaware, 302-378-4119, http://www.historicodessa.org) is presenting its holiday attraction now through December 29.

Odessa’s 2024 Christmas Holiday Tour invites visitors to experience the transformation of the National Historic Landmark Corbit-Sharp House, celebrating its 250th anniversary, into festive scenes and interpretive vignettes inspired by classic children’s novel “Peter and Wendy” by J.M. Barrie.

This year’s holiday exhibit will transport visitors into the imaginative world of J.M. Barrie’s “Peter and Wendy,” also known as “Peter Pan and Wendy,” published in 1911, and adapted from Barrie’s 1904 play “Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up.”

Visitors can walk through the work by exploring iconic scenes created within the rooms of the Corbit-Sharp House by HOF’s Associate Curator Brian Miller.

The tour begins in the Darlings’ parlor and nursery, then into Neverland to meet the Lost Boys, and ends aboard Captain Hook’s pirate ship.

All of Historic Odessa’s museum properties are on full festive display throughout the 2024 holiday season, including the Wilson-Warner House, Delaware’s first house museum, that is the setting for this year’s community Storybook Trees exhibit.

Special school and public tours and events will celebrate J.M. Barrie’s “Peter and Wendy.” In addition, a Colonial Dance with the Dover English Country Dancers will be held, as well as regularly scheduled Candlelight Tours and Festive Food demonstrations.

Historic Odessa is a member of the North American Reciprocal Museum Association (NARM), and is open to the public March through December, Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sunday 1 to 4:30 p.m. Monday by reservation. General Admission: Adults, $10; Groups, Seniors, Students, $8; and Children under six are free.

“Chester County Hospital Lights Up Holiday Weekends in West Chester” (greaterwestchester.com/events/featured-events/holiday-weekends-west-chester) will run through January 1.

Transformed into a winter wonderland, the streets of historic West Chester are bathed in the glow of thousands of holiday lights every evening in November and December. Each weekend features holiday festivities, shopping and dining.

On Saturdays from 2-3 p.m., the “Making Spirits Bright Holiday Music Series” will feature local choirs and performances singing favorite holidays songs every Saturday on the steps of the historic courthouse on High Street. The schedule features West Chester Music Academy and Jazz Mavericks on December14 and St. Agnes Choirs on December 21.

Dressed in Victorian attire, The West Chester Borough Balladeer Carolers will roam around downtown West Chester and perform throughout the holiday season.

Performance dates are December 13, 14, 20 and 21.

On December 21, it will be time for “Santa on The Fire Truck.”  Santa will be escorted through the streets of downtown West Chester by the First West Chester Fire Company.

The fabulous holiday light display “West Chester Griswolds” (304 Dutton Mill Rd, West Chester, www.westchestergriswolds.com) opened on Thanksgiving night and will run through January 2.

The 2024 display has over 140,000 lights and 800 smart pixels.  Of which 99% are LED.  The display is completely computer controlled.

The singing light bulbs will sing all throughout the night.

Chaddsford Winery (Route 1, Chadds Ford, 610-388-6221, www.chaddsford.com) is presenting “Reserve Tastings – Festive Faves” on select Saturdays and Sundays in December.

Guests will join the CFW Crew for an intimate and educational 60-minute experience in the Barrel Room. The trained staff will guide them through a pre-selected tasting of five widely diverse and award-winning wines from across our portfolio. The selections will be paired alongside seasonal local cheeses and other accoutrements to enhance your tasting experience.

The staff will also discuss topics such as grape growing conditions at our partner vineyards and the onsite winemaking process from production to aging and bottling.

The following is the 2024 Pairing Line Up – Greeting Wine – Sparkling White; 2022 Chardonnay with Birchrun Hills Farm’s Little Chardy Cheese; 2023 Presage: Epilogue with Farm at Doe Run’s Seven Sisters Cheese and Small Batch Kitchen’s Peach Ginger Spread; 2021 Cabernet Franc with Birchrun Hills Farm’s Red Cat Cheese; and 2021 Only In Dreams with Éclat’s Porcini and Thyme Parallel Bar.

The holiday season at Herr’s Snack Food Factory (20 Herr Drive, Nottingham, 610-932-9330, www.herrs.com) has arrived. The area around the factory site will be illuminated with thousands of lights and holiday displays.

Herr’s “Holiday Light Display,” which is free and open to the public, will be open nightly now through January 5.

Visitors to the site will be able to drive along a trail that is illuminated with more than 620,000 lights.

The special light exhibit will be open daily from dusk to dawn.

The Brandywine Museum of Art Route 1, Chadds Ford 610-388-2700, www.brandywinemuseum.org) is celebrating the 52nd anniversary of the Brandywine Railroad holiday train display now through January 8.

A holiday favorite since 1972, the Brandywine Railroad features trains running on 2,000 feet of track and contains more than 1,000 pieces, including locomotives, passenger and freight trains, and trolleys that pass through a small village, a farm, factories, a drive-in movie theater and even a carnival.

A dazzling array of both toy and scale model trains can be seen chugging through the varied scenery, including those made by Lionel, Williams, Atlas, Mike’s Train House, K-line and others. Interactive components are also incorporated into the display to allow for further engagement.

The Brandywine Railroad holiday train display is included in the cost of general admission.

One of the most elaborate model train layouts in the Delaware Valley can be found at the Morris Arboretum (100 Northwestern Avenue, Chestnut Hill, 215-247-5777, http://www.morrisarboretum.org). The popular Garden Railway Display that has become a summer fixture at The Gardens at Morris Arboretum returns again for a special holiday display.

The display, which is open to the public now through December 30 in the winter garden of the Morris Arboretum, has a quarter mile of track featuring seven loops and tunnels with 15 different rail lines and two cable cars, nine bridges (including a trestle bridge you can walk under) and bustling model trains.

The buildings and the display are all made of natural materials — bark, leaves, twigs, hollow logs, mosses, acorns, dried flowers, seeds and stones — to form a perfectly proportioned miniature landscape complete with miniature rivers. Philadelphia-area landmarks are all meticulously decorated for the holidays with lights that twinkle.

Admission to the Morris Arboretum is $20 for adults, $18 for seniors (65 and older) and $10 for students and military.

LEGOLAND Discovery Center Philadelphia (500 W Germantown Pike, Plymouth Meeting, Https://philadelphia.legolanddiscoverycenter.com/) is presenting “Holiday Bricktacular!” now through January 1.

Participants can create their own LEGO ornament and display it in on the LEGO tree and check out all the holiday scenes in the Winter Wonderland in Miniland Philadelphia.

As an added attraction, LEGO Santa will be visiting from the LEGO North Pole.

Ticket prices start at $26.99.

Two historic sites in Montgomery County have their own holiday celebrations.

Pennypacker Mills (3 Haldeman Road, Perkiomenville, 610- 287-9349, www.historicsites.montcopa.org) is hosting “Victorian Holiday Tours” now through January 5 while “Twelfth Night Tours” at Pottsgrove Manor” (100 West King Street, Pottstown, 610-326-4014, www.historicsites.montcopa.org) will be held now through January 5.

For the next five weeks, Pennypacker Mills will offer free tours of the 18-century mansion used by General George Washington as temporary headquarters during the Revolutionary War. The home will be decorated for an old-fashioned Victorian Christmas and will feature the warm glow of oil lamps, festive decorations, and a candy-making demonstration.

The event at Pottsgrove Manor features an event based on history.

Visitors can witness the transformation of Pottsgrove Manor for the yuletide season and the traditions of an 18th-century Twelfth Night party. Twelfth Night marked the end of the Christmastide season, celebrated on Epiphany.

Guided tours of the manor explore all aspects of the festivities, from the intense preparations to the differences between the way elite families like the Potts and their household staff experienced the season.

One of Philly’s premier annual events, Macy’s Christmas Light Show (1300 Market Street, Philadelphia, www.macys.com) is running now through December 31

Set in The Grand Court, the show features a 100,000-light show of twinkling snowflakes, dancing snowmen and more, narrated by Julie Andrews and accompanied by the famed Wanamaker Organ.

Images of snowmen, reindeer, snowflakes and more dance across the atrium inside of the historic Wanamaker building (now Macy’s Center City) during the ever-popular Macy’s Christmas Light Show. The show, which has been on view since 1956, runs every two hours during store hours.

Visitors can also tour the second floor’s vintage Dickens Village, where more than 100 intricate animated dolls and sets retell A Christmas Carol. Each free walkthrough ends in a chance to meet and take photos with Santa.

The 2024 Winter in Franklin Square holiday festival (200 North Sixth Street, Philadelphia, http://www.historicphiladelphia.org/franklin-square/holidays-in-franklin-square/) opens its season this weekend and it will run until February 25.

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t will be open from 10 a.m.-9 p.m. daily.

The Electrical Spectacle Holiday Light Show will be open from 4-8 p.m. daily and 4-9 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays and will be closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

Visitors are invited to experience the magic of the holidays and celebrate traditions new and old at the Franklin Square Holiday Festival.

Inspired by Benjamin Franklin’s electrifying genius, the free Electrical Spectacle Holiday Light Show presented by PECO is the key to holiday fun in Franklin Square.

Attendees can marvel at more than 50,000 lights as they shimmer, dance, and illuminate the Square to a soundtrack of holiday classics, some of which are performed by The Philly POPS in two alternating shows every 30 minutes. Every evening, one lucky audience member will be selected to “ignite’ the 4:30 p.m. show.

A popular annual Philly holiday tradition can be found at the Rothman Orthopaedics Institute Ice Rink at Dilworth Park (1 South 15th Street, Philadelphia, http://ccdparks.org/dilworth-park),

Beginning this November, some of Philadelphia’s favorite winter traditions return to Dilworth Park. Visitors of all ages can enjoy a dramatic seasonal transformation as fountains are replaced by the Rothman Orthopaedic Institute Ice Rink and reindeer topiaries take up winter residence on the Greenfield Lawn.

In addition, a full lineup of free entertainment is planned, including the Deck the Hall Light Show, the Made in Philadelphia Holiday Market and Rothman Orthopaedic Institute Cabin.

Dilworth Park’s winter season began on November 3 with the opening of the Wintergarden on the Greenfield Lawn presented by TD Bank. On November 4, the Rothman Orthopaedics Ice Rink and Cabin made its annual return.

The Rothman Institute Ice Rink at Dilworth Park is an unparalleled entertainment experience on Philadelphia’s center stage in a wonderfully urban and unique setting. Open seven days a week, the rink offers wintery fun for all ages, with a full slate of programs.

The Made in Philadelphia Holiday Market runs through January 1 with more than 40 local vendors.

Now through January 4, the Philadelphia Zoo (3400 West Girard Avenue, Philadelphia, www.philadelphiazoo.org) will host LumiNature, a gigantic holiday season light experience that turns the entire Zoo into a magical journey of lights, music, sounds and surprises.

The giant-sized holiday extravaganza will transform the entire Zoo into a nighttime winter wonderland. Guests will experience a magical journey of lights, music, sounds and surprises.

LumiNature will expand to feature 16 illuminated experience zones that will feature lively themed displays, newly enhanced installations and thousands of twinkling lights on a breathtaking journey celebrating the wonder of wildlife and the beauty of our planet.

Highlights this year include two brand-new illuminated zones, Shimmer River and LumiNature Lane, along with the return of fan favorites like Penguin Prismatic featuring a 40 ft. tall penguin glimmering with 40,000 lights, our iconic 25 ft. tall tree made entirely of 1,500 lit flamingo lawn ornaments and so much more.

At Shimmer River, take a journey through the jungle and enter a 100 ft. long tunnel filled with 4,000 lights, creating dynamic scenes from growing vines, to blooming flowers, multicolored kaleidoscopes and more.
LumiNature will feature more than a million lights and 10+ miles of power cord, 20 ft. tall coral reef and under the sea-inspired holiday tree featuring a giant sea turtle, sparkling waterfall and vine wall featuring 20,000 lights, 150,000 sparkling pink and aquamarine lights, 200,000 lights shining above the Septa PZ Express Train, over 1,500 illuminated flamingos and 200 illuminated penguins, 22 ft. tall butterfly tree covered in 4,000 butterflies, 20 ft. tall snake shimmering with 5,000 lights, 15 ft. tall blue gorilla wearing a glowing lei and 20 giant, floating jellyfish.

Additionally, seasonal fare, strolling performers, hot chocolate and ever-warming adult beverages promise to additionally spark the holiday spirit.

Tickets start at $25 for adults and $20 for children.

Elmwood Park Zoo (Elmwood Park Zoo, 1661 Harding Boulevard, Norristown, www.elmwoodparkzoo.org) is lighting it up again this year.

Elmwood Park Zoo’s favorite family tradition, “Wild Lights,” has returned with more lights and decorative attractions than ever before. During this walk-through experience, guests will be surrounded by dazzling light displays, illuminated animals and live entertainment.

“Wild Lights” operates on select days from 5-9 p.m. now through December 29. “Wild Lights” tickets are valid beginning at 5 p.m. The Zoo and “Wild Lights” will be closed on Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. “Wild Lights” will be held rain or shine.

The Lehigh Valley Zoo (5150 Game Preserve Rd, Schnecksville, https://www.lvzoo.org/) is hosting its “Winter Light Spectacular” now through January 4.

This season’s “Winter Light Spectacular,” which runs from 5:30-10 p.m. nightly, will feature more than 30 scheduled event nights.

Guests are invited to bundle up and enjoy the beauty of nature as they stroll through tree-lined paths illuminated by more than 1.2 million twinkling lights and themed animated displays.

They also can warm up next to the cozy outdoor fire pits while enjoying hot cocoa and s’mores.

Children will be delighted when they encounter Santa, Radley the Sea Turtle, The Grinch, Woody, Buzz, Elsa, Princess Belle, Olaf and friends.

Ticket prices start at $15.

“Christmas Candylane,” which is the annual holiday event at Hersheypark (100 West Hersheypark Drive, Hershey, 800-HERSHEY, www.hersheypark.com), is running now through January 1.

Visitors to Hershey can also experience the winter wonderland called “Hershey Sweet Lights, A Holiday Drive-Thru Spectacular.” The attraction is a two-mile drive through wooded trails featuring approximately 600 illuminated, animated displays.

Admission prices for “Christmas Candylane” start at $39.99.

“A Very Furry Christmas at Sesame Place” (100 Sesame Road, Langhorne, www.sesameplace.com) is a festive, family-friendly celebration with everyone’s favorite Sesame Street friends live and in-person at the amusement park in Langhorne.

The annual event, which runs through January 1, offers a wide array of family holiday activities.

Visitors to the park can sing along at three special Christmas shows and a spectacular music and light show at our giant 1-2-3 Christmas Tree, take a train ride tour through the Twiddlebugs’ Gingerbread Cookie Factory on the Sesame Place Furry Express, take part in the Neighborhood Street Party Christmas Parade, and have the opportunity to meet Lightning, the adorable reindeer from the movie “Elmo Saves Christmas.”

As an added attraction this year, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is spending the holiday season at Sesame Place. The lovable reindeer along with his friends Clarice and Bumble, will be available for photos with guests.

Tickets for “A Very Furry Christmas” start at $39.99.

Dutch Wonderland Family Amusement Park (2249 Route 30 East, Lancaster, 866-386-2389, www.dutchwonderland.com) is hosting its “Dutch Winter Wonderland” now through January 1 on Saturdays, Sundays and select weekdays.

Visitors are invited to celebrate the magic of the season at Dutch Winter Wonderland with rides, entertainment, and the Royal Light Show, a spectacular display of thousands of twinkling lights dancing to music.

Ticket prices start at $29.99 at the gate. Children ages two and under are admitted free.

At Christmas Underwater at Adventure Aquarium (1 Riverside Drive, Camden, New Jersey, www.adventureaquarium.com), which is running now through December 24, visitors can discover an incredible world of seasonal under-the-sea fun.

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cuba Santa is back in Ocean Realm, sharing Christmas cheer with kids (and animals) of all ages. The event features more holiday decor than ever before, including underwater light displays, and festive new shows.

The World’s Tallest Underwater Christmas Tree returns — stretching 18 feet tall and decorated with colorful, custom-sculpted corals.

More than 15,000 incredible animals are getting in on the festive fun with eight underwater light displays spread throughout the exhibits.

Admission fees start at $27.99 for adults.

Peddler’s Village (Routes 202 and 263, Lahaska, 215-794-4000, www.peddlersvillage.com) will

Now that Christmas activities have begun, Peddler’s Village (Routes 202 and 263, Lahaska, 215-794-4000, http://peddlersvillage.com) is starting its celebration and that means there will be a lot of activity at the site over the next few weeks.

Visitors to the Village can join special guest Mrs. Claus for festive fun and mini-lightings in a different Village neighborhood each night leading up to the Village-wide Grand Illumination Celebration. Village shops will be open until 9 p.m. with a distinctive assortment of merchandise, special promotions and refreshments.

“Enchanted Evenings” will showcase thousands of tiny white lights outlining the Village’s buildings, colorful lights with less-than-common colors (teal, peach, and fuscia) adorning the trees and shrubs and a landscaped backdrop featuring a group of reindeer glowing in white light. Santa will arrive to turn on the lights and officially mark the beginning of the event. After the lights go on, visitors will be treated to free cider and toasted marshmallows.

“Gingerbread House Competition and Display,” which is slated to run through January 5, the “Gingerbread House Competition” features over $2,000 in cash prizes in such categories as Traditional and Authentic Reproduction of a Significant Building.

Bethlehem, which is known as the “Christmas City,” presents “Christkindlmarkt 2024” (PNC Plaza at SteelStacks, 645 East First Street, Bethlehem, 610-332-1300, http://www.christmascity.org) every Friday, Saturday and Sunday now through December 22.

“Christkindlmarkt Bethlehem” showcases aisles of exquisite handmade works by the nation’s finest artisans. The market also features live performances of Christmas music and vendors with an amazing variety of tasty food items.

Other special attractions include ice carving, glassblowing demonstrations, “Breakfast with St. Nicholas,” outdoor artisan huts, fire pits and igloos in the Outdoor Village, and Käthe Wohlfarht with handmade ornaments, nutcrackers and collectibles from Germany.

A guaranteed way to get into a Christmas mood is by visiting Koziar’s Christmas Village (782 Christmas Village Road, Bernville, 610-488-1110, www.koziarschristmasvillage.com) began its 77th season in November

Koziar’s Christmas Village is truly a holiday wonderland — a wintertime spectacle that delights young and old alike with a huge amount of holiday displays and special attractions. It will remain open every night through January 1 — including Christmas Eve, Christmas Night, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Night.

The tours of “Christmas Village” feature visits to a variety of displays and exhibits, including “Santa’s Post Office,” “Christmas in the Jungle,” “Manger Scene,” “Christmas Beneath the Sea,” “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” “Olde Fashioned Bakery Shop,” “Toy Maker and his Toy Shop,” “Christmas in Other Lands” and “The Olde Church”.

Other attractions at Koziar’s Christmas Village include a huge model train display, a toy shop, a country kitchen, indoor and outdoor Christmas displays and a place to visit with Santa and even get pictures taken with the old guy in the red suit. Admission to Christmas Village is $12 for adults, $11 for seniors (65 and older) and $10 for children (ages 4-10).

In addition to Koziar’s Christmas Village, several other Christmas events are already underway.

A popular Bucks County attraction is the “Holiday Light Show” at Shady Brook Farm (931 Stony Hill Road, Yardley, www.shadybrookfarm.com)

The farm features a three–million-light Holiday Light Show with “Dashin’ Through the … Lights,” a family-friendly two-mile drive-through on Thursday and Friday nights.

The main display allows visitors to drive or (if weather permits) ride in wagons past post-sundown displays including illuminated tunnels.

The “Holiday Light Show” is open now through January 5.

Timed tickets, which start at $40, are required.

“Christmas Spirit Light Show” is running now through December 31 (except December 25) at Clipper Magazine Stadium (650 North Prince Street, Lancaster, christmasspiritlightshows.com).

“Christmas Spirit Light Show” is an exciting, one-of-a-kind Christmas light display that families can enjoy from the comfort of their vehicles.

As participants make the journey through the mile-long track, they get immersed and surrounded by hundreds of thousands of color-changing lights that are animated and dancing in harmony with favorite Christmas classics.

The drive-through event is billed as a “breathtaking holiday experience that you and your loved ones will never forget.”

Ticket prices start at $25 per car.