Totally Texas -- Feliz navidad, y'all

I dashed into my neighborhood grocery store yesterday morning for an overlooked Thanksgiving dinner ingredient and found the store already playing Christmas carols. Thanksgiving’s over -- long live Christmas! And Chanukkah, and Kwanzaa, and New Year’s. . . With too many holiday events to blog about separately, I’m giving a totally biased list of some of mine and my family’s favorites, especially the free ones!

During the darkest days of the year, lights suddenly blossom. Satisfy your craving for brightness with these suggestions:

Illumination Celebration at Galleria Dallas, 13350 Dallas Parkway, #3880, Dallas. Today, November 23, through December 24, starting at noon. Lighting of indoor tree choreographed to music. Free. See also “The weather inside’s delight,” November 25, 2011 at this site. For additional Galleria events, see www.galleriadallas.com/.

Chihuly Nights at the Dallas Arboretum, 8525 Garland Road, Dallas. Glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly remain at the Dallas Arboretum through December 31, with lighted nighttime viewings several nights each week. (Evenings through the end of November, and several evenings in December are already booked up.) For additional information, see “Arboretum’s Chihuly nights,” October 12, 2012, at this site. For ticket information and prices, see www.dallasarboretum.com/.

Lantern Light: Roaring through the Holidays, Saturday, December 1, at the Heritage Farmstead Museum, 1900 W. 15^th St., Plano, Texas 75075. From 4 - 9 p.m. Illuminated tours of the historic buildings, with storytelling, visits with Santa, and more. For ticket information and prices, see www.heritagefarmstead.org/.

Chanukkah Menorah Lighting at Galleria Dallas. Saturday, December 8, through December 15, 5 p.m. daily. Of course, it’s in Texas, so it’s a giant 15-foot menorah! On Level 1, near the Guest Reception Center. Free. See www.galleriadallas.com/.

Candlelight at Dallas Heritage Village, 1515 S. Harwood St., Dallas, December 8 -9, 3-9 p.m. Carriage rides along candlelit paths, historic buildings and local entertainers. For ticket information, parking, and list of events included, see
www.dallasheritagevillage.org/.

Even in Texas, small can be beautiful. Some of my family’s favorite small-scale holiday things include:

The Trains at NorthPark, 8687 N. Central Expressway, Dallas, currently through January 6, 2013. Multiple miniature trains travel across small-scale landmarks, including Dallas’ new Margaret hunt Hill Bridge, the State Fair of Texas, and the Cotton Bowl. Proceeds benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas. For times and tickets, see www.rmhdallas.org/news-and-events/the-trains-at-northpark/. For additional holiday events at NorthPark, see www.northparkcenter.com/.

Joel’s Christmas Train, 156 Hidden Circle, Richardson, Texas. Richardson retiree Joel Occhiuzzo has dedicated years to making his holiday express riding train in the Duck Creek neighborhood bigger and better. The train in his backyard, running now through January 1, 6 - 10 p.m., is big enough to ride on. Free, but he appreciates donations. For additional information, see “Can you hear the train coming?” December 26, 2011, at this site, and
http://holidayexpressridingtrain.wordpress.com/.

Richardson Santa’s Village, in front of Richardson City Hall, 411 W. Arapaho Road, Richardson, 75080. The village of child-size buildings opens Saturday, December 1, from 6-9 p.m. Free. For additional information, see “Santa comes on a fire engine,” December 12, 2011, at this site, and www.cor.net/index/aspx?page=1303/.

And then there are events that defy classification, such as A Tuba Christmas at Dallas’ Thanks-Giving Square, 1627 Pacific Avenue at Ervay and Bryan. December 24, at noon. For nearly forty years, players of tubas, sousaphones, euphoniums and baritone horns from across the country have gathered to play carols, with instruments and in audience sing alongs. Free. See www.thanksgiving.org/.

Totally Texas -- Can you hear the train coming?

Joel’s Christmas Train

156 Hidden Circle

Richardson

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Plenty of yards in Richardson’s Duck Creek neighborhood boast eye-popping displays of holiday lights. But I don’t think anybody’s feelings will be hurt if I say none of them come close to the show in Joel Occhiuzzo’s back yard. Because no one else has his very own train!

When I visited Mr. Occhiuzzo’s holiday train recently I remarked that the show seemed even more impressive than last year’s.

“Ten thousand more lights,” he said, as thrilled as a kid. “And the train is new!”

The electric train that circles his yard from 6 to 10 p.m. nightly (weather permitting) from Thanksgiving through the evening of New Year’s Day is a grownup little boy’s dream. Small enough to fit in a suburban back yard but big enough to ride in, Joel’s Christmas Train is now in its eleventh year of delighting neighborhood children.

Mr. Occhiuzzo himself is the engineer, circling a miniature theme park of cartoon character figures and lights. Lots and lots of lights. The show faces the creek and the glow of lights across the water is charming enough to set Ebenezer Scrooge’s heart beating faster.

Train rides are free, but with an anticipated 600-800 passengers a night this year, Mr. Occhiuzzo welcomes (nondeductible) donations. And he depends on the help of a crew of dedicated volunteers who start setting up the train and its tracks soon after Labor Day for the annual Thanksgiving night opening run.

As the retired Mr. Occhiuzzo explains on his blog, http://holidayexpressridingtrain.wordpress.com/, “The idea of having a train came in a dream. I thought I could build one easily, I soon found out it wasn’t going to be easy!. . .
(Eventually) I rented a 16-foot truck and loaded 130 feet of tracks, 44 foot of train batteries and drove 1,250 miles to get my current system.”

My daughter in Richardson first alerted me to the train. With two little boys who were crazy about trains, she was eager to locate Mr. Occhiuzzo’s. This year, her husband scheduled his vacation for the week between Christmas and New Year’s. And I won’t say it was just to take advantage of the holiday train, but that’s definitely on their to-do list.

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Also for kids, or kids at heart -- Trains at NorthPark, the entrancing toy-sized trains crossing a diorama of the United States, continue their run through January 1. They are located this year near Barney’s New York on the second level of NorthPark Center, Northwest Highway and Central Expressway in Dallas. Tickets are $3 for children and seniors, $6 for adults, with discount tickets available at Tom Thumb stores. See
http://www.northparkcenter.com for times, including special hours for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Totally Texas -- Santa arrives on a fire engine

Richardson’s Santa’s Village

Richardson City Hall

411 W. Arapaho

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I hope this season’s final installment of Richardson’s Santa’s Village has weather as pretty as the past weekend’s. The child-sized village of more than a dozen brightly-colored buildings hosts Santa and his helpers again this Thursday through Sunday, December 15-18, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Santa arrives in holiday style on a big red fire engine promptly at 6, to the sound of sirens, and the line for photos with him quickly stretches around the tiny house with its white picket fence. Signs caution that Santa must leave by 9 p.m. for a reindeer feeding, but there’s plenty to do between his arrival and departure.

My daughter and son-in-law brought their twin boys, who particularly liked Santa’s Pet Shop, with puppies available for adoption from the Richardson Animal Shelter; and the Beary Good Hospital, where they got weighed and measured (and received small toy bags as well). And then there was the K-ELF TV station, the reindeer shed, the ornament factory, and more.

Volunteers dressed as cartoon figures and toys stroll the grounds for more chat with kids and photo ops for their parents. Although the village is only staffed three weekends during December, it is lighted nightly and also open to the public for strolling and photographs during the day.

I got to the village between Richardson’s city hall and library only a few minutes past six, to find the parking lots already nearly full. Adjacent bank and post office lots also fill quickly, so either come early or wear comfortable shoes and be prepared to walk a few blocks from business parking. (It’s wise as well as polite to ask first.)

Admission to the village is free. If the weather is threatening, check for possible closings at www.cor.net/SantasHomepage.aspx?id=4124 or call the recorded message line at 972-744-4300 after 5 p.m.

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Also in Richardson: Joel’s Christmas Train -- an electric train large enough to ride on runs through Joel Occhiuzzo’s backyard at 156 Hidden Circle from 6 - 10 p.m. nightly through New Year’s, weather permitting. The train runs around a lighted, theme-park style center. There are no tickets to buy, but with an estimated 600-800 passengers nightly, Mr. Occhiuzzo appreciates (nondeductible) donations. For more information, see www.holidayexpressridingtrain.wordpress.com/