Bringing the Merry!
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| Telling Santa how good we've been at the Mistletoe Gala! |
If you're new to the Jackson area, here are some of the goings-on from this year! Over time, some of these events may become part of your holiday traditions, too!
For good or ill, the Jackson holiday season begins with Mistletoe Marketplace. This shopping extravaganza is put on annually by the Jackson Junior League, and you can find all kinds of unusual gift items here. This year, I purchased tickets to the event's opening gala, which features food and drinks, live music, Santa (!), and even a fantastic appearance by the Jackson State University Sonic Boom! I threw on a red dress and met up with Caron (my designated shopping savant) to eat, shop, dance and socialize. (Half of Mississippi comes to the gala. You'll always see folks you know there!) Plus, we got a chance to see Santa and tell him that we'd been very, very good.
Nothing will get you into the holiday spirit like giving. Every year, my office team meets up for breakfast out, and then we head to a local store to buy toys for Toys for Tots. We all dress festively (some more than others, as the photo will attest), enjoy one another's company, and buy all the toys we'd buy for ourselves if we were still kids. (Or the toys that no one ever bought for US!) It's so much fun, and I really love this tradition. We started it up several years ago after getting tired of our own Secret Santa. I mean, what do any of us really need anyway? Nothing. It's so much more fun to buy things for folks that really need them. (Plus, TOYS.) You can typically find Toys for Tots boxes in the entranceways of major retailers. (Now that Toys R Us is closed, we hit up a local Walmart.)
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| We filled up the Toys for Tots box! |
This year, I sweet-talked Anita into joining me for Christmas by Candlelight, a one-night event in downtown Jackson at which attractions like the Civil Rights Museum (I love the miniature train display here.), the Old and New Capitols, the Governor's Mansion, etc., are all open in the evening and decorated beautifully for the holiday season. Each location had refreshments, music and gorgeous displays. We heard choirs and a fun family band, and the gingerbread cookies and hot cocoa at the mansion were ON POINT. (Plus, we saw Santa again! Another opportunity to do some PR re: our excellent behavior!) If you're ever interested in attending this event, it's completely free! They run a shuttle between all of the sites, but on a pretty night, most of the featured locations are a walkable distance from one another.
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| The Governor's Mansion was all decked out for the holiday season. |
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| Sandi did NOT shoot her eye out! Fun at the Yule Run! |
I teamed up with Sandi, Caron, and Melanie to do the annual Yule Run in Clinton this year. You can do a 5K or a 10K (I did the 5K.), and this year's theme was the movie A Christmas Story. There were fun costumed volunteers along the route, and we each got a participation medal that looked like the famous leg lamp! They do this run every year, and a lot of the runners dress up! Fun!
After the run, Caron and I hit up the Chimneyville Arts Festival, which is hosted annually by the Craftsmen's Guild of Mississippi, for a quick visit. There, we found more unique hand-made gifts for friends and family. (Plus, I found the sweetest little birdhouses! My little feathered friends will be snug and stylish all winter long!) This is a ticketed shopping event, but the tickets aren't expensive. And you'll find so many one-of-a-kind items there that it's definitely worth checking out.
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| Mel and I felt like princesses at the Nutcracker Tea! |
A bit later, it was off to Ballet Mississippi's annual Nutcracker Tea with precious Mel! I serve on the board of this organization, and this annual fundraiser is a glittery way to celebrate the season! We threw on our tiaras and enjoyed an indoor forest of decorated Christmas trees, delicious teas and munchies, costumed ballerinas, another session with Santa (gotta keep reminding him how stellar we have been this year . . . ), and a few beautiful songs from the Mississippi Boychoir. This was so fun! We saw tons of moms with their dressed-up little girls there. So cute!
My little fam coasted into the actual holiday with a trip out to the Reunion neighborhood in Madison, where several enterprising homeowners have staged Reunion Light Fight for the past several years. There were so many elaborate displays, with several coordinated to holiday music. We put on our Christmas jammies, packed thermoses of hot chocolate and enjoyed the show. (It gets bigger every year!) And it cost us nothing but a little time and some gas for the car.
We stayed incredibly busy this holiday season, but there were events we couldn't even get to - New Stage Theatre's annual production of A Christmas Carol, the twinkly lights in Canton, the Jackson Christmas parade, the Belhaven Singing Christmas Tree. There are always A TON of events in town to help you feel Christmasy and put you in the spirit of the season each year.
Hope your holidays were truly happy! Merry, merry!
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| Reunion Light Fight gets bigger every year! |
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