A Cape Fear Christmas

If you're looking to make the most of your time this season, here are a dozen-and-then-some events to consider, most of them fit for the whole family.

EVENTS

The following holiday highlights have stood the test of time. But let's be as clear as a Christmas bell: There are enough tree lightings and  parades out there to fill a page or more, and we'll be listing them in our weekly and daily calendars.

1. Cape Fear Festival of Trees: One of the longest-running area Christmas events -- I'm 46, and I remember going down to the Hilton Wilmington Riverside for this festival as a kid -- it's moved venues a few times but has found a home most recently at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. The festival opened Monday and runs through Dec. 4, and features a slew of trees decorated by area groups and businesses as well as regularly scheduled musical performances.

2. 33rd annual N.C. Holiday Flotilla: What used to be a glorified, lit-up boat ride down Banks Channel has grown into a two-day Wrightsville Beach event with a tree lighting (5:45 p.m. Friday), a launch party (6:30 p.m. Friday at the Blockade Runner) and a festival in Wrightsville Beach Park (10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday). The main event is the boat parade, which starts at 6 p.m. Saturday and will be followed by a massive fireworks display. This is the part where we remind to show up to Wrightsville Beach a couple (or a few) hours early for the flotilla. If you wait till 5:30 p.m., the traffic will be backed up to glorious-summer-day levels, and chances are you'll never make it past the bridge.

3. Enchanted Airlie: Another hugely popular event. They say reservations are required and they are not kidding; the opening weekend, which is this weekend, is already sold out. For Enchanted Airlie, Airlie Gardens gets lit up like, well, like a Christmas tree, with a self-guided walking tour taking you by the many displays. Santa will be there, of course, and vendors will be peddling hot beverages and holiday treats. The enchantment continues with two showings per night Dec. 2-4, 9-11 and 15-22, but don't let the family down; get your tickets now (910-798-7700).

4. Island of Lights: Pleasure Island's big holiday festival features multiple events, including the Lighting at the Lake (7 p.m. Friday), a parade (Dec. 2), a flotilla (Dec. 3), a tour of homes (Dec. 10) and, for those of you looking ahead, the big beach ball drop on New Year's Eve.

5. Train shows: This one's a two-fer. Christmas and train shows go together like cookies and milk for some reason, and Wilmington has a pair of big model train displays for the holidays. The Wilmington Railroad Museum's Christmas Train & Light Spectacular features thousands of holiday lights on an extravagant set-up, along with visits from Santa, decorated trees and more. It runs 6:30-9 p.m. most weekend days at the museum, 505 Nutt St., through Dec. 30. Over at Independence Mall, the Cape Fear Model Railroad Society puts on its annual Holiday Train Expo 6-9 p.m. Fridays and 1-5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 22, with model trains traversing a miniature winter wonderland.

MUSIC

Welp, you've officially waited too long to get Mannheim Steamroller tickets. The concert at CFCC's Wilson Center featuring the group and its belovedly synthy Christmas stylings has been sold out for a while now. Good thing it's not the only Christmas concert in town.

6. Sweet Potato Pie: Not only is it an ideal holiday dessert, it's also a four-woman Americana band that blends bluegrass, country and gospel into a sound they call "sweetgrass." The group will play UNCW's Kenan Auditorium 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 26, as part of a holiday concert that will feature tunes from Sweet Potato Pie's album "Home Grown Christmas."

7. L Shape Lot fundraiser for Toys 4 Tots: It's the fifth year of this fundraiser by the popular Wilmington folk/country/bluegrass band, which has collected $25,000 worth of toys in its first four years. This year's show goes down Dec. 17 at the Brooklyn Arts Center, and it's the definition of a good time for a good cause.

8. N.C. Symphony's Holiday Pops: If you can hold out till Dec. 22, this Christmas concert by the state symphony at CFCC's Wilson Center is the perfect way to get into the spirit. It's also one of the area's last big holiday events, and will allow you to coast into Christmas Eve on the warm wave of your favorite holiday music and carols.

THE ARTS

Don't forget about theater, art, the definitive Christmas movie and the obligatory Nutcrackers.

9. Holiday theater: In addition to "A Tuna Christmas," which opened last weekend at TheatreNOW, you've got plenty of on-stage options this holiday season. For the cynics, Panache Theatrical Productions brings David Sedaris' "The Santaland Diaries" to the Red Barn Studio Theatre Dec. 1-18. The one-man show, which is being done for the 12th year in Wilmington, stars Jamey Stone as a disgruntled seasonal worker, and he's supported by a chorus of “Not Ready for Christmas” carolers. In a more traditional vein, the Thalian Association is running the musical "Annie" sequel, "Annie Warbucks," which has some Christmas scenes, at Thalian Hall Dec. 8-18, and the Broadway tour of "Elf" comes to CFCC's Wilson Center Dec. 14-15. You've only got one chance to catch "A Charlie Brown Christmas," also at the Wilson Center. This super-neat event is a 30-minute retelling of the 1965 Peanuts Christmas special featuring live actors along with musicians playing the original Vince Guaraldi jazz score.

10. "Art of Illumination": This annual exhibition at the Cameron Art Museum is back from last year and will feature more than 40 really cool handmade lanterns by artists from all over the country, just in time for the season of light. The exhibit opens Dec. 2, and on Dec. 11 the CAM will host a lantern-floating ceremony on the museum pond in conjunction with "The Art of Illumination," which is on display through the first week in January.

11. Have a 'Nutcracker': You may have missed "The Great Russian Nutcracker at Kenan Auditorium" earlier this week, but don't worry. There's plenty more Nutcrackers to come this holiday season. Thalian Hall is bringing in a 60-minute touring production by New York's Ballet for Young Audiences on Dec. 2. The City Ballet of Wilmington is staging "A Carolina Nutcracker" -- a version set in Wilmington's Bellamy Mansion -- at CFCC's Wilson Center on Dec. 5-6. And on Dec. 17-18, the Wilmington Ballet Company will stage its annual extravaganza, "The Great Wilmington Nutcracker," also at the Wilson Center. In other words, if you don't make it to a "Nutcracker" this year, it will probably be for lack of trying.

12. "It's a Wonderful Life" at Thalian Hall: I can't think of better way to end this list than with this annual screening, which started at UNCW's Kenan Auditorium back when the late Frank Capra Jr. was living in Wilmington; it later moved to Thalian. Capra's dad, of course, directed this Christmas movie classic, which you can enjoy on the big screen Dec. 21 without all the distractions of home.

Contact John Staton at 910-343-2343 or John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com.