Compiled by Katrina Langer and Kevin Coughlin
If you’re a Santa groupie, this is your lucky weekend. Kris Kringle will be everywhere in Greater Morristown.
On the Green. On a train. On a breakfast menu.
Of course, man does not live by Santa alone. Harmonium sings twice. A top organist will gig for lunch. You can buy holiday gifts at a church and a museum. There is a crèche display. You can bake cupcakes for charity, and watch body-slamming Derby divas.
Best of all, there is a planning board meeting!
If that’s not enough excitement, check our handy calendar for even more entertaining options.
THURSDAY, DEC. 5, 2013:
Music at Noon at the Morristown United Methodist Church kicks off its 2013-2014 season with organist Matt Webb, music director from the nearby Presbyterian Church in Morristown. These free noon concerts are open to the public and begin at 12:15 pm at 50 South Park Place, fronting the Green. A pre-concert luncheon available for purchase between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm. The meal is $7 for adults, $6 for students and seniors.
Comic Ralphie May takes on society and politics at the Mayo Performing Arts Center at 8 pm. Tickets are $29-$49, available at mayoarts.org or at the Box office at 100 South St., Morristown. Call 973-539-8008 for more.
FRIDAY, DEC. 6:
The Morristown Unitarian Fellowship launches its 10th annual Gifts of Conscience Holiday Fair from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm at 21 Normandy Heights Road, Morris Township. Browse jewelry, potter, carvings, instruments, handbags, scarves and other handmade gifts. Donations will benefit Ten Thousand Villages, Seeds of Peace, Grupo Cajola, Peaceworks, the Morristown Neighborhood House, Heifer Project, Family Promise and many other community groups. Call 973-838-8576 for more information. The fair runs Saturday and Sunday as well. 
The annual Community Crèche Christmas Celebration will present more than a dozen musical acts along with more than 200 nativity scenes from around the world, at the Morristown Congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, at 282 James St. in Morris Township. The eclectic performances are part of a larger community event, which is free and open to the public. The exhibit begins at 6 pm, with performances to follow on Saturday and Sunday.
- The Irish Tenors
The Irish Tenors take the stage at the Mayo Performing Arts Center at 8 pm. Finbar Wright, Anthony Kearns and Ronan Tynan have been delighting audiences for 20 years with their spirited renditions of Christmas treasures. Tickets are $49-$79. At 100 South St., Morristown. Call 973-539-8008 for more.
It’s sing-along night at The Minstrel in Morris Township, starting at 8 pm. Hillary Foxsong, Rachel Streich, Mike Agranoff and Scooter Ferguson will lead the songs. Admission is $8; children 12 and under are free. At the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship at 21 Normandy Heights Road.
Universal Rebel, everyone’s favorite hip hop band, is back at the Dublin Pub in Morristown, at 4 Pine St., starting at 9 pm.
SATURDAY, DEC. 7:
The Morristown Neighborhood House hosts its eighth annual Breakfast with Santa Celebration from 9 am to noon. Enjoy breakfast, music, and family photos with Santa and his elves. Tickets are $7 for adults (12 and older), $5 for children. At 12 Flagler St.
- The Santa Claus Special.
Decorate holiday cupcakes and raise money for the American Cancer Fund at Cupcakes for Cancer, at The Artist Baker in Morristown. This two-hour class will include decoration instruction. Reserve your spot with a $45 fee by Dec. 5. Drinks will be provided, ages 8 and up. At 16 Cattano Ave.
Nothing says “Holidays” to us like a planning board meeting on a Saturday in December. A subcommittee of the Morristown Planning Board will be reviewing the 142-page proposed zoning master plan (the perfect stocking stuffer!) from 9 am to noon at town hall. Additional meetings on the “Morristown Moving Forward” plan are scheduled for Jan. 23 and Feb. 27, 2014.
Olympic rider Jill Henneberg offers a clinic at Seaton Hackney Stables from 10 am to 2 pm. The clinic is offered in three parts, with the ride (part III) only open to levels 3 and up. Cost: $25 to view parts I and II, $150 to participate in all three sections. The stables are at 440 South St.
From noon to 7 pm, The Christmas Festival at the Morristown Green gets started with Santa visits, choo-choo rides, snowflake-making and carol singing.
The Crèche Celebration resumes at the Mormon Church from 1 pm to 8 pm. See Friday entry for details.
The second annual Santa Claus Special departs from the Whippany Railway Museum at 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm and 4 pm. Sit back for a 10-mile, 45-minute round trip train excursion while Santa Claus visits with the kids on board. Tickets available online at whippanyrailwaymuseum.net or call 973-887-8177.
- Anne Matlack, director of the Harmonium Choral Society.
Women’s Roller Derby returns with the Jerzey Derby Brigade’s WRECK THE HALLS mash-up bout at Inline Morristown, at 38 Dumont Place. Fans are asked to bring a new, unwrapped toy for Toys for Tots. Doors open at 6:15 pm, with the opening whistle at 7 pm. Advance tickets are $10 online at brownpapertickets.com; $12 at the door. Military discounts are available. Children under 12 are free. For more info, please contact us at info@jerzeyderby.com.
The Harmonium Choral Society presents Alleluya, A New
Work at 7:30 p.m. and again on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church on South Street at Miller Road. Organist Joseph Arndt is accompanied by Adrienne Blossey on oboe and an ensemble of handbells and drums, along with the 100-voice chorus. Dr. Anne J. Matlack will direct. Tickets are $30; $25 for students and seniors.
Darlene Love brings her Christmas Special to the Mayo Performing Arts Center at 8 pm. Hits include Da Doo Ron Ron, and the holiday tune, Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). Tickets are $39-$59. Call the box office at 973-539-8008 for more information.
SUNDAY, DEC. 8:
From noon to 7 pm: The Christmas Festival on the Morristown Green continues. More Santa visits, choo-choo rides, ice sculpting and gifts.
- Macculloch Hall Historical Museum’s Clockwork Santa Christmas exhibit. Courtesy of Stan Freeny
This year’s Christmas exhibit at the Macculloch Hall Historical Museum, Not a Creature Was Stirring – Christmas Animals, Toys and Thomas Nast, opens at 1 pm and will run through Dec. 22, returning in January. For the fifth year, antique dealers and local collectors will gather to create a charming holiday exhibit. Animals are this year’s theme. Adults $8; seniors and students, $6; children, $4. Members and children under 5 are free. At 45 Macculloch Ave. in Morristown.
Local author Jenny Milchman returns home for a free 2 pm talk at the Morristown & Township Library, at One Miller Road in Morristown. Milchman will discuss her latest literary thriller, Cover of Snow, inspired by childhood events.
The Bickford Theatre in Morris Township presents The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t, featuring small acts adapted entirely from stories written by children. The audience will meet “Dinky, The Dancing Reindeer,” a reindeer who holds up Christmas with his dancing antics, among other characters. Recommended for ages 3 to 9, but it’s fun for the whole family. Admission is $10 for members; $12 for non-members; $9 per person in groups of 20 or more. Curtain goes up at 2 pm, at 6 Normandy Heights Road in Morris Township. Call 873-971-3706 for more.
Crèche exhibit continues from 3 pm to 7 pm in Morris Township. See Friday entry for details.
The Harmonium Choral Society presents Alleluya, A New Work at 7:30 pm at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, South Street at Miller Road in Morristown. See Saturday entry for details.
