AMAYA MORGAN OF Panton is quite pleased to get a warm, sweet drink from the Hot Cocoa Hut in Middlebury’s Cannon Park this past December during the Very Merry Middlebury activities. The Hot Cocoa Hut returns to Middlebury this holiday season.
Independent file photo/Steve James

MIDDLEBURY — Holiday magic returns to Middlebury with a festive and fun-filled month of December, complete with visits from Santa, horse drawn wagon rides, special event shopping nights, the Hot Cocoa Hut and activities for kids and adults alike.

The Better Middlebury Partnership gets things rolling on Thursday, Dec. 5, with the first of two Midd Night Strolls — that’s an evening when shops in downtown Middlebury are open late, from 5 to 8 p.m. and you’ll find specials, promotions, food trucks and pop-ups around the downtown. The Sheldon Museum will be open late, too, and look for a pop-up artisans market (produced by the Middlebury Studio School) at the National Bank of Middlebury. The Midd Night Stroll repeats on Dec. 12.

The Stroll on Dec. 5 is open to everyone, but is specifically marketed as College Night — all Middlebury College students will receive Middlebury Money to spend in town!

Free Gift Wrapping available for any gifts bought downtown during the Thursday Midd Night Strolls at National Bank of Middlebury.

As is tradition, downtown Middlebury will be bustling with activities on the first Saturday of December — the 7th. First, come get your photos taken with Santa and Mrs. Claus that morning from 10 a.m. to noon indoors at Town Hall Theater. Children can fill out a Letter to Santa (an activity while you wait!) to share their wish lists and then get their photos snapped by parents or caregivers.

Middlebury will also be hosting free horse and wagon rides around town (board in front of the Middlebury Community Music Center in the Yellow House on the green) from 10 a.m. to noon. And enjoy caroling at the Congregational Church of Middlebury (10 a.m.) and don’t forget to stop downstairs at Ilsley Library for a fun holiday craft!

A perennial favorite on the first full weekend of December is the Holiday Open House at the Sheldon Museum of Vermont History on Park Street. In addition to the elaborate model train layout (a spellbinding experience for kids and adults alike), there will be a Miniature Christmas Tree Raffle featuring 16 creative trees decorated by local artists. The historic Judd-Harris House at 1 Park St. will be decorated. Admission to the Holiday Open House — which is Saturday, Dec. 7, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 8, noon to 4 p.m. — is by donation. For more information and the complete holiday train schedule, call the Sheldon Museum at 388-2117 or visit HenrySheldonMuseum.org.

The Hot Cocoa Hut will be back in Cannon Park to serve cocoa with all the fixings for 25 cents a cup from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. that Saturday. In addition to its hours on Dec. 7, the Hot Cocoa Hut will be open two other Saturday afternoons — Dec. 14 and 21, noon to 4 p.m. — as well as during the Midd Night Strolls on two Thursday, Dec. 5 and 12, from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Look for the Midd Winter’s Night Bar — the BMP’s chocolate bar raffle this season. Expect the bars to hit Middlebury stores for purchase towards the end of November. Each bar, produced with help from IPJ, Middlebury Sweets and The Little Press Room, has a number that entitles you to enter a raffle for some very special prizes.

Holiday traditions turn spiritual the next day, Sunday, Dec. 8, when the Middlebury College Chapel will be the site of “Lessons and Carols for the Advent of Christmas” twice, at 4 and 7 p.m. Modeled after the longstanding European tradition, this annual program includes Bible readings of Advent and Christmas carols performed by the college choir with the congregation that will include Middlebury College students, faculty, staff and Middlebury community members. The College Choir also will perform new music by Mark A. Miller, Ghislane Reece-Trapp and Ben Parry. Donations will be accepted for local charities.

Look for other traditional holiday events on stage at Town Hall Theater. Kids are invited to the Middlebury theater on Sunday, Dec. 1, at 2 p.m. for a matinee screening of “The Polar Express,” the classic film about a boy and a train. Pajamas are encouraged, and there will be a build-your-own hot chocolate bar.

THE OTTER CREEK Falls in Middlebury are lighted with a rotating array of colors to enhance the festive atmosphere during the Midd Night Stroll last December. The Stroll on Dec. 5 is open to everyone, but is specifically marketed to Middlebury College students, who will receive Middlebury Money to spend in town.
Photo by Jonathan Blake

Live actors and singers will perform “Night Fires” at THT on Dec. 13, 14 and 15. It is a magical Winter Solstice dream play that conjures an entirely new story every year for the past four decades. A tale of the exquisite beauties of both darkness and light unfolds with music and dance cradled in the humor, magical thinking and heart-felt, bone deep words of grand writers like James Baldwin, Mary Oliver, Denise Levertov and more.

The fun isn’t over after Christmas. New Year’s Eve at Town Hall Theater will see a performance by Joe’s Big Band, a 17-piece jazz ensemble made up of talented, fun-loving musicians from all over the Champlain Valley who faithfully reproduce the timeless sounds of the masters like Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Woody Herman, Stevie Wonder, Brian Setzer and many more.

That same night, Middlebury Parks and Recreation Department will host fireworks in the Rec Park near Mary Hogan School at 6:30 p.m. Directly after, you can top off your year with free public skating at Memorial Sports Center