This weekend I was working on our calendar for the next month or so and was making note of a ton of fun dates and thought it would be fun to highlight some of our FAVORITE festive things to do this time of year in and around McKinney. I ended up with a BUNCH so I'm going to start with the events happening the soonest and then feature a few more in another post.
- McKinney Home for the Holidays -
This event has a super special place in my heart. I worked in various shops downtown McKinney throughout high school and have SUCH fond memories of getting shop windows ready, heading down into the basement of a few of the buildings to get the giant wreaths that shop owners used to decorate the lampposts, etc. The event used to be "Dickens of a Christmas" and had a historical feel with period carolorers, etc. and it's changed over the years as the square has grown into "Home for the Holidays" but it's ALWAYS one of the most festive and fun weekends of the year and definitely worth checking out.
It starts the Friday after Thanksgiving and runs through that Sunday afternoon. I linked the event page above for all the details including the tree-lighting.
The carousel has been a fan-favorite at my house for years and years (this typically will stay up throughout December)...
... and my kids used to LIVE for the train rides (this picture is from 2012 and the square has changed a ton since then). The ferris wheel is always worth the wait and if you have animal lovers there's always a really sweet petting zoo area.
Make sure you check out the little side streets as well. "My Favorite Room" typically has the most stunning Mrs. Claus setup outside of their store and she is just so gracious and kind and watching her interact with G over the years are some of my most fond memories.
If you're downtown, make sure you stop by Rockin AB because their store window is always done SO WELL! You can read about some of my other Downtown McKinney faves in
THIS POST.
This is an annual event put on by our church and is the best way to kick off your Christmas season. It's the Sunday after Thanksgiving and includes some amazing music and a live nativity.
This year's parade is December 9th and, again, this is a long-standing tradition in our family ;) It's always super festive, there's Santa and it definitely has small-town vibes.
Looking through old pics and found this one ;)
We started going to Prestonwood Gift of Christmas back in 2005 and it's one of the BEST holiday productions you can see. For real.
It's hard to even understand the scale of it unless you've been, but there's essentially two parts... one that is "North Pole" themed with Santa on a flying sleigh, pyrotechnics, etc. and then a second part that is more faith-based complete with an incredible live nativity (think CAMELS!).
There's not a bad seat in the place so if you're interested in going I'd try to get tickets ASAP!
I'm getting so excited and hope y'all found an event or two to put on your calendars! More next week!!!
ReplyDelete'Tis the best time of the year to live in McKinney!