Thanksgiving is over and December is here. Those holiday decorations have been up at the mall for weeks. That’s right, holiday season is here. Not that pre-holiday season between Halloween and Thanksgiving when the radio stations begin playing Christmas songs and red white and green M&M’s show up on the shelves. This is the real holiday season. Soon the snow will be falling and the smell of roasted chestnuts will be wafting from chimneys on Beacon Hill. There are plenty of ways to celebrate the season here in Boston, skating at the Frog Pond, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, checking out the enormous trees at the Common, Downtown Crossing, and the Prudential Center. But, why not celebrate in style. Why not celebrate with art and music.

From December 9th through the 17th the Museum of Fine Arts will be holding a number of special events called “MFA For The Holidays”. During this time the Museum will be celebrating the holidays with ten different events each day. Visitors will be greeted at the Huntington Avenue entrance by Victorian carolers and at the West Wing entrance by the Amaryllis Chamber Ensemble. During the week there will be family art-making activities. Bring the kids down and make a wish to hang on the Wish Tree, create crowns, and build your own stained glass. A selection of short holiday films (Morris’ Disappearing Bag, Merry Christmas, Space Case, Snowflake Bently, The Night Before Christmas, Max’s Christmas) and a selection of films celebrating Hanukkah (Zlateh The Goat, Lights: A Hunukah Fable, No Such Thing As a Chanukah Bush) will also be shown. The week will be filled with holiday teas, much like the normal teas featured at the Museum but with holiday treats, and various musical performances. There will be specially designed galleries tours offered each weekday as part of the celebration. The tours will include such subjects as “Mid Winter Festivals of Light”, “Festive Feasts Throughout the Ages”, and “Images of the Christmas Story”.

The Nutcracker Players perform a short audience participation play with actors in spectacular costumes that you can pose for with pictures after the performance. Each day will feature a new special performance from such acts as Ritmo En Accion (a Boston based dance troupe), the Halalisa Singers (a world music ensemble featuring sound from around the world), Oori (a pungmul [a Korean art of drumming, dancing and singing] group from Boston), and others. The acclaimed Black Nativity by the National Center of Afro-American Artists will be featured on Thursday the 14th, this one is a can’t miss. There will be Latin music, Balinese dancers, Jewish choral music. The highlights of the celebration are performances by Odetta and the New England Conservatory Gospel Concert.

A full schedule of each days events can be found at the museums website, mfa.org. So, instead of staying in and fretting about the cold weather why not make your way down to the MFA and celebrate a time of peace on earth with class and style. The Museum of Fine Arts is located at 465 Huntington Ave on the green line’s E line. Admission to much of the events is free with a valid UMB student ID.