📫 Bah-Humbug! | Visions of Sugar Plums | Holiday Action and Events | Deck the Halls| Bibbidi-Bobbidi-BOO🤶

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Hello friends!

Happy National Volunteer Day! 🌟
Today is the perfect reminder of the incredible power of giving your time, energy, and heart to help others. Volunteering isn’t just about what you do for others—it’s about the joy, connection, and fulfillment it brings back to you. What you give always comes back tenfold, often in ways you never expect.

Whether it’s helping at a local shelter, supporting a community event, or simply lending a hand to a neighbor, every small act of kindness makes a difference. Take a moment today to celebrate the volunteers in your life—or even better, find a way to volunteer yourself. The world shines a little brighter because of you! ✨💛

See you out there in beautiful Wake,
Diane

—Philippians 4:6
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

📍 Today’s Chuckle 📍

I don’t need an advent calendar—I have December shopping to countdown my stress. 😅

📍 Trivia 📍

December Snow? – While North Carolina doesn’t always see snow in December, the mountains in the west, like Boone and Asheville, often get enough to create picturesque snowy holiday scenes. ❄️

Why Wilmington, NC Could Be the Best December Getaway on the Entire East Coast

Listen up, because Wilmington just hacked the holiday season and turned it into a sandy, sparkly, zero-snow-shovel masterpiece.

You want proof? Here we go:

Boats + Fireworks = Instant Holiday Win The weekend after Thanksgiving (mark it: November 28–29, 2025), Wrightsville Beach (ten minutes from downtown Wilmington) throws the NC Holiday Flotilla. Picture fifty-plus boats wrapped in more lights than your uncle’s front yard, parading across the Intracoastal while everyone oohs and aahs from the shore. Then, boom. A massive fireworks show lights up the sky like the grand finale of every Christmas movie ever. It’s giving main-character energy, and you’re invited.

Enchanted Airlie is Straight-Up Magic Airlie Gardens flips into a half-million-light wonderland called Enchanted Airlie most Friday and Saturday nights in December. We’re talking glowing oaks, talking Christmas trees (yes, really), hot cocoa stations, and s’mores pits. Pro tip: buy tickets the second they drop, because this sells out faster than Taylor Swift seats.

Downtown is a Real-Life Snow Globe (Minus the Snow) Stroll the Riverwalk with a peppermint latte while horse-drawn carriages clop past. Pop into shops that actually smell like cinnamon and pine. Catch the giant tree lighting, island-of-misfit-toys holiday market, or one of the old-house tours where they let you snoop through 200-year-old mansions dressed to the nines. It’s history, but make it cozy.

Beaches in December? YES, PLEASE. One day you’re wearing a scarf on the Riverwalk, the next you’re walking Wrightsville or Carolina Beach in a hoodie while your dog loses his mind over the empty shoreline. Holiday vibes + vitamin sea = unbeatable.

Wallet-Friendly & Fido-Friendly Watching the flotilla fireworks? Free. Parking along the Riverwalk to see the lights? Free. Bringing your pup to half the events? Totally fine (Wilmington basically rolls out the red carpet for four-legged elves).

So while everyone else is battling mall traffic and negative wind-chill, you’ll be sipping something warm on a waterfront bench, watching fireworks reflect off the Cape Fear River, and texting your group chat: “Y’all, I’m never leaving.”

Wilmington in December isn’t just a getaway. It’s a full-blown holiday glow-up with salt air and zero bah-humbugs allowed. Pack the cozy socks and come get your merry on, coastal style. ✨⚓🎄

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Visions of Sugar Plums

Sugarplums and snowflakes swirl when Infinity Ballet Theatre brings Dances from The Nutcracker to life!

Watch talented young dancers shine in this beloved holiday classic at Halle Cultural Arts Center.

Dec 5–7 at 237 N. Salem St., Apex — snag your seats now at etix.com!

Hansel’s Messiah

Experience the soaring glory of Handel’s Messiah like never before!

The North Carolina Symphony, Master Chorale, and world-class soloists fill the air with holiday majesty.

Dec 5–7 at 2 E. South St., Raleigh — tickets at ncsymphony.org!

Bah-Humbug!

Bah-humbug be gone! Ira David Wood III’s hilarious, heart-filled “A Christmas Carol” is back to kick off the holidays with ghosts, laughs, and pure joy.

Catch the musical-comedy legend at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium Dec 5–7 or DPAC Dec 10–14.

Snag your seats now at theatreinthepark.com/tickets before they vanish like Marley’s chains!

Deck the Halls

Deck the halls with Apex flair at the 18th Annual Holiday Tree & Wreath Exhibit!

Stroll through a forest of over-the-top, locally-decorated trees and wreaths begging for your silent-auction bid.

Dec 5–19 at 237 N. Salem St., Apex—come vote with your paddle at apexnc.org!

Holiday Magic

Bibbidi-bobbidi-BOO! Raleigh Little Theatre’s sparkling Cinderella is ready to turn pumpkins into pure holiday magic!

Laugh with the wackiest stepfamily ever, cheer for Ella, and swoon for the Prince in this feel-good fairy tale extravaganza.

Dec 5–21 at 301 Pogue St., Raleigh—snag your glass-slipper seats now at raleighlittletheatre.org

The Stranger's Grocery Grace

In the fluorescent-lit aisles of a Publix supermarket in Decatur, Georgia, on a drizzly afternoon in July 2024, Emily Hargrove stood frozen at the checkout. The 29-year-old barista, juggling a toddler on her hip and a mountain of groceries for her ailing mother's pantry, watched her debit card decline—not once, but three times. Heat flushed her cheeks as the cashier, Sarah Wilkins, 42, paused the scanner with a sympathetic smile. Behind Emily, an elderly man in a faded Braves cap shifted impatiently, but then something shifted in him too.

"Excuse me, miss," said Harold Jenkins, 76, a retired mechanic from nearby Stone Mountain, tapping her shoulder gently. "Let me cover this." Before Emily could protest, Harold slid his card across the counter, paying the $147 tab without a second glance. "Been there myself last year after my wife's passing," he murmured. "Groceries wait for no one." Stunned, Emily turned, her son clutching a banana like a trophy. "Sir, I... thank you doesn't even..."

Harold waved her off, loading her bags into her beat-up Corolla himself. "Pay it forward, that's all. Name's Harold—see you around town." Emily did just that: weeks later, she anonymously funded a neighbor's medical bills with her tip jar savings. But the real magic unfolded when Harold, battling loneliness since his wife's death, received a handmade card from Emily's son, complete with a crayon drawing of a superhero grandpa pushing a grocery cart. Now, the two families share Sunday potlucks, turning one rainy errand into a circle of quiet, enduring kindness.

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."
— Galatians 6:9 (ESV)

55 Plus - The New Silver Standard

Leaf or not to Leaf?

Senior Deal of the Day: Briggs Restaurants. Guests 65+ get 7% off any adult entrée (excluding sides and drinks) at any Brigs Restaurant—all day, every day.

Look stunning. Feel unstoppable.

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Check out our online calendar for more events and local activities!📌

We strive to make sure that all information is accurate. However, we always recommend check all details with the event organizer.

There are so many events happening in and around Wake County, NC that we have gone to a seperate page to list events. Please click this button to view all of the area’s great events!👇

Sometimes, email servers can cut off parts of the newsletter, making it tricky to enjoy the full experience. For the best reading experience and to catch all the details, click here to view the entire newsletter!

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If your business event, or restaurant, is not on the list and you would like to be added, contact us at [email protected]