Community Voices for Health

By: Kristen Clifford

 I must admit, we have no respect for Thanksgiving in my house. As soon as November hits we start planning all of our Christmas activities. Over the past few years, we’ve started the tradition of cramming in as many Christmas activities as possible!

We like to start off the season with a trip to the Christmas Place in Abington. They open on Halloween, so we’ve already visited this year!

Next we head to the Bass Pro Shop in Foxboro to get our free pictures with Santa, which are available November to December 24th. There tends to be a smaller crowd when we go during the week in early November. The Bass Pro Shop staff is great with kids, and Santa always stops and takes a few minutes to talk to each kid.

Once we have taken our pictures with Santa, we plan a trip to Avon to see the Enchanted Village, which is always great, free fun! The crowd is smaller if we go during the week before Thanksgiving. The Enchanted Village opens up November 17th and stays open until Christmas.

After Thanksgiving, we like to plan another week night to go see the lights at Lasalette Shrine in Attelboro. The lights turn on Thanksgiving night and stay on from 5pm-9pm every night until January 6th.

Then, on December 1st we head to the Old Company Store in Wareham for their “Elf on the Shelf” hayride. Visitors ride through Cranberry bogs and listen to the “Elf on the Shelf” story as they watch elves as they dance and play! This event is free and runs from 10am-4pm on December 1st. Last year was the hayride’s first year. Our kids loved it so much that we knew we had to add it to our calendar again.

We also like to spend a night driving around, looking at all the lights around town. One of our favorite spots is the Festival of Lights in Bridgewater.  We are very sad that this is the event’s last year, so we will make sure to check it out one last time! The Bridgewater Festival Of Lights opens December  9^th  and runs nightly until December 25^th. Hours of operation are 5:00pm to 8:30pm weeknights and 5:00pm to 9:30pm weekends, weather permitting.

What kind of Christmas activities do you enjoy with your family? We are always looking for more holiday fun!!!