Holiday Events in the Poconos

Breakfast with Santa: Mount Airy Casino Resort, 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Mount Airy event center, 44 Woodland Road, Paradise Township. Pictures and breakfast with Santa. Cost is $5 per person with all proceeds benefiting Monroe County United Way. Information, call 877-682-4791.
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Breakfast with Santa:
Mount Airy Casino Resort, 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Mount Airy event center, 44 Woodland Road, Paradise Township. Pictures and breakfast with Santa. Cost is $5 per person with all proceeds benefiting Monroe County United Way. Information, call 877-682-4791.
Fireside Christmas
extravaganza: The Inn at Pocono Manor will host its annual Magical Fireside Christmas Extravaganza through Dec. 30. Hours are 4 to 9 p.m. Friday, noon to 8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily Dec. 23-30. Admission is $5 per person and includes five activities tickets. Additional activity tickets are available at $1 per ticket. Also, the inn will collect unwrapped gifts for Toys for Tots. The event will include festive decorations, Santa and Mrs. Claus, letter-writing to Santa, holiday storytelling, photos with Santa, Christmas cookie decorating, a human-sized gingerbread house, horse-drawn sleighing or buggy rides if no snow, holiday fire engine rides, a magical gingerbread village, holiday crafts and ornament making, face painting, holiday music and more. Information, call 570-839-7111, ext. 7601, or visit poconomanor.com.
Castle Inn:
Men’s shopping evening on Saturday. Shops stay open until 9 p.m. Special menu tailored to guys at Zen Safari and after-dinner treats in the Ice Cream Parlor.
The Shoppes at Castle Inn are inside the Castle Inn at 20 Delaware Ave., Delaware Water Gap. Hours are noon to 6 p.m. Thursday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, except for special events.

Winter Solstice
Celebration: 7 p.m. Saturday at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Poconos, 940A Ann St., Stroudsburg. Drum, chant, sing solstice carols and celebrate the return of the sun. Bring drums, rattles and bells if you have them. Refreshments will follow.
Tours and carriage rides: Historic Bethlehem offers tours, events and museum experiences that capture the spirit of Christmas 1741 and today. Programs will be held through Dec. 31.

• A Christmas City Stroll: Discover Christmas City on a candlelit walking tour that explains the famous candle-in-every-window and sheds light on the beloved Bethlehem Star.
• Rise and Fall of Bethlehem Steel: Learn how blast furnaces worked and why men needed a brass check to enter the gates on this walking tour of Bethlehem Steel. During December, the tour will include facts about life as a steel worker during the holidays.
• Scenic horse-drawn carriage ride: Enjoy quaint downtown Bethlehem. Two carriages will be available on December weekends.
• Bethlehem By Night bus tour: Take in the holiday lights and historic sites on this tour through North and South Bethlehem, including a ride up to the star on South Mountain.
• Moravian Museum of Bethlehem: A 1700s Christmas — Go back in time to the founding of Bethlehem in 1741 on this tour through the oldest building in the city. The museum is decked in pyramid trees and other traditional 18th-century décor.
• 1750 Smithy with Colonial Gift Shop: See sparks fly and experience a working blacksmith forging over the fire at the smithy, before visiting the colonial wares gift shop on the second floor. Special holiday keepsake: A stocking hook made by a Historic Bethlehem blacksmith to hang over your mantle.
• Hunt for History: Comfort and Joy — Children enjoy a festive version of the Hunt for History club with crafts, treats and a lot of holiday spirit.

Walking and bus tours leave from the Historic Bethlehem Visitor Center on Main Street. Tickets can be purchased at historicbethlehem.org or by calling 1-800-360-8687.

Original Article:
http://www.poconorecord.com/article/20121221/LOCALENT/212210323