Holidays in the Bluff City
There’s nothing quite like Christmas in Memphis. Sometimes cold, sometimes balmy, the holidays here are always glowing with lights and brimming with activity. Traditions run strong in our big small town and on this promising year after 20 months of pandemic, we’re embracing all of our normal and new holiday events. Even if you only decide on one or two special evenings of holiday festivity, enjoy our glittering River City with a fresh appreciation this year. Memphis is still here… stronger, more vibrant, and more festive than ever before.
For Setting your Sights on the Lights
The perfect thing for a family of youngins’ is a night in the minivan chasing down lights all over the city. We always grab peppermint milkshakes for the drive, pjs are encouraged, and we map out the best route from the river to out East. From the classic displays of Central Gardens to the radio-synced designs in Bartlett and Collierville, Memphis has a wide range of private homes that never disappoint in their holiday Griswolding. Entire streets invest in making their area of the neighborhood the most visited and the effects will delight little and grown folks alike. My family loves the homes on Tuscumbia Cove in Collierville for their fun, interactive displays.
The Memphis Botanic Garden hosts Holiday Wonders at the Garden…a dreamy chance for your family to take a nighttime garden stroll through millions of twinkle lights in their expansive holiday display. During the month of December, the Gardens feature special areas for meeting Santa, roasting marshmallows, enjoying holiday cocktails, and even select evenings for bringing your pup along for the celebration! Tickets are reasonable at $10 each and children under 2 are free. Support a local gem by taking your people this year and enjoy an entire evening of lights, mingling, and jingling.
For Getting Fancy
One of my family’s favorite Christmas traditions is simple but cherished. We get all gussied up one evening before the holidays, grab dinner at one of our favorite local places (like Molly’s La Casita or Casablanca), and head downtown for drinks at the Peabody bar. My little girls love the marveling at the hotel’s magnificent Christmas decorations and sipping Shirley Temples by the massive lobby tree. A pianist is always playing holiday favorites and the lobby is cheerfully packed with festive folks coming and going from dinner or the ballet. It feels like the most Christmas-y, Memphis-y thing to do.
Few Memphians can say they’ve never seen a performance of A Christmas Carol at Theatre Memphis… if you’re among the few, this is your year to experience it! TM celebrates it’s 100th season this year with a gorgeously renovated building and the exciting return of in-person theatre. The show runs until the 23rd and continues to remind us of the spirit of Christmas, love, mercy, forgiveness, and how even the most Scroogiest among us are possible of reformation. Tickets reservations can be made online.
Whatever you do this Christmas, take a note from the last two years and keep it simple and sweet. Memphis has dozens of fun options for family entertainment this holiday season but it’s not about how much you get to experience as how you experience it. Hold your loved ones close this Christmas, have a grateful heart for your community, and let’s walk into 2022 more committed than ever to love our city well and see it through it’s challenges. Merry Christmas, Memphis!