Between cold nights spent cozied next to the fireplace watching favorite holiday movies, consider taking a trip to Milleridge Inn’s Christmas village. Running from Nov. 24 to Dec. 31, The Milleridge Village is expanding the traditional 12 days of Christmas to a whopping 38 days.
“Every inch of this place gets decorated in Christmas, it looks like an explosion of Christmas,” said Director of Marketing Gina Marino. “The day after Thanksgiving we take [all of the fall decorations] down and we start fully decorating for Christmas.”
After having the village transformed into a Santa-approved winter wonderland, “we’ll have our tree lighting, and that’s kind of like the kickoff,” Marino said.
The Christmas tree lighting takes place on Nov. 29 at 6 p.m. with festivities starting at 5 p.m.
However, the Christmas village fun starts five days before then when one of the buildings becomes Santa’s workshop. Activities include making a stuffed animal, stocking and ornament decorating, cookie decorating, gingerbread house building, pictures with Santa, letters to Santa and breakfast with Santa in the Milleridge Cottage on Dec. 9, 10, 16 and 17.
“Milleridge is very family-oriented, so it really brings all the families here; it’s something for the kids to do,” Marino said. “We try to do something every holiday. We really just focus on creating memories and traditions.”
While geared toward children, the Christmas village places no age limit on the event. Older kids and couples can enjoy the offered activities, browse the shops, which will remain open during the Christmas village hours, and simply take in the Christmas cheer the village provides.
Parents tend to get involved with the decorative activities as Marino explained how children usually favor the craftier offerings.
“I think they really do like the ornament and cookie decorating because they can sit down and we make it look like Santa’s workshop and it’s really cute in there and the parents can sit with them,” she said. “You just get in the spirit and it’s really fun, so it’s good for the whole family.”
There will also be a display of Hank Jorgensen’s detailed, handmade Christmas decorations. Jorgensen’s family donated his creations to Milleridge after his passing last year, and setting everything up has quickly become a Christmas village tradition.
“It’s super old, but it’s all crazy detailed and in working condition and then there’s all these things that move and trains and lights; it’s like a whole insane setup that we now do as our tradition,” Marino described. “The [Jorgensen] family comes and it’s very emotional and it’s so much fun to watch and create.”
While walking around and enjoying the scene is free of charge, expect to incur a small charge for each activity.
Christmas Village activities are open Monday through Friday from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and weekends from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. For more information visit milleridgeinn.com or call 516-931-2201.
