In a Christmas world, eight days of Hanukkah aren’t enough. Here are a few programs for those who celebrate the Feast of Lights (sundown on Dec. 3), followed by other holiday happenings:
Do-It-Yourself Hanukkah,” featuring musician, rabbi and former host of “The Magic Door” Joseph R. Black, the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band, and prayer-melody composer Jeff Klepper, plus a puppet show and arts and crafts, begins at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Chicago Folk Center, 4544 N. Lincoln Ave. Tickets: $14-$18. 773-728-6000.
Hanukkah celebration, with storyteller Susan Stone and Listen Up! A Cappella, at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the Chicago Cultural Center’s Claudia Cassidy Theater, 78 E. Washington St. Free. 312-744-1424.
“Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins,” featuring the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band, at 1 p.m. Sunday at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. $8-$10. 847-673-6300.
Chicago’s 86th annual tree-lighting ceremony – last year’s tree stood 80 feet tall, with 10,000 lights and 1,000 ornaments – begins at 4 p.m. Friday at Daley Plaza, Washington and Dearborn Streets. Free. 312-744-3315. (Downtown was supposed to officially freeze at 9 a.m. Friday with Skate on State – and at Navy Pier, Grant Park and other locations – the annual free ice-skating rinks that run through Feb. 27. But due to unseasonally warm weather, that’s been postponed until sometime next week. … We’ll report next issue.)
The Radio City Christmas Spectacular (envision elves with long, shapely legs – otherwise known as the Rockettes; pictured below) opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Rosemont Theatre, 5400 N. River Rd., Rosemont. The show runs through Dec. 30, times vary. Tickets: $24.50-$56.50. 312-559-1212 (Ticketmaster).
Mercado Navideno, with music and a “festive atmosphere,” begins at 10 a.m. Saturday (through Dec. 5) at the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, 1852 W. 19th St. Free. 312-738-1503.
Clairvoyant Joanna Ammons will penetrate even the most stoic of father’s brains for the ultimate gift idea, beginning at noon Saturday (through Dec. 18) at the Psychic Aid Station in Gurnee Mills, 6170 W. Grand Ave., Gurnee. 847-263-7500.
“The Best Christmas Decorations in Chicagoland,” Mary Edsey’s (left) slide-and-lecture adaptation of her book, begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Chicago Public Library, 400 S. State St. Free. 312-747-4050.
All it takes is 33 boys from Moscow to make up a choir, and The Moscow Boys Choir will sing festive holiday carols in a program titled “Christmas Around the World” at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Paramount Arts Centre, 23 E. Galena Blvd. Tickets: $17.50-$19.50; 630-896-6666. The Vienna Choir Boys, celebrating its 500th anniversary in show business, sings a Christmas concert at 8 p.m. Friday at Dominican University, 7900 W. Division St., River Forest. Tickets: $22. 708-524-6942.
Historian and folk artist Lee Murdock (right) sings “Christmas Ship” songs at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday at the Chicago Public Library’s auditorium, 400 S. State St. Free. 312-747-4050. (It’s also at 8 p.m. Saturday at the College of DuPage’s Arts Center, 22nd Street between Lambert Road and Park Boulevard, in Glen Ellyn. Tickets: $14-$15. 630-942-4000.)
The Chicago Architecture Foundation’s holiday walking tour hops between decked out lobbies such as The Palmer House and Symphony Center. It begins at 5 p.m. Thursday (and every Thursday through Jan. 6, not counting the week before Christmas) at the Wacker lobby of the Sears Tower, 233 S. Wacker Drive. Tickets: $5. 312-922-3432.
The Holiday Candlelight Concert, with the American Concerto Orchestra (Stephen Burns, conductor), turns Christmas into classicalmas at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at St. James Cathedral, 65 E. Huron St. Tickets: $25. 773-772-5463.
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