Calendar of Events

The simple joys of an old-fashioned Christmas await Museum of Appalachia visitors during the month of December. The Museum will celebrate "Twelve Days of Christmas in Old Appalachia" with special music and activities each day. Throughout the holiday season cabins will be decorated in pioneer style, recalling times past when Christmas was a quiet family holiday. During chilly December days, visitors may tour the Hall of Fame exhibit building in leisurely comfort. Logs burn brightly in the brick fireplace downstairs, and there's time to read the Museum's trademark stories about colorful and resourceful Appalachian folk. Regular admission. 2819 Andersonville Hwy, Clinton, TN 37716. Information:
865-494-7680, www.museumofappalachia.org

Gian Carlo Menotti's Christmas Classic story of the Magi, a crippled boy, and a miracle.
Sunday, Nov 29 at 3:00 PM at the Athens Art Center; Saturday, Dec 5 at 7:30 PM and Sunday, Dec 6 at 3:00 PM at the White Lion Theatre in Sweetwater.
$10 adults, $5 students. Information: 423-351-9013, www.masparts.org

Oak Ridge Art Center, 201 Badger Road, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 9-5; Saturday-Monday, 1-4. For more information, visit the Web site or call (865) 482-1441.

The open air ice rink on Market Square opens at 10 a.m. on November 27 and will be open every day through January 3rd (except Christmas Day).

The Tennessee Art Education Association is pleased to announce it's partnership with the Knoxville Museum of Art to present the Fourth Annual East Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition. This exhibition features artwork created by East Tennessee middle and high school students. The competition offers students the opportunity to display their talents and be honored for their accomplishments in a professional art museum environment. The student art exhibition provides an excellent competitive arena for young artists. This year exhibition will spotlight a remarkable cross-section of the region's best student artwork from grades six through 12 and encompass an impressive variety of media, including ceramic, drawing, digital imagery, mixed media, painting, computer graphics, sculpture, traditional photography, and printmaking. There will be an awards ceremony at 6pm on Tuesday, December 1, 2009, in the Great Hall of the Knoxville Museum of Art, for the artists participating in the Fourth Annual East Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition, their families, friends and school's personnel.
1050 World's Fair Park Drive, Knoxville, TN 37916. Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 10am-5pm, Friday 10am-8pm, Saturday 10am-5pm, and Sunday 1pm-5pm. FREE admission. For more information: (865) 525-6101, www.knoxart.org

November 27,28,29, December 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22.

Our most popular event with Santa, cookies, and storytelling.

More information on our excursions can be found online: www.ThreeRiversRambler.com

By Jones, Hope & Wooten. It's Christmas-time in the small town of Fayro, Texas, and the Futrelle Sisters — Frankie, Twink and Honey Raye — are not exactly in a festive mood. A cranky Frankie is weeks overdue with her second set of twins. Twink, recently jilted and bitter about it, is in jail for inadvertently burning down half the town. And hot-flash-suffering Honey Raye is desperately trying to keep the Tabernacle of the Lamb's Christmas Program from spiraling into chaos. But things are not looking too promising: Miss Geneva, the ousted director of the previous twenty-seven productions, is ruthless in her attempts to take over the show. The celebrity guest Santa Claus — played by Frankie's long-suffering husband, Dub — is passing a kidney stone. One of the shepherds refuses to watch over his flock by night without pulling his little red wagon behind him. And the entire cast is dropping like flies due to food poisoning from the Band Boosters' Pancake Supper. When Frankie lets slip a family secret that has been carefully guarded for decades, all hope for a successful Christmas program seems lost, even with an Elvis impersonator at the manger. But in true Futrelle fashion, the feuding sisters find a way to pull together in order to present a Christmas program the citizens of Fayro will never forget. Their hilarious holiday journey through a misadventure-filled Christmas Eve is guaranteed to bring joy to your world!

Showtimes: Thursday, Friday, Saturday @ 8:00 pm and Sunday @ 3:00 pm
Tickets: Thursday, Sunday $10; Friday, Saturday $15.
319 N. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37917. 865-544-1999, www.theatreknoxville.com

The Tennessee Stage Company, known to Knoxville audiences for Shakespeare On The Square and the New Play Festival returns to our Timeless Works series this fall with the modern classic, I Hate Hamlet. This most outrageous of comedies is a ghost story wrapped up in a theatrical farce. A young Hollywood television star comes to New York to play the role of Hamlet in Shakespeare In The Park. Hopelessly out of his depth he gets surprise tutoring – from the ghost of John Barrymore – dead for seventy years but called back from the other side to assist a young Hamlet in desperate need!
Tickets on sale now: limited availability. Call (865) 546-4280 for Reservations. General Admission: $ 15; Students/Seniors $ 12. Group discounts available. Tennessee Stage Company, P.O. Box 1186, Knoxville, TN 37901.

The Holiday Express returns to the UT Gardens again this year with extended days (including Christmas Day), appearances by Santa, and musical performances by community choral groups. The garden-scale train display decorated for the holidays will open with a sneak preview for UT faculty and staff, sponsors and Friends of the Gardens on Tuesday, November 24. It will open to the public the following day. Last year 9,300 people visited Holiday Express at the UT Gardens, and even more are expected this year. Bring the kids, grandkids and kids at heart to help make Holiday Express a continuing holiday tradition that will benefit the UT Gardens. Visit on one or more of the following dates: November 25-28: 12-8 p.m., Sunday, November 29: 12-6 p.m.; Weekends December 4-January 3: (Except Friday, Christmas Day): 2-6 p.m.; Friday and Saturdays:12-8 p.m. Sundays: 12-6 p.m.

Scrooge, the Cratchits, and the ghosts of Christmas past, present and yet-to-come return for those who have embraced this Dickens’ classic as part of their holiday season – and for those about to discover it for the first time. Information: 865-974-5161 or www.clarencebrowntheatre.org

Little Charlie Bucket finds the golden ticket that gains him entry into the factory of Willy Wonka, the world-famous candy man who is on a quest to find an heir. This new adaptation, drawn from the classic family film, explodes on the stage and features popular songs from the original score like "Pure Imagination" and "The Candy Man."

227 Broadway in Historic Jackson Square, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. For more information, call (865) 482-9999 or visit www.orplayhouse.com