Local merchants and galleries celebrate the season with refreshments, openings and holiday specials Dec. 14-16 in Basalt.

Contact: Basalt Chamber of Commerce at 927-4031 for more information.

This tour offers area residents the opportunity to travel to Denver at the holidays without driving over the passes. A luxury bus will pick up at the Glenwood Springs Community Center at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 15, returning clients to the same location the evening of Sunday, Dec. 16. Ancient Excursions will provide everything from a gourmet breakfast and movie en route to a matinee performance of “White Christmas” at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, a plated dinner and accommodations at the Curtis Hotel, a tour of the holiday lights at the Denver Botanic Gardens, and the choice on Sunday to get your holiday shopping done at the Cherry Creek Mall or to visit the Titanic Exhibition.

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Call 888-906-TOUR now for tickets, there are only a few seats left and Ancient Excursions has recently reduced the cost of the trip.

Thunder River Theatre Company presents another free event at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7, at TRTC, on the Red Brick Walkway between Main Street and Colorado Avenue in downtown Carbondale. Please join TRTC and friends for the fourth annual Holiday Readers Theatre.

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This year’s readers include Marie Gasau, Carlos Herrera, Lana Karp, Jennica Lundin, Richard Lyon, Fran Page, Steve Skinner, and Sylvia Wendrow. Marie Gasau (musical director and pianist for TRTC’s production of The Fantasticks) will provide music for pre-show enjoyment and for several solstice carols such as “The Holly and the Ivy.” Fran Page (Aspen Dance Connection) and Marie are collaborating on simple fun movements that will include the children in attendance. Cookies and hot cider will be available for all.

Winter-Palooza, the annual holiday extravaganza for the Glenwood Springs Center for the Arts, will begin at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8, with an encore presentation at 6 p.m. Take time away from the hustle and bustle of the holidays to delight in the joys, rhythms, and creativity of the season. Discover the talented Center for the Arts dancers, ranging from age 3 through 18, executing choreography by instructors Maurine Taufer, Jennifer Brown, and Senior Dance Company members. Young actors, instructed by Melody Hartman, will be narrating the show, with appearances by Hartman and Lou Iglesias on the drums.

All ticket proceeds benefit the annual production of Dancers Dancing in the spring.

The Grand Valley Model Railroad Club Christmas Train Show will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 15 and 16; Dec. 22 and 23; and Dec. 29 and 30 at Cross Orchards Historic Site, 3073 F Road in Grand Junction.

The display depicts the Rio Grande Railroad as it traveled from Denver to Salt Lake City with special emphasis on the railroads in the mountains of the Western Slope of Colorado. Static displays, railroad art and videos will also be displayed.

For more info, call (970) 245-3273.

Diane Kenney’s holiday open house will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 8, 15 and 22, at her studio six miles from the Carbondale 7-Eleven, 0172 N. Bill Creek Road. Items for sale will be pottery, new wood-fired pieces and terra cotta pieces.

For more information, call 963-2395 or 948-2411.

Jingle Jam, an interactive family production for parents and kids to enjoy together, will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15, at Christ Community Church, 20351 Highway 82, Basalt (near El Jebel). Free music, games, drama and video.

Call 927-3889 for more information.

Green gingerbread house?

Two local architects will present their award-winning Semilla House in gingerbread for Wyly Community Art Center’s Holiday Stroll Exhibition from 6-8 p.m. Dec. 14; and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15, in Basalt.

The Gingerbread Semilla House will be silent-auctioned at Young Artists Do Gingerbread event, this year’s Wyly Gingerbread Art Exhibition. Auction proceeds will support the Wyly’s programs and events.

Beatriz Soto of Green Line Architects in Carbondale, and Ashley Allis, formerly of Green Line Architects who is currently working in California, won the Emerging Green Builders Competition for the U.S. Green Building Council Colorado Chapter last summer.

The Semilla House (semilla is Spanish for seed) was originally constructed as a housing prototype for Solar Energy International’s Eco-Campus in Paonia. The model featured a prefabricated core and a high-level energy-efficient design.

The Gingerbread Semilla House will be on exhibition, along with a range of gingerbread structures created by gingerbread art class students. The exhibition along with a holiday gift sale will be held at the Wyly Friday evening and Saturday during Basalt’s Holiday Stroll.

For information, contact the Wyly at 927-4123.

Bring your child aged 1-6 to a catered lunch and enjoy a visit from Santa. from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday, Dec. 8, at Carbondale Town Hall. This special lunch hour will include a Christmas story read by Santa and his helper. Pre-registration is required by Friday, Dec. 7, at the Carbondale Recreation Department.

Let Santa know what you want for Christmas. Write a letter to the North Pole and drop it off at Santa’s mail box in front of City Market in Carbondale from Dec. 1 to Dec. 20. The letters will then be delivered to Santa at the North Pole. Make sure to sign your name and address, so Santa can write back!

Kids age 6-12 can make a gingerbread house for the holidays and get messy while having some fun from 4-5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 19, at Carbondale Town Hall. The cost includes the gingerbread house kits, candy, and toppings. Registration deadline is Friday, Dec. 14, at the Carbondale Recreation Department.

The town of Carbondale Recreation Department, along with CCAH is inviting kids and adults of all ages to light up downtown Carbondale and welcome Santa from 5-7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7, at the Fourth Street Plaza. Free hot chocolate and cookies will keep you nice and warm.

Alpine Christian Academy will host a holiday gingerbread house decorating workshop on Saturday, Dec. 8. Children will have the opportunity to express their creativity as they decorate their own gingerbread house. Sign up for one of three sessions: 9-11 a.m., 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., or 2-4 p.m. Refreshments and all decorating supplies are included in the per-house donation. Call 927-9106 to reserve a space. Walk-in participants are welcome as space permits. All proceeds benefit the eighth-grade graduation fund. The academy is located at 20449 Highway 82, midway between Basalt and El Jebel across from the Willits subdivision.

The Mountain Madrigal Singers will present “A Perfect Christmas,” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7; Sunday, Dec. 9; and Saturday, Dec. 15, at First United Methodist Church, 824 Cooper Ave. in Glenwood Springs. Admission is free, but donations are welcome. Free child care will be provided.

For the 27th holiday season, the Mountain Madrigal Singers will present its concert of vocal music celebrating the sounds and spirit of the holidays.

The program will be a blend of traditional and contemporary songs, some classical and some light. Many in the community consider the Madrigal concerts to be the start of their Christmas season.

The Aspen Choral Society presents the 30th annual “Messiah” performance by the Aspen Community Chorus, Glenwood Springs Community Chorus and the Aspen Choral Society Orchestra, directed by Ray Vincent Adams at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 11 and 12 at the United Methodist Church in Glenwood Springs.

Additional performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 14 and 15 at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen.