Toledo area holiday schedule

Children's Wonderland opens again this year at the Lucas County Recreation Center.

Let your calendar overflow with holiday bounty.

There are home tours, Christmas carols, Nutcrackers, symphony performances, classic vocal acts, zoo lights, wonderlands, and all sorts of thematic twists and turns on the usual end-of-the-year festivities.

So digest your turkey, let the mashed potatoes and stuffing settle in your stomach, and plot out your holiday fun with this special edition of our Weekender.

Holiday theater offerings are on page 3 and page 11, a Peter Nero preview is featured on page 4, and the best of the rest follows here:

Children s Wonderland is open at the Lucas County Recreation Center, 2901 Key St., Maumee, and will be open until Dec. 31. Tickets are $5 for adults, $4 for senior citizens, and $3 for children older than 2. Hours are Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. Special Christmas Eve and New Year s Eve hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Toledo Zoo s Lights Before Christmas celebration, which features more than a million holiday lights and an 85-foot Norway spruce towering above the zoo Conservatory, will continue from 5 to 8 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and from 5 to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Dec. 31. The zoo will be closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day.

The Moscow Ballet will present The Great Russian Nutcracker at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2 and 3 in the Sandusky State Theater, 107 Columbus Ave., Sandusky. Tickets are $25-$65 at 419-626-1950 or 877-626-1950. The Moscow touring company also will perform at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9 in the Michigan Theater, 603 East Liberty St., Ann Arbor. For tickets and information, call 248-645-6666.

The Joffrey Ballet will present The Nutcracker in the Detroit Opera House, 1426 Broadway St. in downtown Detroit. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 4-6, 2:30 p.m. Dec. 5, and noon and 5 p.m. Dec. 7. Tickets are $25-$47 at www.motopera.org or 313-961-3500.

The Toledo Symphony Orchestra brings organist David Higgs and soprano Lisa Vroman back to the Peristyle for the Holiday Organ Spectacular at 8 p.m. Dec. 6 in the Peristyle. Tickets are $5-$35 at 419-246-8000.

The Lima Symphony Orchestra will present its annual holiday concert, Bells, Brass & Bows, at 8 p.m. Dec. 6 in Crouse Auditorium of the Lima Civic Center. For tickets and information, call 419-222-5701.

Masterworks Chorale s holiday concert will feature sacred music written to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The concerts will be at 8 p.m. Dec. 6 and 4 p.m. Dec. 7 in Epworth United Methodist Church, Valleyview Drive at Central Avenue in Ottawa Hills. Tickets are $20-$25 in advance at 419-246-8000 and 800-348-1253 or at the door.

The University Musical Society Choral Union will present its annual performances of Handel s Messiah at 8 p.m. Dec. 6 and 2 p.m. Dec. 7 in Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor. Tickets are $10-$36 at www.ums.org.

Collaboration, a vocal ensemble directed by Mark Hetrick, will perform its free, public Christmas concert at 7 p.m. Dec. 6 in McCord Road Christian Church, 4765 North McCord Rd., Sylvania.

The River Raisin Ballet will present The Nutcracker at 2 and 7 p.m. Dec. 6 and 2 p.m. Dec. 7 in the River Raisin Centre for the Arts, 114 South Monroe, St., Monroe. Tickets are $15 at the center.

The Lourdes College Choirs will present their annual Christmas concert with the Maumee Community Band Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. at Lourdes. Information: 419-824-3772 or www.lourdes.edu.

The Toledo Choral Society will present the Messiah at 2 p.m. Dec. 7 in the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle. Tickets are available in advance at 419-246-8000 or at the door.

Eddie Boggs Holiday Variety Show, featuring local singers, dancers, and musical groups, will be at 2 p.m. Dec. 7 in the Franciscan Center on the campus of Lourdes College in Sylvania. Proceeds will benefit Family House of Toledo.

Tours de Noel, the annual home tour of the Old West End, will be Dec. 7 from noon to 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 for all seven locations. Information: 419-244-4921.

The University of Toledo Department of Music presents the UT Jazz Holiday Spectacular, Dec. 8 at 8 p.m. in Doermann Theatre of University Hall. Jazz legend Jon Hendricks, noted for his vocalese singing technique, will also perform. Tickets are available at the door for $5, and $3 for students and seniors.

Peter White Christmas will feature smooth jazz artists White, Rick Braun, and Mindi Abair playing holiday classics and some of their best-known songs at the Valentine Theatre Dec. 11. Tickets are $35, $39, and $47 and are available at the downtown Toledo Valentine box office, 410 Adams St., or by calling 419-242-2787.

Sheri LaFontaine, a Toledo native and award-winning Christian singer, will present a free Christmas concert Dec. 11 in the Burnham Building Auditorium, 6850 Monroe St., Sylvania. Seats can be reserved by calling 419-868-7800.

Holidays in the Manor House, a Toledo tradition for more than 30 years, runs Dec. 7 through Dec. 14 in the Manor House at Wildwood Preserve Metropark. Hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Admission is free.

The Lettermen will present their Spirit of Christmas show at the Valentine Theatre Dec. 12 at 8 p.m. The vocal group will combine their hits with Christmas classics. Tickets are $33, $39, and $45 and are available at the Valentine box office, 410 Adams St., or by calling 419-242-2787.

The Bedford/Sylvania Dance Academy performance of The Nutcracker is at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 12 in the Franciscan Center, Sylvania. Tickets are $20 at 734-847-4944 or 419-882-1073 or at the door.

The Toledo Ballet continues its long-standing tradition for the 68th consecutive year of the Nutcracker. Performances are at 2 and 7 p.m. Dec. 13 and 2 p.m. Dec. 14 in the Stranahan Theater. Tickets are $14-$45 at the Stranahan box office, 419-381-8851, or through Ticketmaster.

The Westmoreland Holiday Home Tour will feature seven historic homes in the Toledo neighborhood that will be open to visitors from 3 to 7 p.m. Dec. 14. Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 the day of the event, with half the proceeds to benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Northwest Ohio. Call 419-539-6959 or e-mail info@westmorelandassociation.org.

Tuba Christmas will feature seasonal music at the deep end of the scale at 8 p.m. Dec. 14 in Doermann Theater, University Hall, University of Toledo. The concert is free.

The Lourdes Choirs will present an encore Christmas concert Dec. 14 with a special Polish Heritage Carol finale and other holiday music at historic St. Hedwig Catholic Church in Toledo s Polish Village. The 3 p.m. concert will also serve as a benefit for the restoration of the St. Hedwig pipe organ. Information: 419-729-3148.

Irish music icon Tony Kenny will bring his Christmas in Ireland show to the Maumee Indoor Theatre, 601 Conant St., Dec. 18 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25. Information: 419-382-1505.

Toledo symphony resident conductor Chelsea Tipton II will lead the Toledo Symphony in 15 regional and neighborhood concerts during December. Check News of Music in each Thursday s Blade Weekender section for dates and times.