On Saturday, Dec. 12, the YMCA Santa Run starts at 9 a.m. at Railyard Park. The Holiday Farmers Market on Howard Road opens at the same hour. At 1 p.m., five historic homes open for the Historic Waxahachie Christmas Tour of Homes. The carriage rides that benefit CASA of Ellis County are also running downtown that day. At 6 p.m., the gates open at Bethlehem Revisited on North College Street.
That is a lot of town for one day. Still, only a couple of those events can actually be missed by showing up late. The two largest traditions on the December calendar run on repeating loops and homes you can enter in any order. So the crowded weekend is easier to plan than it looks.
Only a few events start on the clock
Start with the events that have a real start time. Plan those first and fit everything else around them.
| Date | Event | Fixed start | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tue., Dec. 1 | Christmas Parade & Community Tree Lighting | Activities 6 p.m., lighted parade 6:30 p.m. | Getzendaner Park to downtown; tree on the Ellis County Courthouse lawn |
| Fri., Dec. 4 | Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Christmas concert | 7:30 p.m. | WISD Performing Arts Center, 3001 US Hwy 287 Bypass |
| Sat., Dec. 12 | YMCA Santa Run | Run/walk begins 9 a.m. | Railyard Park |
The CVB lists the parade with activities at 6 p.m., the lighted parade at 6:30 and the tree lighting on the courthouse lawn. The City of Waxahachie's calendar shows the route from Getzendaner Park into downtown and lists the event as free, running 6 to 9 p.m. The symphony concert runs 7:30 to 9 p.m. The Santa Run's event window is 8 a.m. to noon, and the run itself starts at 9.
Three events, three different days. Nothing else on the early-December list depends on being there when the doors open, and that matters most on the second weekend.
Bethlehem Revisited runs on a 30-minute loop
Central Presbyterian Church started Bethlehem Revisited in 1997. This year it runs on two weekends, Friday through Sunday, Dec. 4–6 and Dec. 11–13, from 6 to 9 p.m. each night. It's held at 402 N. College St., behind the church. Visitors walk through a re-created Bethlehem with innkeepers, merchants, craftsmen, sheep, camels and donkeys. Herod's Court is part of it, and the three kings parade through each night.
The schedule is what makes it easy to plan around. According to the Waxahachie CVB listing, the program runs continuously and the main scenes repeat every half hour:
- Mary and Joseph ride into the city at :00 and :30
- The angel appears to the shepherds at :10 and :40
- Herod's Court plays at :15 and :45
The CVB calls these times approximate. Still, someone who walks in at 7:05 hasn't missed anything they can't see by 7:40. Admission is free, and the production runs on donations, which you can give online or by card at the souvenir booth. Free parking is listed at the Jesus Center, 423 N. College St.
Neighboring churches open with their own activities, and there's live music inside Central Presbyterian. Randy Arey, the church's organist, plays opening night, Friday, Dec. 4. The Supper Quilt is on display both weekends. It's a pixel-patterned image of the Last Supper, pieced from fabric squares by Dr. Don Locke. Piecing took two and a half years, and he finished it in August 1999, according to Central Presbyterian's page on the quilt. It doesn't run on the 30-minute loop, so it's a good place to wait out the minutes before the next scene.
The Tour of Homes has no front door
The 8th Annual Historic Waxahachie Christmas Tour of Homes runs Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 12–13. The ticket page lists 1 to 7 p.m. both days and five historic homes decorated for the season.
The tour has no official starting point. The Eventbrite listing says you can trade your advance e-ticket for the collector's guidebook at any of the homes and tour them in whatever order you like. The guidebook lists every address and includes a community map. Tickets start at $12.51. Children 6 to 12 get a discounted ticket, and children 5 and under get in free.
Historic Waxahachie, Inc. says each home on the tour features a local small business serving food or drink. The guidebook gets new custom cover art every year and also serves as your ticket. That means a visitor can start at whichever home is closest to where they parked and work outward from there. The map comes with the ticket.
Where the two overlap: 6 to 7 p.m.
Put the two loose schedules side by side with the fixed events, and the Dec. 11–13 weekend looks like this:
| Day | Morning | Afternoon | Evening |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri., Dec. 11 | None | None | Bethlehem Revisited 6–9 p.m.; Grounded Jam Session at Rhythm & Brew 7:30–9:30 p.m. |
| Sat., Dec. 12 | Santa Run at Railyard Park, run 9 a.m.; Holiday Farmers Market 9 a.m.–1 p.m. | Tour of Homes 1–7 p.m. | Tour's last hour; Bethlehem Revisited 6–9 p.m. |
| Sun., Dec. 13 | None | Tour of Homes 1–7 p.m. | Tour's last hour; Bethlehem Revisited 6–9 p.m. |
On both Saturday and Sunday, the tour's last hour overlaps Bethlehem's first. Since neither event has a fixed starting point, that hour gives you flexibility. You can finish the last home on the tour after 6 and still catch Mary and Joseph's 6:30 or 7:00 entrance. Or you can go to Bethlehem first, then use the final hour of the tour.
Sunday is the quieter day of the two. It has the same tour hours and the same Bethlehem hours, with no morning events on the CVB calendar. Saturday has everything.
The carriage rides run Friday and Saturday, Dec. 11–12, and again on Dec. 18–19. Proceeds go to CASA of Ellis County. On the second weekend, they fall on the same Friday and Saturday as Bethlehem.
Saturday, Dec. 12, worked out in order
For a household that wants to do as much as possible in one day, the hours set the order:
- 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., Railyard Park. Arrive inside the Santa Run's 8 a.m. to noon window, before the run/walk starts at 9.
- Late morning, 701 Howard Road. The Holiday Farmers Market runs until 1 p.m. The CVB notes it's less than a mile from historic downtown.
- 1 p.m. to about 6 p.m., Tour of Homes. Trade the e-ticket for the guidebook at whichever home you reach first, then use the map. With five homes and six hours, there's no need to rush any of them.
- 6 p.m. onward, 402 N. College St. Park at the Jesus Center, 423 N. College St., and walk in whenever you're ready. The next Mary and Joseph entrance is never more than 30 minutes away.
- Downtown. The CASA carriage rides are running that Saturday too.
Of these five steps, only the first has a set start. Everything after it can stretch or shrink depending on how long lunch takes.
The night before, Friday, Dec. 11, has a different option on the same street as Bethlehem. Rhythm & Brew, at 100 N. College St., B101, holds its Grounded Jam Sessions every Friday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Waxahachie 360 describes it as the town's newest live-music venue, run by co-owners Jorden and Matthew Kidwell. It serves beer, wine, tea, coffee and snacks, and new performers have to register in advance. Jorden Kidwell told Waxahachie 360 that "Music is a universal language." Since Bethlehem runs on a loop, you can see it from 6 to 7:15 and still make the 7:30 jam session.
The first weekend comes with its own conflict
The Dec. 4–6 weekend has more fixed times to work around. Bethlehem Revisited opens Friday, Dec. 4, the same night the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra plays its Christmas concert at the WISD Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. Bethlehem's loop helps here too. An hour at Bethlehem starting at 6 p.m. covers every repeating scene twice before the concert starts.
The Waxahachie Junior Service League Christmas Market runs Dec. 4–5 at the Waxahachie Civic Center, 2000 Civic Center Lane. On Saturday, Dec. 5, the Holiday Farmers Market is open again from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., as it is on Nov. 28. That leaves Saturday afternoon open for the market and Saturday evening open for Bethlehem.
If the second weekend is too full, the first one shows everything on Bethlehem's College Street program without the Tour of Homes crowd. The second weekend is the only time the tour, the Santa Run, the carriage rides and Bethlehem all happen within three days. The parade on Tuesday, Dec. 1, starts everything three days ahead of Bethlehem's first night.
At The Escalante Group, we're Ellis County neighbors, and we'll be marking our own calendars for the parade, Bethlehem Revisited and the Tour of Homes. If you're new to Waxahachie this year and want help planning your first December here, or just want a recommendation for lunch between the market and the first tour home, contact us. We're happy to help.
