• Courtesy Of Shannon Greer
• Paula Poundstone

Funny Girl

Friday 16 & Saturday 17

An Emmy Award-winning comedian and one of Comedy Central's "Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time," Paula Poundstone stops by the Dibden Center for the Arts at Northern Vermont University-Johnson and Fuller Hall at St. Johnsbury Academy. The consummate jokester offers up nonstop laughs and witty observations on motherhood, the pandemic and getting older.

Making Merry

Saturday 17

• Courtesy
• Queer Craft Fair

Central Vermonters get their holiday shopping done while supporting the LGBTQ community at a Queer Craft Fair in Barre's Old Labor Hall. Colorful creativity is on full display at this bustling bazaar featuring more than 30 vendor stalls bursting with zines, pottery, prints, paintings, jewelry, leatherwork, herbal goods and more.

Jingle All the Way

Saturday 17

• Courtesy Of Brian Macdonald
• SleighStop

AO Glass in Burlington's South End celebrates the season with SleighStop, an artisanal extravaganza of warmth and light, courtesy of those fiery kilns. All-day glassblowing demonstrations supplement a morning of coffee and Nordic baked goods to celebrate Saint Lucia's Day and afternoon gin drinks by the furnace with Caledonia Spirits.

More Like 'Skatehouse'

Sunday 18

• File: Jeb Wallace-Brodeur
• Skating Rink Party

If you didn't know that part of the Vermont Statehouse lawn in Montpelier is transforming into an ice rink for the winter, now you know. At the Grand Opening Skating Rink Party, locals hit the ice and sip hot cocoa under the golden dome. The Montpelier Recreation Department lends out skates for those who need them.

To Be, or Maccabee

Sunday 18

• Courtesy
• Chanukah Party

Burlington's Ohavi Zedek Synagogue hosts its annual Chanukah Party, an all-ages shindig on the first day of the Festival of Lights. Revelers young and old enjoy a hot chocolate bar, plenty of latkes, games of Kahoot!, raffles and the lighting of the menorah. Donations of kids' and adults' socks and gloves are accepted.

Heart and Solstice

Wednesday 21

• Courtesy Of Werner Tree Farm
• Adventure Dinner Winter Solstice

The darkest night of the year gets a little brighter at Adventure Dinner's Winter Solstice Celebration at Middlebury's Werner Tree Farm. The festive mixer features a fire-stoked fondue feast, hot spiced cider for sipping and an evergreen centerpiece craft, all in a fully decked-out, candlelit barn.

If I Ran the Circus

Ongoing

• Courtesy Of Jackson Gallery
• "Jester's Bauble" by Frobertan

The Jackson Gallery at Middlebury's Town Hall Theater presents "We're All at a Party Called Life on Earth," an art installation by sculpting duo Frobertan, aka Fran Bull and Robert Black. A brightly painted array of characters evokes circus vibes across history, from commedia dell'arte to carnival to Greek drama.