It is no secret that 2020 has been a stressful and difficult year for everyone. COVID-19 really put on a dark light and prevented so many events and meetings, as well as sticking everyone in quarantine for a majority of the year, and some places even now. Now, however, November is approaching its end, and December is only a few days away. So, as we shift into the holiday spirit and approach the end of the year, here are six events that you can look forward to this holiday season.

Christmas at Hycroft.

Image from Vancouver’s Best Places

Christmas at Hycroft is a special Christmas market specializing in artisan products. The market is a fundraising craft fair that includes, gourmet treats, baked goods, jewelry, handmade clothing, art, and other items for sale. The event is currently open and will be running until December 13^th. The market this year is a little different though. While in previous years, guests could go to the location, pay for a ticket, and do all their Christmas shopping with delight, this year the shopping will be online. Hycroft canceled all in-person shopping due to the pandemic. Instead, pick-up will be available, and they accept up to 15 patrons per half hour. The delivery will be contactless to ensure safety.

New West Holiday Food & Craft Market

Image from Miss604

New West Holiday Food & Craft Market has the New West Farmer Market and New West Craft coming together to host the event. The event itself will take place over the weekend of Saturday, December 12^th, and Sunday, December 13^th. It will be in the New Westminster City Hall from 10 am to 4 pm, and admission will be by donation, but capacity will be limited. The event will have more than 40 food vendors and 40 crafty artisans each. Food and crafts will be on sale for the fundraising event, with free parking to boot.

Pacific Arts Market: Santa’s Workshop

Image from To Do Canada

The Pacific Arts Market: Santa’s Workshop will be a free event happening on December 20^th from 1 pm to 5 pm at the Pacific Arts Market in Vancouver. Santa Claus will be there, along with live music, games, art demos, crafts, and prizes. COVID-19 precautions will be in place, but the handmade art and gifts available will be worth putting on a mask to go see and buy. There should be plenty of talented artists who put their craft forward in the form of pottery, jewelry, weaves, leatherworks, woodworks, and more. The art demos will be live and featured by the artists themselves at the event.

Winter Solstice Lantern Festival

Image from CityMash.com

The Winter Solstice Lantern Festival this year will be the 27^th anniversary of the event. It will be free, with a $5 domination recommendation, and take place on Granville Island on Saturday, December 21^st. Two days prior, on the 19^th, there will be a pre-festival workshop from 11 am to 6 pm, also on Granville. The workshop will be free and will have participants create lanterns for the coming festival that they can take home. The festival itself will begin in the Granville Island Triangle square, after an hour of lantern sales and the Vancouver Morris Men, there will be a Carnival Band which will lead the procession to the festival activities. There will be a Labyrinth of Light, which has long been used for meditation, prayer, and sites of ritual. Over 600 pure beeswax candles will be present at the labyrinth for the Winter Solstice. The labyrinth will take place from 6 pm to 10 pm and will be paid for, the tickets will be $9 for anyone over 13, and anyone under 13 will enter for free. The tickets will be timed and are strongly recommended to be purchased online. There will be stories told about the festival told by the Ritual Shaughna Born. If you are interested, look for the lady in the top hat to learn about the ancient people and their epic and sometimes bloody stories to explain the loss of light. There will also be a circus-jazz orchestra present, community astronomer Bill Burnyeat to teach you about the sky in an inflatable planetarium, and award-winning violinist Michael Burnyeat.

Christmas in Kerrisdale

Image from Kid 101

Christmas in Kerrisdale this year will take place on December 5^th, 12^th, 19^th, and 23^rd, from noon to 5 pm. The Kerrisdale neighborhood in Vancouver’s west side will be festively decorated in the beautiful spirit of Christmas. There will be caroling, stores, horse-driven carriages, and Santa Claus walking around wishing everyone he sees a Merry Christmas. The neighborhood will be bristling with Holiday decorations, not to mention that there will also be free ice skating.

Weirdos Holiday Pop-up Shop

Image from To Do Canada

The Weirdos Holiday Pop-up Shop is a very weird shop indeed. It is not actually a shop though, it is a market, but due to the ongoing pandemic, it will just be a pop-up shop this year. In previous years, the market took place over a single weekend in December for guests to do all their strange holiday shopping. This year, it is a month-long event that has been open since November 19^th and will go until December 24^th. The shop is located on Broadway near the corner of Broadway and Vine and has room for about three customers at a time with social distancing in place. The pop-up is organized by Rachel Zottenburg, who when asked by Vancouver is Awesome in an interview what she would define as “weird” responds “To me, it’s always the stuff that not everybody is going to like. It’s the stuff that’s a little left of center, and often it has something that’s a little grotesque or abnormal or a little antique or a little strange or a little snarky or a little over-the-top silly”. The perfect place if you are feeling a little odd this holiday season.

There you go. Six Holiday events that are happening this year right here in Vancouver. There are quite a few shops, but some are to be admired as much as to be bought. If you do not fancy lots of holiday shopping or going out during the pandemic, then you can bundle up at home with some hot chocolate and some nice movies.