Fun in Philly for Christmas Eve and Hanukkah

A lot of Philadelphia families are going to be feeling festive this Saturday, when Christmas Eve coincides with the first night of Hanukkah. It’ll be a great night to check out Philly’s excellent crop of holiday light shows and winter celebrations, plus the eighth annual Moo Shu Jew Show at Chinatown’s Ocean Harbor Restaurant.

Keeping warm

If you’re willing to leave the house provided you can stay inside, there’ll be plenty to see on December 24, if you haven’t already checked out these regional holiday favorites. There’s the Comcast Holiday Spectacular, with 15-minute showings on the Center City skyscraper’s Comcast Experience LED video wall, which is over 83 feet wide and 25 feet tall. It’s drawn over 1.5 million people since it debuted in 2008, and this year the show includes a high-def, larger-than-life excerpt of the Pennsylvania Ballet’s Nutcracker. See it on Christmas Eve at the top of every hour from 10am-8pm.

Just a few blocks east, there’s also the Christmas Light Show and Wanamaker Organ Concert, a Macy’s tradition for more than 50 years. The light show (with over 100,000 LED lights and a Christmas tree with a colorful crop of 34,500 lights) happens daily at 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, and 8pm, and the finale of the noon show features live music from the Wanamaker Grand Organ. While you’re there, check out the 6,000-square-foot Dickens Village on the famous store’s third floor, recreating favorite moments of A Christmas Carol with animated figures.

Meanwhile, model train enthusiasts shouldn’t miss the Reading Terminal Holiday Railroad, and while the kids and adult train addicts are engrossed, do you need any last-minute specialty ingredients or treats for the weekend’s holiday dinners? Each year, Reading Terminal Market somehow crams in a 500-square-foot display with 17 tiny train lines on almost a third of a mile of track. Catch it on December 24 (and daily through December 31) starting at 10am.

Fun outside

There’s plenty to do outside, too. Christmas Eve is a fun time to head down to Winterfest at Penn’s Landing, celebrating 23 years of ice skating and four years of the Winterfest landscape, with cabins, fire pits, arcade games, and food and drinks for all. It’ll be open on Christmas Eve from 1-8:30pm. (Bad Santa will be screening as part of Winterfest’s 12 Days of Christmas movie nights.) For skating in Center City, there’s also the Rothman Ice Rink at Dilworth Park. It’s open 11am-7pm on December 24.

And this year’s Christmas Village is next door in the City Hall courtyard. December 24 is your last chance to shop this European-inspired outdoor holiday market. It’s open Christmas Eve from 11am-5pm, with live music onstage from 12-5pm. Santa will be roving the market, too.

Need more lights? The Franklin Square Holiday Festival is nearby, too, with its Electrical Spectacle light show’s 50,000 lights (and don’t forget its winter beer garden). It features two alternating light shows, with a soundtrack from the Philly Pops, every 30 minutes through December 31. On December 24, those will run from 4:30-8pm. And for cozy DIY neighborhood flavor, the Miracle on South 13th Street, just a few minutes south to Tasker-Morris on the Broad Street Line, is sure to be hopping the night before Christmas. Themes range from Disney to A Christmas Story to the Netflix hit Stranger Things.

Moo Shu Jew Show

That night, the holidays land in Chinatown, with the Moo Shu Jew Show at Race Street’s Ocean Harbor Restaurant — the perfect way to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah. The Gershman Y’s annual dinner and comedy showcase sells out every year. Co-produced with comic Cory Kahaney, the event features star turns from Julie Goldman, Avi Liberman, and Josh Gondelman. Their credits range from The Sopranos, The Mindy Project, Joan Rivers’s Fashion Police, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

“The spirit of Moo Shu is about community,” says Kahaney. “Because Christmas Eve is not our holiday, we make it about our culture and use it as an excuse to party. It’s a rare chance for all Jews, regardless of their affiliation or level of observance, to get together and enjoy the one thing we can agree on, Jewish humor (and Chinese food).” The Moo Shu Jew Show happens Saturday night from 6-10pm.

Advance tickets are $75 ($85 at the door, if they last). The non-kosher menu does have vegetarian options. Tickets are available online or by calling 215-545-4400.

At right: Julie Goldman will perform at the Moo Shu Jew Show. (Image courtesy of the Gershman Y)