Jingle All the Way To Rome's 'Christmas In The City'

Looking for some free good old fashioned family Christmas fun? Look no further than Christmas In The City.

Life Church of Rome is hosting a free event for the whole family, “Christmas in the City,” December 8th and December 9th from 5PM - 8PM at their location at 1110 Black River Blvd in Rome. Two days of classic Christmas fun, close to home for you to enjoy.

You'll be able to enjoy horse-drawn wagon rides, live nativity and animals, an interactive Christmas village, live music and Christmas caroling, indoor Christmas market, free donuts and hot cocoa, plenty of free door prizes, a food truck, and more.

Inside the church you’ll be welcomed into the wonderful Christmas market with live music and the aroma of hot mulled cider and Christmas cookies. The market is made up of local artisans, makers, growers, and more, all providing a delightful shopping experience for your holiday gift-giving.

Then, as you enter the outdoor Christmas city, you'll immediately be immersed in the sights and sounds of the season. You'll hear the story of Christmas as you walk through the interactive village, enjoying free hot cocoa and donuts. Join in with the caroling, take pictures with the live nativity animals, and enjoy a ride through the city on the free horse-drawn wagon rides.

This event is a free gift from the church to the entire community. All are welcome, all ages as well. Be sure to cozy up by the fire while you take it all in and experience the true meaning of Christmas.

Winter Festivals and Carnivals Can Be Found All Over the Adirondack Region This Season

This gallery will be the first one which will take a look at winter carnivals and festivals held during this season in the various regions of Upstate New York. This gallery looks at the Adirondack Region. Other regions will follow. It is our intention that by checking out these galleries our readers can form a festival calendar ahead of the actual dates so they can plan with their family accordingly. Please note that there will be some festivals that have not announced their dates or event activities at the time of this publication. But we wanted you to know about them and urge you to keep checking back for when things get updated.

Each carnival or festival has a direct link to the its website or Facebook page.

The Adirondacks, while buzzing with campers, tourists, and outdoor sports lovers in the summer, is actually quite alive in the winter. Of course, ski season brings a whole new crowd of happy folks to the several ski slopes in our region. Snowmobiliers, too, can be seen buzzing around the forested lands in the High Peaks in ever growing numbers every year.

The little villages of this region, from Inlet to Long Lake and others have holiday events that you might want to put on your winter bucket list! (And we have even reached out a little farther north to Alexandria Bay to highlight their winter festival).

Look for future galleries focus on winter celebrations in Central New York., Finger Lakes, Western New York, Catskills, and Hudson Valley.

Gallery Credit: Chuck D'Imperio

The Mohawk Valley Is Home to Upstate New York's Best Christmas Store!

There are hundreds of stores, from craft shops to big box stores and to pop-up shops, that will feature Christmas items for sale this season. There is a small village in Montgomery County (population 2,000) that in our opinion has the best Christmas shop of them all.

Lee's Shops at Wagner Square is an amazing place in the Mohawk Valley. The store actually combines three large historic buildings on Main Street to connect into one exciting 8,500 square foot Christmas Mall. With more than 45,000 items on display it is no wonder that visitors come from around the Northeast to visit and shop for the holiday season here each year. Recently, several large motor coaches companies have put these Christmas shops on their "must see" shopping trips for their bus companies.

See what makes this place so magical in the post below.

Gallery Credit: Chuck D'Imperio

10 Small Central New York Villages and Why We Love Them!

This gallery is a series of snapshots of 10 beautiful and very small Central New York villages that have a great story to them. They cover communities in six different CNY counties.

Gallery Credit: Chuck D'Imperio