With Christmas right around the corner, there’s no better time than now to get into the Christmas spirit! Here are 10 fun things to check off your Christmas bucket list before Santa Claus comes on Christmas Eve!

1) Go see Christmas light displays!

There’s nothing quite like driving around at nighttime, drinking hot cocoa, and looking at Christmas light displays put up by neighbors, friends, or just random strangers! Some people even have “The Best Christmas Display” competitions to add to the holiday fun!

A popular attraction to visit is Bright Nights, where an extreme light display is put up! Another cool place to go see is a house all decked out for Christmas and decorated, located right off the rotary in South Hadley, on West Summit Street. Cars can drive up in front off the house and watch a magical light display that corresponds to the music on 89.5FM, in the evening hours! It’s completely free but donations are accepted!

2) Listen to Christmas music and/or go sing Christmas carols!

C’mon you know the Christmas classics, Frosty the Snowman…Rudolph…Jingle Bells..! Go and share your holiday spirit by singing for your friends, family, and neighbors or just turn on your radio or Pandora to a Christmas station if singing’s not your thing!

3) Send a Christmas card to a soldier’s home or to someone in a nursing home!

While you’re having fun with your family and friends this holiday season, consider taking some time out of your busy schedule and send a holiday greeting card to someone lonely in a nursing home or soldier’s home. Spreading holiday cheer can be as easy as writing or drawing a Christmas card and sending it in the mail or delivering it! After all, Christmas is about giving!

4) Have a Christmas Movie Marathon!

With hundreds of great Christmas movies out today, like Home Alone, which is the top-grossing Christmas movie, Elf, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, etc. you have many options of movies to choose to include in your Christmas movie marathon! Watching movies is a great way to bond with family and others close to you. Just grab a bowl of popcorn, some blankets, and a few movies and you’re set!

5) Decorate a gingerbread house!

Not much beats buying tons of bags of candy and using them to decorate walls of gingerbread! You can find recipes online to make gingerbread to use for the walls of the house or you can buy pre-cooked gingerbread kits at the store! Either way, gingerbread houses are so fun to decorate and also serve as great decorations! If you don’t want to make a gingerbread house, but would rather go take a look at some cool ones, the Springfield Museum have their annual Gingerbread Exhibit running through December 31st!

6) Go on a trip to Yankee Candle!

During the Christmas season, Yankee Candle, in South Deerfield, is all decorated for Christmas and is a great place to go on a day trip with your family! It has a “Santa’s Toyshop,” where Santa can be found along with his elves up on the wall, counting down the day until Christmas. You can stroll through the Bavarian Christmas Village and the Nutcracker Castle!

It also has a room where it snows every few minutes! You can catch up on your holiday shopping, while having fun! Voted the World’s Best Christmas shop, it’s hard not to get in the Christmas spirit when you’re there!

7) Attend “Christmas by Candlelight” at Old Sturbridge Village!

Ending December 20th, take advantage of this fun event while you can! At the “Christmas by Candlelight” event, you can visit with Santa Claus and Father Christmas, learn about favorite holiday traditions, experience a Christmas dinner, view various displays, and even go for a sleigh ride!

8) Take a hand at baking some Christmas cookies or other fun holiday treats!

There are tons of different holiday treats you could make during the Christmas season! Take a hand at making some holiday fudge, cookies, or other goodies to get into the Christmas spirit!

9) Get an elf-on-the-shelf and see where the elf ends up everyday and what kind of mischief he or she gets into!

Just make sure to be good when the elfs around…cause he reports back to Santa!

10) Attend a holiday concert or play!

Many theaters and halls around are getting into the Christmas spirit by putting on plays or Christmas concerts. For example, on December 23th, at the Academy of Music Theatre, in Northampton, the Joan Holliday’s Holiday Hootenanny: Sweetback Sisters’ Country Christmas Sing-a-Long Spectacular will take place! Also, on weekdays in December, at noon, in Tower Square in Springfield, various choirs and bands perform and sing Christmas songs to provide entertainment for people and get them in the Christmas mood.