Grapevine Is the Christmas Capital of Texas® — 1,400 Events, 40 Days, and One Very Full Calendar

We went to Grapevine last Christmas with modest expectations. A cute Texas town, some lights, a train — how much Christmas can one place hold? By the end of our first evening on Main Street, Scott was doing the math out loud, and Elaine was taking pictures of a tree roughly the size of a courthouse. The answer, it turns out, is: all of it. Grapevine is the Christmas Capital of Texas®, and this year the town is staging more than 1,400 events over 40 days. We will be back in the Metroplex for Christmas week, and we have been studying the Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau’s 2026 guide the way we study a wine list — slowly, and with intent. Here is what has us circling dates.

It Starts with a Turkey Getting a Pardon

Only in Grapevine does the Christmas season officially open with a mayor saving a turkey. On Monday, November 23 at 10:00 a.m., Mayor William D. Tate pardons Tom T. Turkey at Nash Farm, and that night the 38th Annual Carol of Lights (4:00–8:00 p.m.) takes over Historic Main Street — bounce houses, Santa’s Race Track, and a Frozen FunZone with a three-lane snow hill. Snow. In Texas. We approve of any town willing to truck in winter.

Two more dates for the calendar: the 47th Annual Parade of Lights on Thursday, December 3 at 7:00 p.m., with more than 100 lighted floats rolling down Main Street under the theme Christmas Miracle on Main Street, and the 6th Annual Merry & Bright Drone Show on Monday, December 7 at 7:00 p.m., when 600 drones draw Christmas pictures in the sky. Last year it was the street itself that stopped us — block after block of lights and storefronts done up like somebody’s grandmother was judging them. The drones are just showing off, and we are here for it.

The Train We Keep Talking About

Ask either of us what defines a Grapevine Christmas and we will say the same word: trains. Santa’s North Pole Express runs the Grapevine Vintage Railroad from Friday, November 27 through Wednesday, December 30 (closed December 3, 24 and 25), with singalongs, Santa and his elves on board, and Mrs. Claus holding court during boarding at 705 S. Main Street. It is sweet without being saccharine, and it sells out like it.

And because we are who we are: the railroad’s adults-only Christmas Wine Trains pour seasonal Texas wines aboard the same vintage cars. The guide lists them at capacity for the 2026 season — November 20, December 10 and 17 — so if you ever see a seat open, do not think, just book. Little engineers, meanwhile, get Train-A-Palooza, the Christmas model train show, December 5–6 at the Convention Center ($10; kids and Scouts in uniform free).

Two Million Pounds of Ice (and a Santa in Scuba Gear)

The Gaylord Texan goes all in with ICE! featuring Harry Potter™, November 13 through January 3, carving more than two million pounds of ice into scenes from the wizarding world, with ice tubing, a gingerbread corner, and an Elf Training Academy around it as part of Lone Star Christmas. Great Wolf Lodge answers with Snowland (November 23 – January 5) — singalongs, indoor snowfall, dance parties — plus the lodge’s 84-degree water park for anyone whose Christmas spirit runs warm.

Our kind of afternoon is the Peace Plaza Ice Rink, the largest outdoor rink in North Texas, where you skate under Grapevine’s towering live Christmas tree (November 21 – January 5, closed Thanksgiving and Christmas Day; $20 an hour, skates included). One of us skates gracefully. The other holds the rail and provides commentary. Both approaches are fully supported.

Also new this year: Christmas at Dig World, where guests climb onto real heavy machinery in a construction wonderland and Construction Santa poses for photos December 18–24 (day passes from $30). Add LEGOLAND’s Holiday Bricktacular (December 3–31, from $21.99), a Scuba Diving Santa at SEA LIFE Aquarium (Saturdays, December 5, 12 and 19 at 11:00 a.m. — he will let you know if you have been naughty or nice), and free Santa photos at Bass Pro Shops’ Santa’s Wonderland, and the grandkids’ itinerary writes itself.

Nights at the Palace

The Historic Palace Theatre is the gem of Main Street — a restored art-deco room that would be worth the trip empty — and Grapevine fills it all season. The tribute calendar reads like a jukebox of our lives: Dean Martin & Friends (November 14), a Frank Sinatra Christmas Tribute (November 29), The BIG BAND Holiday Swing Thing! (December 4), Ricki Derek’s A Merry Little Christmas Show (December 5), an Elvis Christmas Special (December 6), a Beach Boys Christmas tribute (December 11–12), A Grapevine Opry Christmas (December 13), the Texas Tenors (December 15–17), and a Red Dirt comedy Christmas show on December 19. The North Central Ballet’s Nutcracker – Short and Sweet plays November 21–22, tea party with the Sugar Plum Fairy included if you are smart, and the Runway Theatre stages The Best Christmas Pageant Ever on select dates December 4–20 ($22–$25).

Then there is our favorite bargain in Texas: the Palace’s classic Christmas movies are $10 a ticket. Miracle on 34th Street, Elf, Home Alone, A Christmas Carol, Meet Me in St. Louis, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Muppet Christmas Carol, A Christmas Story, White Christmas, Christmas Vacation — and yes, Die Hard, December 30, in case your household is still litigating that question. At ten dollars in a theatre like this, we would go twice. We might.

Now, the Part We Plan Around: Eating and Drinking

We are sommeliers. We schedule accordingly. Top of our list is Winter Wonderland Bubbles on Hotel Vin’s North Lawn (November 13 – February 14): a 90-minute sparkling-wine experience with cozy Pendleton touches, right beside the railroad tracks. Close behind, Winestein’s Tasting Room hosts Bubbles, Brunch and Munch on November 28 ($69) — Cava, Crémant, Champagne and friends, paired with charcuterie and brunch favorites, with a proper explanation of what makes each sparkler itself. That is our love language.

At Messina Hof Grapevine Winery, the season gets playful: Ho Ho Homicide, an immersive murder-mystery dinner where you are handed a character (December 18, $75), and the one with our names written all over it — A Very Merry Christmas Cookie & Wine Pairing, five cookies matched to five Messina Hof wines, Saturday, December 19, 1:00–3:00 p.m., $42. We will be in town. We have opinions about cookie pairings already, and we have not even tasted them yet. The Texas Star Dinner Theater runs its own mystery, No Home for the Holidays, November 20 – December 27 ($70.95), if you like your dinner theatre with a body count.

For a nightcap, the Holly Jolly Pop-Up Bar at Third Rail in Harvest Hall pours Christmas cocktails with live entertainment (November 20 – January 3), and out on Lake Grapevine, Bad Santa’s Boathouse turns Big Daddy’s Cantina into a waterfront “naughty and nice” pop-up (Tuesdays–Sundays, November 6 – December 26; reservations encouraged). Naughty and nice, in one bar, on a lake. Texas understands range.

Daytime sweetness is covered too: gingerbread house classes at JudyPie ($65 with kit, icing, hot chocolate, and a cookie — the pie shop’s reputation precedes it), scratch-made hot chocolate at Dr. Sue’s Hot Chocolate Bar (November 27 – December 23, 3:00–6:00 p.m., $5.75), and Christmas Cookies and Coffee Flight Boards at RE:defined Coffee House from November 27 through Christmas. A flight board for cookies and coffee. Somebody in Grapevine thinks like we do.

Made by Hand, the Old-Fashioned Way

The souvenirs we still have from trips are never the ones we bought — they are the ones we made badly and kept anyway. Grapevine understands this too. At Vetro Glassblowing Studio, you choose your colors and blow your own glass snowman or ornament at a 2,000-degree furnace (November 11 – January 2, $70, reservations required). Porcelain ornament making runs at the International Porcelain Artists Museum ($10, or $15 kiln-fired), and the Lancaster Theatre pairs classic cartoons with crafts at 25 Cartoons & Crafts sessions ($8 kids, $4 adults, popcorn included).

Our soft spot is Historic Nash Farm. Prairie Christmas (December 4) strings popcorn garlands and paper chains; Victorian Christmas (December 12) fills the farm with 19th-century music, crafts, and treats; and A Handmade Christmas (December 15–31) bakes old-fashioned cookies at an 1892 wood-burning stove. It is the quiet counterweight to the drones and the drone-sized tree, and it is the Grapevine we find ourselves describing to people months later. Shoppers can add the Christmas in Grapevine Craft Show (November 28–29, 90+ vendors, $5; children and military free) and the open-air Grapevine Christmas Market (November 27 – December 30, closed December 24–25). There is even a Christmas escape room — Rudolph’s Gift at Grapevine Escape, November 9 – January 6, from $34.99 — for families who cooperate best under mild pressure.

One Street, Six Santas

Main Street at Christmas is a photo walk with a plot: the historic log cabins dressed for the season, larger-than-life toys at Toyland in Liberty Park Plaza, Candy Cane Lane with its Coca-Cola polar bears, the Town Square Gazebo and its new tree — peek inside the drum at its base for the little train running there — a Nativity scene, and the Singing Snowmen performing nightly from 5:30 p.m. The Hometown Christmas exhibition (November 27 – January 5, $3) recreates a small-town holiday indoors, and over it all stands the town’s live Christmas tree, shipped down from the Pacific Northwest to preside over Peace Plaza.

Santa, meanwhile, keeps office hours all over town — Bass Pro Shops, the Gaylord Texan, Grapevine Mills, the depot, Main Street Santa, and Construction Santa at Dig World. Six Santas. In Las Vegas we have a hundred Elvises; in Grapevine, they do it with Santas, and honestly, theirs is better.

What We Would Tell Our Best Friends

Practical notes, because we love you: park free at the Grapevine Convention Center and ride the free shuttle, or take the TEXRail from DFW Airport’s North station — $4 round trip, $2 for seniors — straight into Grapevine Main Station. Main Street closes to traffic for long stretches of the season, including December 18 through December 28, so during Christmas week, park once and walk. Dates, times, and prices can change, so check GrapevineTexasUSA.com before you go.

Our own Christmas week is already taking shape: the Messina Hof cookie-and-wine pairing on the 19th, a ten-dollar classic at the Palace, a skate under the big tree (one graceful, one commentating), the Christmas Market while it is still open, and at least one slow evening doing nothing but walking Main Street under the lights, the way we ended up doing last year without planning to. That is the thing about Grapevine. You come for the 1,400 events. You remember the one street.

Event details from the Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Writer’s Quick Reference Guide to the Christmas Capital of Texas® 2026 — thank you to Elizabeth Schrack and the CVB team. Full calendar at GrapevineTexasUSA.com.