An eagerly awaited holiday tradition, the Butterworth Center's and Deere-Wiman House's 19th Century Christmas event returns on December 3 with familiar treats and a brand-new one, as patrons are invited to test elements of a self-guided tour that will allow guests to interact with 19th Century rooms and objects in a 21st Century way.

Our area's seasonal chill will be offset by some Caribbean heat when steel-pan sensation John Patti brings his Calyp-Soul Christmas to Davenport's Redstone Room on December 7, a night of holiday-themed “island jazz” boasting vocals by award-winning singer/songwriter Jenn Bostic.

Richard and Karen Carpenter's 1978 Christmas Portrait resides comfortably Billboard's top-25 list of bestselling holiday albums, and on December 3, the unforgettable sounds of iconic pop duo the Carpenters will fill the Adler Theatre when tribute artist Lisa Rock headlines the seasonal celebration A Carpenters Christmas.

An independent-minded heroine, a 1980s-themed Royal Ball, a man in a dress, and a six-foot-three-inch actor playing a character named “Pipsqueak” are among the delights lined up for St. Ambrose University's family production Cinderella, an updated take on the classic fairytale by local playwright Roger Pavey.

One of America's most acclaimed talents will be the special guest in the Quad City Symphony Orchestra's third Masterworks concerts of the season, as the ensemble's Postcards from Scandinavia program gets an added burst of heat courtesy of award-winning pianist Charlie Albright.

If you saw Wonder over the weekend – and based on the film's unexpectedly massive box office, a bunch of you likely did – you may have seen it alongside a hefty number of elementary- and middle-school students. If so, I hope you experienced this family melodrama the way I did during my sold-old screening: hearing, with immense gratitude, a young crowd cheer and applaud a cineplex entertainment that wasn't a superhero epic, a Disney reboot, a Pixar animation, or anything that involved robots transforming into cars.

Talk to anyone over 40, and most will tell you they think and feel as if they are still in their thirties. This is borne out every time the Night People announce a reunion concert in the Quad Cities and droves of fans turn out for the event.

Following the success of its 2015 family comedy Fancy Nancy: The Musical, Circa '21 presents another stage adventure with author Jane O'Connor's famed children's-book character in Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas, a holiday-themed musical that inspired praise from the New York Times: “What makes Splendiferous Christmas winning is that it dares to be a little naughty as well as nice.”