The story below is from our November/December 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
Slow down and savor the season with local holiday sights, sounds, tastes, touches and scents that awaken all five senses.
Courtesy of Explore Park
The immersive magic of Illuminights is the very definition of seasonal wide-eyed-wonder.
The holidays are nearly upon us, and for many, they’ll whiz by in a disorienting tangle of tinsel and lights. A solid 10 months of anticipation is suddenly a mere speck in our rear view mirror. How does this happen? A practice I turn to often when life starts moving at warp speed is: savoring. And nothing helps me to savor, or be fully present, quite like taking moments to stop, breathe deeply and tune into my five senses.
I guess you could call it a form of mindfulness. I just know that I’d rather not be a disheveled participant in rote traditions — my mind, always racing to the next thing on the schedule. Instead, I long to immerse myself fully into each experience with eyes (and ears and hands, etc.) wide open.
I hope some of the following local activities might inspire you to slow down and soak in the next several weeks with freshly awakened senses — helping you to arrive at the first of January with a heart full of rich memories and a soul that feels centered and at peace.
Sight
Ana Morales
Fashions for Evergreens at Hotel Roanoke showcases the imaginations and talent of area businesses and organizations. The public can also cast votes for their favorites to benefit charity.
This time of year is a veritable feast for the eyes!
For those who like to take in the sights via a casual stroll, I’d recommend Fashions for Evergreens at the Hotel Roanoke where dozens of area businesses sponsor and decorate elaborately themed trees to line the halls of the grand old lady. It is a display sure to delight both the young and the young at heart. Give yourself time to linger and really take in the intricacy of each thoughtful design!
If you’d like a slightly more mobile “sight” activity, I love the tradition of the Old Southwest Holiday Parlor Tour. Gracious hosts open their doors to the public who are greeted by an effusion of candlelight, generational collections, glitter and bows transforming these already stunning abodes into yuletide showstoppers. It’s almost sensory overload. But in the best kind of way.
Take the mobility level up a notch, and you’ll find the Annual Holiday Lights Tour, led in a community effort by PedalSafe ROA, Ride Solutions and Cardinal Bicycle. The gentle, family-friendly bike ride covers a four-mile route looping through one of the most festive neighborhoods in the city. An extra dose of fun comes in the form of participants donning their tackiest holiday attire for the ride (think: Ugly Sweater Party on Wheels)!
Sound
What is more universally recognizable than the first strains of beloved Christmas carols?
Area performances abound, and one of my favorites is typically held the Sunday following Thanksgiving, making it the perfect opportunity to usher in the season. Lessons and Carols, a concert given by the Roanoke College Choir, is held in the acoustically immersive sanctuary of St. Andrew’s Catholic Church.
Another classic is Handel’s Messiah. Whether you choose to participate in a sing-along experience, or allow yourself to take flight on the soaring melodies as a rapt member of the audience, Messiah is a centuries-old pillar of the season for so many around the world.
Bringing together a blend of old and new for the whole family is the perennial favorite: RSO’s Holiday Pops Concert — held at the Salem Civic Center. It taps into the perfect melange of joy and nostalgia that lives in our collective hearts this time of year!
Courtesy of Roanoke Symphony Orchestra
RSO’s Holiday Pops Concert offers a generous dose of pure holiday spirit.
Taste
No doubt your family has a favorite cookie recipe or two that you can’t wait to break out each December (mine are: buttery almond Spritz and Mexican Wedding Cakes!). But besides the baking aspect of the holidays, we all tend to indulge a bit more in decadently rich meals and merrily pop open our best wines to raise a toast with those we love.
If an evening of “taste” that whisks you back to a simpler time sounds appealing, Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest hosts Candlelight Holiday Wine Dinners in the third president’s welcoming country villa. The multi-course meal, expertly paired, is hosted by the man himself who regales guests with tales of Christmases long past.
To elevate your own personal dining/entertaining holiday experiences, consider hiring the services of local sommelier Ryan McFeely, owner of SML Fine Wines. The shop offers personalized wine tasting journeys in your own home or event venue. Wouldn’t that be a memorable activity to add to your annual party in lieu of another go-round of Secret Santa? SML Fine Wines can also help compile the perfect drinks list and/or pairing selections to go with your holiday feast. Consulting an expert to guide you will take all the stress out of curating the ubiquitous “something for everyone.”
Touch
One of my favorite new traditions is participating in a live wreath-making event with friends. I love this tactile, social experience that also happens to speak to our senses of sight and smell. It’s a great excuse to get the gang together in between company dinners and school concerts as you catch up and channel your inner Martha Stewart together. Bonus: you get to take your masterpiece home to enjoy for the duration of the season!
Several area businesses offer these types of workshops in December, including: Well Hung Winery, Barrel Chest and Fables & Feathers Winery. Check their Facebook pages or websites for exact dates and times.
Smell
Breathe deeply...ahhhhh! What do the holidays smell like to you? A scent that is woven throughout my childhood is a pillow filled with dried balsam needles that my mother made. Which, somehow, year after year, would always come out of storage smelling of a fresh northern conifer forest!
Immerse yourself in the nostalgic scent of pine by cutting down your own tree. We just so happen to have a round-up of area farms to help with your planning HERE!
Nothing encompasses so many of the scents of the season quite like a festival.
Roanoke’s beloved Dickens of a Christmas delivers in spades. Hot chocolate, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, fresh greenery for sale and more. Plus, a stroll (or a carriage ride — replete with the scent of horses and hay) through downtown during these nostalgic December nights will not disappoint.
Another all-encompassing moment can be found on a walk through Illuminights at Explore Park where you’ll see the lights and hear the accompanying music, smell the rich forest as you walk the winding pathway and the bubbling Brunswick stew and fresh kettle corn when you return to the vendor area. It is truly a full-bodied representation of the season if you only take the time to notice.
Whatever you choose to fill these festive months with, I hope I’ve encouraged you to slow down and soak them in through each one of your five senses. Allowing yourself the space to fully savor — and revel in — every delightful moment. Happy Holidays!
The story above is from our November/December 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!