On Friday, November 20, at 6 p.m., The Acorn lights a giant Christmas tree in front of 411 Mosby Avenue for the first time. Children from Littleton Academy will perform, hot cocoa will be served, and carriage rides will run through Littleton before the tree goes on. The night opens what the venue calls an expanded Christmas at The Acorn season. It runs about a month and draws on almost every kind of local institution Littleton has.
Taken together, this season's calendar turns the old Littleton High School building into the place where the town's Christmas happens. A school performs there, churches and businesses decorate it, a Lizard Creek Road baker teaches in it, and area nonprofits raise money from its ticket sales.
A school building that kept its school
The Acorn is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit performing arts venue with a 300-seat auditorium. It serves Littleton and the greater Lake Gaston region. The building and grounds were part of the former Littleton High School. In 2019 the Ed Fitts Charitable Foundation bought and renovated them to revitalize the community through an arts center, as RRSpin reported in May 2024. That same spring, The Acorn moved into the space. For years the address had belonged to the Lakeland Cultural Arts Center Theatre company. The Acorn now leases, manages and operates it as The Acorn Center of Littleton. Lakeland kept the rights to its own name and shifted its focus to community theater and outreach.
The name ties the building back to its school days. Littleton Academy, the former Littleton High School, has the Blue Jay as its mascot and, per the venue's story, the acorn as the Blue Jay's favorite food. So when Littleton Academy children sing on November 20, they are performing in front of a building named for their own mascot's snack. The site also has the Ed Fitts Outdoor Amphitheatre with lawn seating, which hosts the outdoor shows on The Acorn's calendar.
Opening weekend, November 20 and 21
Here is how the first two days of the season fit together:
- Friday, November 20, 6 p.m.: Acorn Christmas Tree Lighting. Littleton Academy performers, hot cocoa, carriage rides through Littleton, and the lighting of the giant tree in front of The Acorn. The event page links to tickets through Etix but lists no price, so check the listing before you head over.
- Friday, November 20: Festival of Trees opens. It stays up inside The Acorn through December 18.
- Saturday, November 21, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.: FREE Evergreen Vendor Market. More than 30 local vendors plus food trucks. The venue bills it as rain or shine.
The tree lighting and the vendor market land back to back on a Friday and a Saturday. That makes the weekend before Thanksgiving an easy one to spend in town. Holiday shopping at 30-plus local tables the morning after the tree lighting is a short drive for anyone around the lake.
The Festival of Trees is decorated by the town
The Festival of Trees shows the community side of the season most clearly. Area churches, businesses and nonprofit organizations each design a themed tree, and the trees go on display throughout The Acorn. Visitors vote for their favorites, and the top three trees win prizes, according to RRSpin's September 28 report on the season. The display runs about four weeks. You can see it on a concert night, while waiting on a cookie class, or on the afternoon your kids visit Santa.
The money side follows the same idea. The Acorn is bringing back its Share the Joy campaign. Area nonprofits can sell tickets to any Acorn event this holiday season and keep $5 for every ticket sold. Executive director Elizabeth Branham explained the reason for bringing it back to RRSpin:
"Share the Joy was such a success last year, and we wanted to bring it back again this season because it's a simple way for us to help support the nonprofits doing great work in our community."
Organizations that want to take part can call The Acorn box office at 252-586-3124. If you belong to a civic club, church group or booster organization, buying your concert tickets through that group sends $5 per seat back to it.
December, show by show
One craft class on November 3 comes before the tree lighting. After opening weekend, the calendar moves indoors to the auditorium. Most December dates are concerts, plus a cookie class and a family afternoon. Prices below are as listed on The Acorn's events calendar in mid-October and may change.
| Date | Event | Time | Listed price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tue, Nov 3 | Christmas Craft Class | 6 p.m. | $45 |
| Tue, Dec 1 | Michelle Malone and The Hot Toddies | Doors 6:30, show 7:30 p.m. | $56.15 |
| Thu, Dec 3 | Good Shot Judy's "A Crooner's Christmas" featuring The Satin Dollz | Doors 6:30, show 7:30 p.m. | $45.25 to $46.15 |
| Sat, Dec 5 | Christmas with Elvis Starring Matt Lewis | 7:30 p.m. | $49.88 |
| Tue, Dec 8 | Christmas Cookie Decorating Class | 6 p.m. | $25.31 |
| Thu, Dec 10 | Christmas with The Embers featuring Craig Woolard | 7:30 p.m. | $29.65 |
| Sun, Dec 13 | Cookies with Santa | 2 to 4 p.m. | See listing |
| Sun, Dec 13 | The Polar Express Movie Experience | Doors 4, show 4:30 p.m. | $10.10 to $15.02 |
Christmas with The Embers on December 10 is the lowest-priced evening concert on the list. The December 13 pairing makes the most complete family afternoon. Cookies with Santa includes story time, photos with Santa, reindeer food stations, crafts, and a North Pole mailbox for children's letters. The movie follows right after. RRSpin printed a 4 p.m. start, while the venue calendar lists doors at 4 and the show at 4:30. Plan around the earlier time and you'll be fine.
The cookie class comes from Lizard Creek Road
The December 8 class has one of the most local links on the calendar. It's taught by Chef Jennifer Garner of the Jenny Cakes at the Lake bakery. Jenny Cakes is at 386 Lizard Creek Road in Littleton and offers baked goods and bakery classes of its own. The one-hour Acorn session covers four Christmas-shaped sugar cookies, supplies and instruction, and you leave with a box to carry them home. At $25.31, it's the lowest-priced ticketed night on the December calendar aside from the movie.
The town parade already lines up out front
The Acorn's season adds to Lake Gaston's older holiday traditions. Neither of the two best-known ones has posted a 2026 date yet. Their most recent schedules give a sense of the timing, and it also shows how naturally the new tree lighting fits.
The Lake Gaston Holiday Flotilla is organized by the Lake Gaston Regional Chamber of Commerce. Its most recent listing put it on November 29. Lineup was at 5 p.m., the parade started at 5:30, and boats traveled from Eaton Ferry Marina at 1865 Eaton Ferry Road to WatersView Restaurant at 2107 Eaton Ferry Road, according to the Daily Herald's community calendar. In past years Santa has headlined the flotilla from a boat, and the Chamber has taken entry questions at 252-586-5711, as the Lake Gaston Gazette-Observer reported.
The Littleton Christmas Parade stepped off at 11 a.m. on December 6, 2025, with no entry fee. Participants had to call 252-586-6828 to reserve a lineup spot. Last year's lineup started at 10 a.m. on Mosby Avenue next to the Acorn Center. The parade then went north to the stoplight, turned right onto East North Main Street, and continued to the Littleton Volunteer Fire Department, per the Gazette-Observer.
So the town parade was already gathering on the curb in front of the building where the new tree now stands. If this year's parade keeps that route, Littleton will have a lit tree at its starting line for the first time. Watch the Chamber and the Town of Littleton for this year's flotilla and parade dates as December gets closer.
If you'd like to talk about what a home near Mosby Avenue or on the water is worth this season, The Watson Group works in Littleton year-round, and Scott serves on the Lake Gaston Regional Chamber board. We'll give you a straight answer with no pressure. Get your free Lake Gaston home valuation, and then go enjoy the tree lighting.
