Every year, Chris and Jill Van Hoewyk of Chesterfield County place a menagerie of inflatable holiday figures in their front yard: Santa, Mickey Mouse in a Santa suit clutching a “Merry Christmas” ornament and a pair of penguins on a sled.

Two weeks before Thanksgiving, Bruce Kern began hitting up all of his friends with vans. It takes quite a fleet to transport 97 large Rubbermaid boxes containing 2,500 Christmas ornaments from a storage unit on Brook Road to Kern’s home on Hanover Avenue in Richmond’s Fan District. SLIDESHOW: Bruce Kern’s “problem” with Christmas

Delicate blown-glass ornaments, expensive collectibles, precious objects that have been in the family for years, children’s handmade treasures. Are you giving your tree décor the loving care it deserves or do you just toss everything in a cardboard box when the holidays are over? Here are some options for properly storing ornaments:

Families cherish their cookie-baking traditions during the holiday season.  Watch a video our newsroom chefs mak easy holiday cookies.

Even Santa Claus might be awed by the volume of packages going through the U.S. Postal Service’s Richmond processing center yesterday. The Monday before the week of Christmas is typically the busiest mailing day of the year.

Ebenezer Scrooge and “The Santaland Diaries” starting to seem like the same old, same old? Deja vu might not be a problem at the Firehouse Theatre Project’s holiday show: “A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant.“

Tuckahoe is a working plantation that includes a circa-1733 house, the schoolhouse where Thomas Jefferson studied as a youth, original outbuildings, 600-plus acres and a spectacular view of the James River. Yet it’s not what most Richmonders think of when they hear “Tuckahoe.“ SLIDESHOW: Tuckahoe Plantation Holiday Tour

Historic Petersburg Foundation’s 31st annual homes tour takes place Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. The Christmas event, “The Homes on Westover Avenue,“ features seven open houses and refreshments (2 to 4 p.m.) at Christ & Grace Episcopal Church, with music by Appomattox Regional Governor’s School students. Tickets are $25. Sale locations are: Historic Petersburg Foundation, Java Mio, Petersburg Visitors Center, Joyner Paint & Frame, Palmore Decorating Center, River’s Edge, Laine’s Paint & Frame and Windows & Walls.

Yuletides at Agecroft Hall, a free Christmas open house at the re-created Tudor estate, will be held from 12:30 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Agecroft, 4305 Sulgrave Road. The occasion will feature a look at the Christmas season from three eras: England in 1640, London in 1850 and Richmond in 1946. As part of the event, holiday foods from the eras will be on display, and a Sweet Shoppe will be set up for visitors to purchase gingerbread, sugar mice, humbug mints and similar treats. Spicy cider will be served on the back lawn.

A woman who wrote to the Richmond Christmas Mother Fund asking for help for her family of six said that her husband lost his job during the summer and her income has been cut in half. While her husband studied to get his commercial driver’s license and began training for a new job, the family depended mainly on her income, and the bills piled up.

Only weeks before Christmas and all through the house
All the creatures were frantic, including the mouse.

George Frederic Handel’s “Messiah” received one of its better Richmond readings under the direction of Richmond Symphony conductor Mark Russell Smith at Second Baptist Church on Friday night.

As the intermittent cold rain fell, the Harmon family purposefully groomed Dempsey and Karry, their prized Belgian draft horses, for a historic day in the nation’s capital. Inside the harness area, Sue Harmon sprayed hair polish and detangler on the horses’ manes before gently brushing them. “It will make them nice and shiny,“ said Sue, wearing a heavy coat and scarf to shield her from the wintry weather.

“It’s a festival of hope.“ Sam Shaw and his wife, Rita, came with friends to watch Richmond’s 24th Annual Grand Illumination at the James Center, and he wasn’t disappointed.

Which is more environmentally correct—chopping down a live tree or putting up a fake one? It depends on which expert you ask.