Glen Ellyn Has Two Santa Mailboxes This Year, and They Don't Close on the Same Day

Two red mailboxes will take letters to the North Pole in Glen Ellyn this season. One stands outside the Spring Avenue Recreation Center at 185 Spring Avenue and belongs to the Glen Ellyn Park District. The other goes up downtown on the northeast corner of Main Street and Crescent Boulevard and comes from the Alliance of Downtown Glen Ellyn and the Glen Ellyn Chamber of Commerce. The Park District's listing says plainly that the two are separate programs.

They also run on different schedules, and the whole season works that way. Three organizations each keep their own holiday calendar: the Park District, the downtown Alliance and Chamber, and the Glen Ellyn Public Library. The Park District's calendar starts first and ends first. A household that waits until Santa lights the downtown tree on November 27 has already missed most of the Spring Avenue window.

The Spring Avenue box closes before the downtown box opens its second week

Both mailboxes need a clear return address on the envelope for Santa to write back. The downtown box adds a signed photo to Santa's reply, according to the Alliance's events calendar. On Monday, December 14, it goes back to the North Pole "until next Christmas."

The Spring Avenue box has fewer open days than its date range suggests, because the building's hours shape when you can stop by. The recreation center is closed November 26 and 27 for Thanksgiving, open only 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, November 28, closed Sunday, November 29, and open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the other days. If you wait until after the tree lighting, you get one Saturday morning and five weekdays. Families who want to write the letter on site can pick up forms, envelopes and stickers there during regular hours.

The first holiday deadlines come before Halloween is cleaned up

Downtown's ticketed events go on sale weeks before anything is lit, and two of them won't sell tickets at the door.

Ladies Night Out runs two Thursdays, November 5 and 12, from 5 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $22, and each covers five 3-ounce tastings, non-alcoholic drinks, bites, and the deals at more than 20 participating stores. The Alliance's event page says no tickets will be sold the night of the event, and sales close at midnight the night before. When you buy, you pick the store where you'll check in for your wristband and program. After that it is an open house, with drinks kept inside the shops. It is a 21+ event.

Tickets for two December events go on sale Sunday, November 1, according to the Alliance calendar. One is the Illuminated Concert on December 5 and the other is the Ugly Sweater Dine Around on Wednesday, December 9. For the Dine Around, you check in at a first restaurant, pick up a light-up necklace and program, and spend the rest of the night at the other participating restaurants, which offer discounted bites and drinks.

The Park District has one more pre-Thanksgiving date that needs registration. Sensory-friendly Santa photos are Monday, November 23, at 185 Spring Avenue. They are free, and families get assigned time slots between 3 and 6 p.m.

Thanksgiving week puts all three calendars on back-to-back days

For about 36 hours over Thanksgiving, all three organizers have events running.

1. Thursday, Nov. 26, 8 a.m. The Park District's Turkey Trot 4-Mile Run starts at Lake Ellyn Park, 645 Lenox Road. It is free with no registration. It is also a prediction run, so timing devices aren't allowed on the course.
2. Friday, Nov. 27, 2 to 4 p.m. The library hosts holiday music in the second-floor east atrium at 500 Duane St.
3. Friday, Nov. 27, 6 p.m. Santa lights the tree from a fire truck at 460 Main St.
4. 6:15 p.m. Santa photos and hot cocoa at the Glen Ellyn Fire Department, 524 Pennsylvania Ave.
5. 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. A live Nativity at First Presbyterian Church, 550 Main St.

The downtown mailbox goes up the same Friday. By then the Spring Avenue box has been open four days and its building is closed for the holiday. Over the long weekend, the Spring Avenue building opens only on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon. The box on Main and Crescent is open all four days.

After the tree lighting, downtown runs on weekends

From November 27 on, the Alliance calendar takes over Glen Ellyn's weekends.

The Downtown Santa House at 425 Main St. is open Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., November 28 through December 20. Photos are free, and the listing welcomes pets. Visitors there can pick up the map for the Snow Globe Stroll. That hunt runs November 27 through December 31: you look for hidden snow globes in decorated storefronts across downtown and finish at Candy & Cones for a treat. Candy & Cones, at 550 Crescent Blvd., is the former Glen Ellyn Sweet Shoppe under a new name, which Patch reported took effect in late June.

Carolers walk through downtown shops, streets and restaurants every Saturday from noon to 3 p.m., Thanksgiving through Christmas. Project Light Up Glen Ellyn brings extended shopping hours, holiday menus and lit streets. The Alliance says it runs from mid-November through the New Year, and the Village's fall and winter events list says November 27 through December 31. The Chamber hosts free family movies at the Glen Art Theatre on Saturdays in November and December, and the screening schedule is posted on the Chamber's movie page.

The Home Holiday Lights Contest runs through December. Its categories are Most Festive, Best Use of Lights, Most Creative and the Clark Griswold Award, and the Alliance lists registration as opening soon.

Saturday, December 5 is the one day all three calendars overlap

The first Saturday in December is the season's busiest day. It comes one day after the Spring Avenue mailbox closes.

The Park District's Donuts with Santa takes over the Lake Ellyn Boathouse at 645 Lenox Road for two days. Friday, December 4 has seatings at 5:15 and 6:45 p.m., and Saturday, December 5 has seatings at 8, 9:30 and 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Activities, cocoa, coffee and a gift from Santa are included.

That afternoon, the Alliance's Illuminated Concert Series, "Holiday Magic," begins at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 393 Main Street. There are three performances, each with a reception first:

• Family matinee with Santa: reception 2:30 p.m., performance 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
• Early evening: reception 5 p.m., performance 5:45 to 6:45 p.m.
• Late evening: reception 7:15 p.m., performance 8 to 9 p.m.

Professional musicians play pieces from The Nutcracker, "The Little Drummer Boy," "Christmastime Is Here," "Once Upon a December" and "Somewhere in My Memory," lit by more than 1,000 candles. All of the candles are LED. A $55 ticket covers the concert, one drink at a reception hosted by Cabernet & Company, and a $20 Downtown Glen Ellyn dining voucher good through January 31, 2027. Santa is at the matinee for free photos. Seating is general admission, and the concert page asks guests to arrive at least 15 minutes early. It suggests parking in the Village Parking Garage.

The voucher is why a Saturday-night concert can turn into a January dinner. The Alliance lists the restaurants that accept it, including a toda madre, Barone's of Glen Ellyn, Blackberry Market, Chocolaterie Stam, Common Good Cocktail House, Curry à la Flambé, fire+wine, ko-ze wine room, Maize + Mash, Mancini's Tavola, Maplewood Public House, MK Steak + Bar, Shannon's Irish Pub, Sushi Ukai, The Beer Cellar and The Parlour of Park & Oak. Several vouchers can go on the same check, and unused balances don't come back as cash.

Put together, December 5 can start with a Park District donut at 8 a.m. and end at St. Mark's after 9 p.m., with lunch at the Santa House hours or the carolers in between. The letter that missed the Spring Avenue box the day before can still go in the box on Main and Crescent, which takes mail through December 13.

If the holidays have you thinking about where you'll spend next year's, I'm glad to talk it through over coffee downtown, with no pressure and no agenda. Joe Soto knows these blocks from the Santa House to the Boathouse. Let's Get Started.