Fun For The Holidays: Christmas Events In Toms River

TOMS RIVER, NJ — There is no shortage of things to do in and around Toms River to get the winter holiday season off to a rollicking good start.

Christmas and Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish festival of lights, intersect this year, with Hanukkah running Dec. 18-26. Christmas, of course, is on Dec. 25, but you don’t have to wait to start taking in all the sights and sounds of the holidays.

See Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" performed at the Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven on multiple dates through Dec. 18. Tickets are $41 for adults, $31 for children and are available through the Surflight Theatre website.

Bring the kids to sing with Santa at the Albert Music Hall Holiday Show on Dec. 17. Santa leads a sing-along and children will be invited on stage with Santa during their 6:30 p.m. set. Tickets are $5 for adults, $1 for children, with children 11 and under free. Albert Music Hall is at 131 Wells Mill Road (Route 532), a quarter-mile west of Route 9, in Waretown.

The Celtic Angels Christmas will fill the Stafford Township Arts Center, 1000 McKinley Ave., Manahawkin, with music and Irish dancing on Dec. 17. The group will perform Irish Christmas songs like Christmas in Killarney, classics including Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and Silent Night in Gaelic, "Oichie Chiuin." Tickets are $45-$55 and can be purchased online.

Holiday lighting displays are another holiday favorite. Some to catch in New Jersey are:

• Sea of Lights, Jenkinson's Aquarium, Point Pleasant Beach. The light show is Dec. 16, 17, 27, and 28 and offers photos with Santa before Christmas, a Diving Santa after Christmas, and more.
• Magic of Lights, PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel
• Holiday in the Park at Six Flags Great Adventure
• Lighting Up Nature holiday lights at Jakes Branch Park, Double Trouble Road, Bayville