Don't look now, but it's December. Christmas. Hanukkah. Kwanzaa. Festivus. A month of nothing but holidays. Tinsel. Peppermint lattes. Frenzied shopping inquiries for "Baby Yoda."

What's a Houstonian to do? Relax and enjoy these calming weekend events.

Thursday, December 5

Cocktails & Conversations Series: Wines From Around the World - Sake: A Culturation Exploration at The Health Museum
To all the wine connoisseurs, cowboys, and novices out there, celebrate the history and health benefits of wine at this lovely, little mixer. Thanks to the Japan America Society of Houston, guests will be able to taste sake, explore Japanese culture, sample Japanese snacks and enjoy Passing the Baton, a documentary on sake brewing that has been selected for Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2019. 4 pm.

Aaron Sanchez at 40 Below
Aaron Sanchez is an award-winning celebrity chef (you might've seen him on Chopped or Chopped Jr.) and Texas native who'll be in town promoting his new memoir Where I Come From: Life Lessons from a Latino Chef. This event will feature Sánchez and good friend Shakey Graves (who will perform afterwards) as they share stories, answer culinary quandaries and basically talk about being two proud Mexicans from Texas. All guests will receive an autographed copy of the memoir and tasty bites. 6 pm.

Friday, December 6

Mozart and Aucoin at Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
Da Camera of Houston's 2019–20 season continues with Mozart and Aucoin, a compelling performance by the world-renowned Brentano Quartet. The ensemble returns to Da Camera for the premiere of a new work by composer Matthew Aucoin, for Da Camera and Carnegie Hall. The ensemble will also perform Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s String Quintet No. 2 in C Minor, K. 406/516. So, you're definitely in for an evening of sophisticated strings. 7:30 pm.

Jay Leno at Jones Hall
Jay Leno hasn't had a good couple of weeks. While he was a guest judge on America's Got Talent awhile back, he allegedly told an offensive joke (it didn't make air) that judge Gabrielle Union complained about. Unfortunately, she ended up getting fired, which Variety claimed was because of her speaking up about the toxic working environment. Do you think he'll talk about it during his Society for the Performing Arts show? Not likely. You think he'll do jokes about stupid people and airplane food? Hmmm. 8 pm.

Saturday, December 7

Segments & Spaces at Archway Gallery
Venezuelan artist Veronica Dyer will be showing off her latest paintings and sculptures at this new exhibit. Dyer creates dynamic paintings and sculptures in a style that she refers to as “abstract, with an industrial tendency.” In both her paintings and sculptures, areas of the composition are defined with geometric forms. The paintings incorporate the additional element of bold — and sometimes unconventional — color palettes. On view through Thursday, January 2, 2020. 5-8 pm.

Pride & Joy at Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church
The Gay Men's Chorus of Houston and the Bayou City Women's Chorus, collectively known as the Bayou City Performing Arts, will present this concert, which echoes the tolerance, social justice, and inclusiveness this organization promotes. This event, which will have unique arrangements of well-known Christmas carols, mixes the comical with the serious, the beautiful with the meaningful and weaves together the pride and joy of the season with threads of hope for a bright future ahead. 7 pm.

Sunday, December 8

Silent Santa at Santa's Workshop at Rice Village
For the next two Sundays, Rice Village will begin a new tradition this holiday season by giving children with autism the opportunity to visit Santa in a calm and comfortable environment. This will be hosted prior to Santa’s workshop opening, in which the lights will be dimmed, music turned off and stimulus turned down. The Village is introducing this initiative to make the experience of visiting Saint Nick inclusive and accessible to children who may become anxious around excessive noise and crowds. 9 am-noon.

Brazil at Alamo Drafthouse LaCenterra
This weekend will be a good one for fans of filmmaker and Monty Python alumni Terry Gilliam. His 1998 adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, starring Johnny Depp as Thompson himself, will be this weekend's midnight movie at Landmark River Oaks. And, on Sunday afternoon, Alamo Drafthouse LaCenterra will screen his futuristic, Orwellian satire from 1985, with Jonathan Pryce as a daydreaming bureaucrat who unfortunately becomes an enemy of the state. 3 pm.