Holiday Happenings

10 magical Houston-area happenings guaranteed to rev up your holiday spirit

The holiday season is upon us and there are lots of Houston events to get you in the spirit of the most wonderful time of the year. In addition to a ton of new live shows, the CultureMap events calendar is filled with individual happenings with a holiday theme. There are also a number of ongoing happenings around the city that are sure create a memorable experience — and a great way to entertain out-of-town guests.

As you prepare to "deck the halls" with your family and friends, consider adding some of these ongoing happenings to your holiday "must-visit" list.

Ice on Discovery Green

Discovery Green offers Houstonians a taste of winter by transforming the park's model boat basin into a outdoor ice rink, using renewable energy recycled water from Kinder Lake, all the while being kept at a frigid 22 degrees. The Houston skyline is the perfect backdrop for ice skating now through Super Bowl Sunday on February 5, 2017.

Sugar Land Holiday Lights

The Sugar Land Skeeters present the 3rd Annual Sugar Land Holiday Lights featuring the largest inflatable snow globe in Texas, 2.5 million lights, and over 100 walkthrough displays at Constellation Field. Holiday lights will continue through December 23 with children's activities, movie nights, shopping, food trucks, and Santa Claus each night.

Magical Winter Lights

The 2016 Magical Winter Lights at Gulf Greyhound Park features six fascinating themed sections, including Magical Wonderland, Holiday Market Square, Dinosaur Land, Mystery of the East, Man and Nature, and Landmarks of the World. In addition to these themed areas, guests will be able to experience live entertainment, an interactive dinosaur exhibit, acrobatic performances, and so much more through January 8.

Baybrook Mall Holiday on the Lawn

A host of local vendors offering unique gifts have set up shop on the spacious lawn at the Clear Lake-area mall for the winter wonderland holiday market. The family-friendly event also includes a gift wrapping station, a spot to make children's ID cards, live entertainment, Zumba demonstrations, balloon artists and a bee hive exhibit. The curated market is open Friday-Sundays through December 24 as well December 19 through December 22 for last minute shoppers.

Jingle on the Boardwalk

Round up your family and head to Kemah for Jingle on the Boardwalk, taking place weekends in December. Activities include popular movies like Frozen and Elf, workshops with Santa, and even a snow patch area. The 54th Annual Holiday Boat Parade on December 10 features hundreds of decorated boats cruising the bay from Clear Lake to Kemah.

Typhoon Texas

Like a frigid Blue Norther, Typhoon Texas is draped in a blanket of holiday fun as the waterpark adjacent to Katy Mills Mall is transformed into WinterFest. Among the attractions are an outdoor ice rink, thousands of sparkling lights synchronized to holiday songs, a 4D holiday light show projected over the Typhoon Texas wave pool, Santa’s workshop, train rides, petting zoo with working farm animals, hay rides, pony rides and Reindeer Run, a Texas-sized inflatable slide rising three stories tall. It's open daily, except Christmas Day, through December 31.

Christmas at George Ranch

Celebrate the holiday season with Texas spirit at the historic Fort Bend County ranch. "Campfire Christmas" is an unforgettable evening of hearty food, Texas traditions like singing carols around the campfire, and Christmas cheer that traces the ranch's history in a fun and festive way. (Tour and meal on December 10 and 17; tour only on December 16; children's campfire Christmas on December 15.) "Christmas in the Park," on December 10, 17, 20-23, and 31, features a hay ride (weather-permitting), along with Christmas traditions and decorations of the 1830s through the 1930s, and Treehouse Story Time with Santa.

Festival of Lights at Moody Gardens

Enjoy more than 1 million lights within 100 sound-enhanced animated light displays and nightly live entertainment at the Galveston attraction through January 8. Other holiday activities include an outdoor ice rink, Arctic Slide, photos with Santa, train rides, 3D holiday films, and "Ice Land: Ice Sculptures, A Caribbean Christmas!," featuring a breathtaking undersea journey made of two million pounds of ice.

Christmas Village at Bayou Bend

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s second annual Christmas Village at Bayou Bend features new activities and enhanced programming as the 14-acre estate is transformed into a Christmas dreamland, with carolers, Santa, a snowball-play area, holiday treats and art-making activities — and on eight nights — real reindeer. The elaborate stained-glass Spiegeltent returns and the garden spaces feature dazzling light displays that evoke springtime blooms, including the charming Butterfly Garden. Inside the mansion, creative director Todd Waite stages a holiday-themed tour featuring live actors, theatrical effects, and Christmas decorations as the exterior of the mansion features 3D video projections.

The Christmas village is open every evening through January 1, except December 24, 25 and 31. Premium nights are December 10, 16–23, and 30.

Houston Zoo's Fifth Annual Zoo Lights

The Houston Zoo is again transformed into a winter wonderland with more than two million lights. Stroll along 15 miles of eco-friendly LED lighting illuminating oak trees and paths, enjoy festive carols, sip hot chocolate, and take in such displays at Holly Berry, a 1958 Cadillac with a lightshow set to music, the Holiday Train, Enchanted Forest, and Candy, the interactive talking zebra. Among the new attractions this year are theaddition of a huge, 33-tall Christmas tree adorned with colorful decorations that will be the perfect backdrop for your holiday selfie.

Zoo Lights can be viewed through January 15 (closed December 24-25).

Winterfest at Texas Typhoon waterpark is a winter wonderland.

Texas Typhoon Winterfest Christmas tree at sunset

Photo courtesy of Texas Typhoon

Winterfest at Texas Typhoon waterpark is a winter wonderland.

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Movie Review

The Social Reckoning takes a swipe at Facebook in the modern era

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment

Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White in The Social Reckoning.

The 2010 film The Social Network — about the early years of Facebook after Mark Zuckerberg created the social media site — was a landmark movie in many ways. But given the time it was made — just four years after it went public beyond colleges — the impact Facebook had on society was minimal compared to what it is today (the film’s tagline references 500 million users on Facebook; there are now over 3 billion).

All of which is to say that there's plenty of fertile material for a follow-up film to explore, which writer/director Aaron Sorkin does quite well in The Social Reckoning. Zuckerberg (played this time by Jeremy Strong) is an important but supporting character in this story, which focuses on Wall Street Journal investigative reporter Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White). Horwitz is in pursuit of anyone willing to spill dirt on the inner workings of Facebook, which leads him to Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison), who works on the Civic Integrity team at the now-giant company.

While at first reluctant to disclose much, Haugen gradually gives Horwitz access to internal files that show that Facebook engaged in behind-the-scenes work to boost engagement on the site with little regard for how it would affect the well-being of its users. Their story, which takes place over the course of two years between 2019 and 2021, is intercut with scenes in which Zuckerberg is being prepped for testimony before Congress by Raya (Wunmi Mosaku), Charlie (Bill Burr), and others.

The key to Sorkin’s success in Hollywood has always been his fast-paced, overlapping dialogue, and there’s much of it to enjoy in this film. Most of the film is just people talking in rooms, so the script needs to have Sorkin’s signature style to keep the story compelling. He achieves that goal through lines that indicate the righteous indignation, quirks, and sense of humor of the characters, feelings that easily translate over to the audience.

Sorkin is clearly on one side in his storytelling, and it’s not the side that doesn’t seem to care that its users are being harmed by its product. Sorkin gilds the lily multiple times throughout the film in big and small ways, and your enjoyment of the movie may lie in your ability to roll with his choices instead of nitpicking details (like the fact that Zuckerberg didn’t testify before Congress in the crucial year depicted in the film).

Still, there’s the unshakeable feeling that the movie is too little, too late. Even though it’s set just five to seven years ago, the advances in technology and the division of the country in the years since make it feel like a completely different world. The Social Network had the advantage of showing things that most viewers didn’t know well. The basics of this film played out in headlines around the world, and the issues the characters debate in it seem positively quaint compared to what’s happening now.

White has been hit-and-miss as a movie actor, but he’s in his sweet spot in this film, rattling off lines with ease and making Horwitz alternately cocky and empathetic. Madison does well in her first film since winning an Oscar for Anora, playing on Haugen’s passion and eccentricities effectively. Strong plays Zuckerberg as literally stiff — his neck and body movements are almost mechanical — a choice that works for the most part.

The Social Reckoning is not as good as The Social Network, but it manages to be gripping in its own way. Through Sorkin’s writing, better directing than he has delivered in other films, and committed performances by all of the actors, it becomes a story worth telling, even if its ideas have become antiquated.

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The Social Reckoning opens in theaters on October 9.

film mark zuckerberg movies the social network the social reckoning

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