‘Home for the Holidays' in Orange County

Goshen - Holiday events are just around the corner, so grab your calendar and start planning. • Thanksgiving will be here before you know it, and to expand the menu, learn how to make “Simply Superb Soups” when professional chef Cathy Vogt conducts a class at the Rogowski Farm on Nov. 17 (www.rogowskifarm.com). • Fridays and Saturdays during November, Chef Shawn Hubble will offer creative “Cooking with Wine” demonstrations at Brotherhood Winery (www.brotherhoodwinery.net). • You’ll have a deeper appreciation of the holiday as celebrated by our ancestors at Museum Village’s 19 Century Thanksgiving from 11 to 4 on Nov. 17 and 18 (www.museumvillage.org), and on Nov. 24 from 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. at the Fort Decker Museum Colonial Thanksgiving Dinner Demonstration (www.minisink.org). • Seasonal displays celebrating the harvest and a beautifully set formal dining room at the Brick House Museum estate will also inspire you. Take the guided tour from noon - 4 p.m. on Nov. 18 (457-4905). • Get your holiday bells a-jingling at the Lycian Centre’s Christmas with the Mantovani Orchestra and Chorus 8 p.m. performance on Friday Nov. 30, and at the Paramount’s All New Jimmy Sturr Christmas Show at 3 p.m. on Dec. 1 (www.middletownparamount.com). • At 7 p.m. on Dec. 8 and 9, enjoy a Christmas Concert by Harvey Reid with Joyce Anderson at the Morrison Mansion, decorated and transformed into a winter wonderland (www.friendsofmusic.net). • Don’t miss the Opera Company of the Highlands’ moving performance of Amahl and the Night Visitors at St. Mary’s Church in Tuxedo on Dec. 9, and at St. George’s Episocpal Church in Newburgh from Dec. 14 to 16 (www.operacompanyofthehighlands.org). • A Hudson Valley Holiday performed by the United States Military Academy Band at West Point’s Eisenhower Hall on Dec. 15 and 16 will surely get you into the spirit of the season. • Take candlelight tours at Hill-Hold on Dec. 8 and 9, 15 and 16 (291-2404). Celebrate at Washington’s Headquarters on Dec. 9 and at the Ellison Estate at Knox’s Headquarters on Dec. 22, these sites are also open from Dec. 26 to 28 for special holiday programs. Enjoy the annual Newburgh Bay Candlelight Tour featuring a self-guided visit of beautiful area homes and churches including Crawford House from noon - 5 p.m. on Dec. 9 (www.newburghhistoricalsociety.com). For outdoor fun, watch the bears open their holiday gifts at A Very Beary Holiday nature program at Bear Mountain Zoo from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. on Dec. 15. The Bear Mountain Ice Skating Rink will hold additional hours on Dec. 24, and from Dec. 26 to 31 (www.friendsofpalisades.org).