The Holiday Season is a time of joy and sharing that brings families and friends together in celebration. It is a time of caring and peace that reunites old foes and softens the heart strings of enmity. It is a time to observe the hallowed traditions that make the season special.  This holiday season, as we share in the spirit of peace and thanksgiving, thoughts go to helping those in need and the brave men and women in uniform, many of whom will spend the holidays far from home.

Many units of the National Park Service commemorate and celebrate the holiday season with special holiday programs or events.  Many more, especially cultural sites, decorate for the holidays in ways reflective of a bygone era. The holidays are celebrated throughout the National Park System in an appropriate and respectful manner. Visitors to the national parks during the holiday season will find tasteful and educational holiday programs in parks as diverse as Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Georgia, Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Washington, Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in New Jersey, Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site in Colorado, Natchez National Historical Park in Mississippi, African Burial Ground National Monument in New York and White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. National parks commemorate this special time of year as much for the visitors we serve as we do to reflect on American culture and the historical significance of the holidays from our colonial past to the present.

The National Park Service offers a wonderful opportunity to not only celebrate the holidays but to learn and reflect on what the holidays have meant to past generations of Americans and what they mean to us today. The following list provides an inclusive itinerary of special holiday events and programs offered by the National Park Service this holiday season.  We hope you will visit us during this time of year and renew old traditions or make a new one.  The National Park Service wishes everyone a Happy Holiday Season. We hope you will visit our Celebrate the Holiday Season in America’s National Parks website at: http://www.nps.gov/pub_aff/hol/celebrate.htm.