This beautiful quilt by the Livermore Village Scrappers will be raffled at the event. Tickets are $3 for one, $5 for two, or $10 for ten, available by calling 897-4366. You need not be present to win. 

The Washburn-Norlands Living History Center in Livermore will open for an interactive, family-friendly Christmas celebration called “Keeping Christmas at Norlands” on Saturday, December 10, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Visitors will have an opportunity to experience a variety of 19^th-century Christmas and winter activities, including horse-drawn wagon rides, caroling, period crafts, storytelling, parlor games, cooking in the farmer’s cottage, and learning in the one-room schoolhouse. Tours of the Washburn Family’s Italianate 1867 mansion, now decorated for the holidays, will be offered, and mulled cider and other refreshments, made fresh on the woodstove, will be available while supplies last.

Participants may also learn about how the Washburns and their neighbors, the Bradfords, anticipated Christmas and prepared for the holiday; how the holiday evolved over the course of the 19th-century; and how members of the Washburn Family who lived in cities such as Chicago and Washington D.C. during the 1800s would have celebrated differently from those living at Norlands.

The redesigned gift shop, filled with unique treasures such as Norlands’ own maple syrup, old-time toys, books, prints, cards, mop caps, old-fashioned stick and rock candy, and more, will be open to meet guests’ holiday shopping needs, and an available Cookie Walk fundraiser to benefit the New Barn Fund will allow visitors to fill a bag with delicious homemade cookies to take home for only $5. This popular fundraiser always sells out by early afternoon, so arrive early.

Admission is $10 per person or $6 for those ages 12 and under. A special family rate of $25 is also available. Members will receive a 20% discount on admission. The Washburn-Norlands Living History Center is located at 290 Norlands Road in Livermore. For more information, call 897-4366 or see www.NORLANDS.org.

If the weather is questionable, check for an event cancellation notice on Norlands’ Facebook page or outgoing telephone message by calling 897-4366 by 9 a.m. on the morning of the event.