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I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as hundreds of Christmas trees filling up Albuquerque Convention Center’s Ballrooms A, B and C from Friday, Dec. 6 through Sunday, Dec. 8 from 10am to 6pm. This 12th annual Festival of Trees raises funds for the Carrie Tingley Hospital Foundation through the $1 donations requested at the door. It is chock-full of Christmas decorations, wreaths, Santa, hot cocoa and, of course, trees. For more information on this all-ages event, see festivaloftreesnm.com. (Clarke Condé)

Image by Eric Williams

Christmas is coming and there's no surer sign of its impending arrival here in The Duke City than the annual Twinkle Light Parade. This year's well-lit jaunt into the holiday spirit happens in the middle of Albuquerque’s Historic Nob Hill on Saturday, Dec. 7 beginning at 5:15pm. The Twinkle Light Parade begins its yearly course through our town at Central Avenue and Washington Street, and proceeds west to Girard Boulevard. (Central is closed from 2pm through 10pm for the event) with a whole host of brightly decorated cars, buses and other magical parade floats done up just right for the celebratory season. After the parade, the city is teaming up with Nob Hill shops and restaurants to offer holiday specials. It's free and meant for all ages, so get your Santa hat out of cold storage and make the trip! (August March)

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Consider for a moment that for a short stack of American coins, you can still have a physical object taken anywhere in the country with your message of holiday cheer, complaint or leftover turkey a la king recipe. It is the brilliant work of the letter carriers of the United States Postal Service that has since the founding of this country moved mail without discrimination as to its content or sender (barring that which is fragile, liquid, perishable or potentially hazardous.) On Saturday, Dec. 7 from 3 to 5pm, the Special Collections Library hosts a Snail Mail Social with all the trimming (stamps, stationary, maybe some glitter pens) to celebrate and encourage the art of letter writing. For more information on this free, all-ages event, see abqlibrary.org. (Clarke Condé)