MYSTIC – I am a holiday person, but Christmas is my favorite. Growing up as a native New Yorker, the traditional celebrations included the Christmas Spectacular and tree viewing at Rockefeller Center. In more recent years as a resident of Rhinebeck, I marked the holiday with the Sinterklaas parade and the annual holiday film screenings at Upstate Films.  

But behind all this was a vision of the perfect Christmas I connected with New England. The idyllic Christmas was a picture postcard of carolers, sleighbells, homes with steep-gabled roofs and sparkling snow, cobbled-stoned villages and lantern light posts tied with red bows. The dream came to life in film — Little Women and Christmas in Connecticut, the 1945 classic comedy starring Barbara Stanwyck as a famous food writer who pretends to be a homemaker on a Connecticut farm who can’t cook. 

Lantern Light Village at Mystic Seaport (CT Examiner)

As a recent New York transplant, I looked forward to my first Christmas in Connecticut and the natives of southeastern Connecticut pointed me to an Everest of holiday must-dos from the Mystic Holiday Lighted Boat Parade and Niantic Light Parade to the Lantern Light Village at Mystic Seaport Museum. I decided this year to sample what I could.

Hallmark Christmas

My first stop was Mystic, arguably one of the most Christmassy of towns and known as a filming location for Hallmark Christmas movies, along with parades and carriage rides. I took a stroll through Olde Mistick Village with its property manager Chris Regan and was greeted with the musical tree that was crooning “Here We Come a-Caroling.” The tree, an acquisition during COVID, is popular with visitors. 

The shopping center is themed after 18th Century Colonial-era New England where there is a green area, a meeting house and a church. It has also appeared in four Hallmark movies, including A Very Nutty Christmas and Mystic Christmas, the later featuring the restaurant Mango’s known for its wood fired pizza. 

“They came here and said we’d love to shoot some Hallmark movie. I was like, really? Okay, cool,” said Regan of A Very Nutty Christmas. The filming was in July and Styrofoam snow was generated.  

Olde Mistick Village (CT Examiner)

“I think it’s great news it brings their whole production team, all extras are local and people love Hallmark,” he said. 

Another draw is Olde Mistick’s near 500,000 lights strung on the trees, throughout the walkways and among the 53 stores. Christmas is a year-round affair here especially inside stores such as Sophia’s Mystical Christmas that features a landscape of every ornament imaginable.

Another Christmassy store is Bestemor’s, a fixture in Olde Mistick, for nearly 30 years. Bestemor (Grandmother in Norwegian) features imported goodies from Scandinavian countries including a robust selection of gnomes, Nordic sweaters and clogs.

Regan is already brainstorming Christmas 2026 with a goal of a million lights. “Next year will be an epic year,” he said, adding that LED lights are a lot more cost effective than the traditional light bulbs. 

Regan pauses in front of the musical tree flashing red and green. 

“It’s not work because I get so excited because you’re watching people’s faces and they just light up,” he said. “If I’m having a bad day in the office I just walk out here and say hi to people and they’re all smiling.”

The Griswold Inn

I’ve found that almost every Christmas-centric conversation with Connecticut natives referenced The Griswold Inn, which dates to 1776 when the country was first founded. The inn, also known as the Gris, anchors downtown Essex, which was all decked out for Christmas. I’d finally found the gas lamp styled lamp posts wrapped in lights and red ribbon. Joan Paul, who has co-owned the inn with her husband, Douglas, since 1995, is part of the sixth family to own the property and has continued holiday traditions passed down from previous owners.

“We have been offering some form of an “old-fashioned” Connecticut Christmas and holiday experience for decades and each owning-family carries on the tradition, perhaps adding a new dimension to the experience from time-to-time,” she said. The painting “Griswold Inn Wintertime,” that hangs in the main entrance area dated 1984 by Jax. Wallace Baker embodies the picture-perfect Christmas that I’d envisioned – children sledding, snowball fights, a large-decorated Christmas tree, and lit chimneys.  

To be sure, I found the Gris the epitome of my vision of the perfect Christmas in Connecticut. Joan Paul’s reference to the “December Experience” includes garland and red velvet bows framing every room, ample poinsettias and crackling fireplaces.

Holidays are huge at the inn and start with Thanksgiving where and rolls right into Christmas. 

“We have a lot of empty nesters and so it feels like fall and fall leads into Thanksgiving and the next morning at 5 a.m. our house crew come in,” and the decorating begins with gusto, Joan Paul said. The staff have it down to a science with the décor completed before the village’s “Trees in the Rigging” parade of lights. 

The live holiday music kicks off in December with a visit from the U.S. Coast Guard Idlers, the all-male cappella ensemble. The Royal Court Singers have been a favorite with patrons since they started in 1981. The quartet dressed in colorful medieval garb go from table to table singing holiday classics.  

On a recent night, the restaurant was packed with regulars, families with matching pajamas fresh off the Essex steam train with Santa and first timers like me. The Holiday Bill of Fare, passed down as tradition from previous owners, features seasonal game selections as well as more traditional holiday entrées. 

“We’ve mostly stayed close to the script,” said Joan Paul, noting the wild game including wild boar stew and rabbit schnitzel. 

Groton City’s Holiday Lights Trail

Groton City’s annual Holiday Lights Trail, this year featuring eight homes that are all decked out and competing for accolades including the City Spirit and People’s Choice Awards. 

One of my favorite films is Christmas with the Kranks with Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis where there’s an unspoken battle between neighbors on who can outdo whom for Christmas. I visited a trio of competitors around Jefferson and Washington Drives. One home was a labyrinth of inflatable snowmen and wooden Santa with a whole herd of lit reindeer. The living room window revealed a framed photo of Santa above the fireplace mantle. A contender offered a display of lights that choreographed with holiday music. But a good number of surrounding homes were decked out with a mix of stringed lights, wreaths and inflatable snowmen, Santas and reindeer. While not entirely unique to Christmas in Connecticut the holiday spirit was clearly in this neighborhood. 

Back at home I returned to a pre-lit plastic Christmas tree, cards that awaited to be written, gifts to be wrapped and perhaps a new perspective on Christmas. I was satisfied with the taste of Christmas in Connecticut and looked forward to more next year.  Besides no matter where Christmas was held, the holidays were most meaningful with family and friends and of course my cat Yul.