6-Pack of Things To Do in Tacoma: Dec. 15–21, 2025

The week before Christmas lands in Tacoma like a beautifully cracked snow globe shaken by a benevolent trickster — Dickensian ghosts roaming bare stages, barrel-aged beer pulling gravity into the glass, jazz easing shoulders back into place, feral holiday cinema prowling after dark, fire and molten glass flirting with the tide, and one long solstice night where we finally stop arguing with the darkness and invite it to sit down for a pint.

A Christmas Carol starring Allen Fitzpatrick | Monday–Tuesday, Dec. 15–16

Dickens returns without tinsel, spectacle, or distraction — just breath, language, and moral voltage. Allen Fitzpatrick steps onto the Tacoma Little Theatre stage alone and, in one lean hour, becomes all 26 souls of A Christmas Carol the way Dickens himself once did: as living storytelling, not seasonal wallpaper. With decades of Broadway and professional theatre settled deep in his bones, Fitzpatrick slips between Scrooge, spirits, clerks, children, and conscience with uncanny ease, trusting silence as much as speech. The result is intimate and quietly electric, a shared act of remembering where greed loosens its grip and mercy finds its footing again. One-man theatrical classic, 7:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, Tacoma Little Theatre, 210 N. I St., all seats $15, one hour, no intermission, all ages welcome

Firestone Walker Holiday Hang at Peaks & Pints | Thursday, Dec. 18

Some breweries shout. Firestone Walker hums — steady, precise, and fully self-aware. For nearly three decades, the Central Coast brewery has built its reputation on balance and restraint, guided by brewmaster Matt Brynildson’s quietly legendary hand. That philosophy pours beautifully at this relaxed holiday hang, where Parabola moves with bourbon-soaked gravity, the 28th and 29th Anniversary Ales unfold barrel patience like candlelight, and a vintage keg bends time just a little. Pivo snaps everything back into focus, Mind Haze keeps things buoyant, and Primal Elements reminds us that play still matters. Washington rep Kent Wetzler will be around, but this isn’t a lecture — it’s a winter pause built for tasting, lingering, and enjoying beers that know exactly who they are. Holiday beer gathering, 5–8 p.m., Peaks & Pints, 3816 N. 26th St., Proctor District, no cover.

Holiday Classics with Erin Guinup | Friday, Dec. 19

Not all holiday music needs to jingle. Tacoma Arts Live welcomes Erin Guinup for an evening that arrives softly, like a deep breath finally taken. Familiar songs glow rather than belt — “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “My Favorite Things,” “Let It Snow” — shaped into intimate jazz-inflected arrangements that favor warmth over spectacle. Guinup, a soprano and Tacoma arts leader known for centering connection, guides the room from hush to joy with storytelling that feels shared rather than staged. Joined by Dave Dickerson on piano, Cameron Arneson on bass, and John Hargis on percussion, she turns the Roosevelt Room into a listening space where December briefly remembers how to feel human. Holiday jazz concert, 8 p.m., doors at 7, Tacoma Armory Roosevelt Room, tickets $23.75 or free with Tacoma Arts Live membership

Dial Code Santa Claus | Friday, Dec. 19

Holiday cheer takes a hard left into midnight madness as the Blue Mouse Theatre screens Dial Code Santa Claus, the unhinged 1989 French cult film that predates Home Alone and then gleefully burns it down. A brilliant kid, a fragile grandfather, a fortress of Christmas décor — and a deranged Santa with no interest in goodwill. What follows is a jittery, synth-soaked fever dream of traps, blinking lights, and the unsettling truth that childhood wonder can, in fact, draw blood. Seeing it at 10 p.m. inside the Blue Mouse’s creaking, cozy confines is exactly right: communal gasps, nervous laughter, and the relief that your own holiday stress doesn’t involve a homicidal Saint Nick. Late-night holiday horror screening, 10 p.m., Blue Mouse Theatre, Proctor District, Tacoma.

Fireside: A Holiday Night at Museum of Glass | Saturday, Dec. 20

December leans fully into glow at the Museum of Glass as Fireside transforms the longest nights into something warm and kinetic. Outside, fire pits flicker on the Grand Plaza while the Tacoma Yacht Club Lighted Boat Parade drifts past like a necklace of moving light. Inside, the museum crackles with activity: flameworking demos, docent-led gallery wanderings, glass pendant workshops, and hot shop sessions where molten possibility takes shape. A holiday market fills the air with last-minute gifting energy, the café pours seasonal comforts, and the whole building feels like it’s exhaling warmth into the cold. Holiday museum night, 5–9 p.m., Museum of Glass, 1801 Dock St., regular admission (members free); select workshops require reservations.

Darkest Day at The Red Hot | Sunday, Dec. 21

The solstice finds its Tacoma altar at The Red Hot, where Darkest Day returns as a quiet, collective pause at the hinge of the year. This isn’t about outrunning the dark — it’s about acknowledging it, sharing space with it, and letting the familiar 6th Ave room do what it does best: turn strangers into neighbors over well-chosen beer. Special pours, a commemorative shirt, and the steady hum of conversation mark the longest night not as something to fear, but something to gather around. Simple, sincere, and stubbornly warm. Winter solstice gathering, all day, The Red Hot, 2914 6th Ave., Tacoma, no cover.

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