EAT
Get Low
Carriage House
1700 W. Division St. 773-384-9700
Start your day Lowcountry-style with the Wicker Park spot's new brunch, which includes fried chicken thighs with a malted waffle and maple hot sauce ($11) and Pullman French toast with caramelized bananas and sorghum whipped cream ($10). 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.
DRINK
Bar Hop
The Cubby Bear
1059 W. Addison St. 773-478-3378
Make your spirits bright at TBOX 2012 (short for The 12 Bars of Xmas) the 17th annual large-scale Wrigleyville holiday crawl. Enjoy drink specials at dozens of taverns, crazy costumes and ugly Christmas sweaters galore, tons of swag —including a gym bag, T-shirt and coupons—and chances to meet about 16,000 of your new best friends. 8 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Saturday. $37.50. RSVP required: festaparties.com.
Hot Spot
J Bar
610 N. Rush St. 312-660-7200
Looking for an afternoon pick-me-up? Skip the coffee in favor of a Cup o' Jove at the seasonal pop-up hot chocolate shop featuring two flavors ($5 each) created by David Burke's Primehouse executive pastry chef Jove Hubbard: a bittersweet raspberry version with Chambord-vanilla marshmallows and raspberry caramel and a white chocolate-banana flavor with whipped cream and graham cracker crumbs. 3-5 p.m. Friday.
DO
Dickens and More Dickens
The Building Stage
412 N. Carpenter St. 312-491-1369
Artistic director Blake Montgomery takes the stage in his affectionate satire of the classic holiday play, "Charles Dickens Begrudgingly Performs 'A Christmas Carol.' Again."—in which he portrays a broke and bitter Dickens who keeps trotting out live readings of his tale to pay the rent. 8 p.m. Friday. 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday. 4 p.m. Sunday. $25-$30. Tickets: buildingstage.com.
Where There's Smoke
AMC Loews
600 N. Michigan Ave. 888-262-4386
Be among the first to see "Burn," the new, action-packed, character-driven documentary—which won the Audience Choice Award at the Tribeca Film Festival—about a year in the lives of firefighters in Detroit's Engine Company 50. Various times Friday-Sunday. $9-$11. Schedule and tickets: amctheatres.com/movies/burn.
Holiday Cheer
The Cornservatory
4210 N. Lincoln Ave. 773-650-1331
Get tipsy with Corn Productions at "Happy Holly-Daze: A Drinking Game Performance," in which the cast satirizes holiday traditions with original sketches and you take a sip from your BYOB beverage every time the theater's DRINK sign lights up. 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday. $15.
Cocktails and Crafts
Empty Bottle
1035 N. Western Ave. 773-276-3600
Shop till you drop (or at least until your cocktail needs a refill) at Handmade Market, which features jewelry, paper goods, knitted items and more by 30 local crafters—including Damsel in This Dress Designs, Milton and Margie's Soy Wax Candles, High Hope Knits and Branchbound Jewelry—and a fully stocked bar to keep your spirits up while you browse. Noon-4 p.m. Saturday. No cover.
Ghost of Beers Past
Haymarket Pub & Brewery
737 W. Randolph St. 312-638-0700
'Tis the season to be tippling—craft brews, that is. Or so goes the logic at "Drinking and Writing: A Beer Carol," a comedic, radio-style play inspired by the Dickens classic in which a generic beer manufacturer named Bud Miller, receives visits from a series of Christmas Eve ghosts attempting to improve the quality of his beer. 4 p.m. Saturday. $15.
REDEYE TIP OF THE DAY
To celebrate their soon-to-open Lincoln Park store (939 W. Armitage Ave.), Glazed & Infused hands out free doughnuts starting at 7 a.m. Friday at the Armitage Brown Line stop.
Julia Borcherts is a RedEye special contributor.
