Event #1: 12th Annual Bright Nights

Location: Stanley Park, Vancouver

Time: Daily from 3 to 10 p.m. until Jan. 2, except Dec. 25.

Fees: Admission is free to view displays but it costs $8 for adults, $5 for seniors and children to ride the train through the decorated landscape.

Details: More than two million lights will light up the section of Stanley Park around the children’s train and farmyard area. The show also includes various animated seasonal displays. (For more information call 604-257-8531.)

Christmas at Stanley Park

Event #2: The Carol Ship Parade of Lights Festival

Time: Dec. 4 to 23 with extra sailing on Dec 27.

Details: The Carol Ships Parade began about 50 years ago with one boat decorated with Christmas lights in Coal Harbour off the Bayshore Inn (now the Westin Bayshore Resort & Marina).

This holiday tradition has grown to more than 50 decorated boats, with 100,000 lights. About 30,000 people go on the boats over the 20-night festival. More than an estimated 200,000 people turn out each year to view the passage of the ships from the shoreline. (For more information visit Vancouvercruises.com)

Event #3: Sixth Annual Rogers Santa Claus Parade

Location: Downtown Vancouver

Time: 1 p.m. on Dec. 6. starts at Broughton and Georgia and ends at the corner of Howe and Davie.

Details: The parade lasts about an hour. After the parade there will be a meet-and-greet with Santa at the GE Plaza at Robson Square. The parade is also one of the largest single food raising events for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society.

Christmas Downtown Vancouver

Event #4: Annual Winter Solstice Lantern Festivals

Location: At a number of locations such as Granville Island, Yaletown, Commercial Drive, Coal Harbour, Chinatown and Strathcona

Time: From 6 to 10 p.m. on Dec. 21

Details: For full details about lantern processions and various entertainment planned, including Vancouver Morris Men at Granville Island, go to www.secretlantern.org.

Event #5: Gingerbread Lane

Location: Hyatt

Time: Until Dec. 27 in the main lobby

Details: Pop into the Hyatt Regency Hotel at 655 Burrard St., Vancouver, to walk Gingerbread Lane, experiencing the hundreds of gingerbread houses on display.

Event #6: Christmas Festival of Lights

Location: Park and Tilford Garden, 440-333 Brooksbank Avenue, North Vancouver.

Time: Dec. 7 to 31, lights coming on 4:30.

Details: More than 100,000 lights will be put up to turn this 40-year-old three-acre garden into a Christmas wonderland. The lights will be turned on at a special ceremony at 7 p.m. on Dec. 4. There will be free live entertainment, cookies and candy canes as well as Santa Claus in attendance. Admission is free. (For more information call 604-984-8200)

Event #7: Sail Light Show

Location: Canada Place

Time: Dec. 6 to 31 from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Details: Watch the city skyline come to life as Canada Place’s 90-foot sails light up in stunning colour during the Sail Light Show. Viewable from locations on the west side of the sails including Stanley Park, West Vancouver, North Vancouver and from the water.

Event #8: 18th Annual Dundarave Festival of Lights

Time: To Jan. 6

Location: Dundarave Beach

Details: This festival will feature 100 decorated and lit Christmas trees placed on the beach at Dundarave as well as in the village as a fund-raiser for the Lookout Emergency Aid Society’s North Shore Shelter.

Other highlights include a bonfire and lively music on the beach from 7 to 9 p.m. on Dec. 20 as the carol ships sail by and the unveiling by master carver Bill Seminoff of the restored Dundarave Nativity at Dundarave Beach from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Dec. 5. (For more information, go to www.dundaravefestival.com.)

Event #9: 6th Annual Spectacle of Lights

Location and Time: Steveston Village 2 to 6:30 p.m., Dec. 5

Details: Santa arrives at Fisherman’s Wharf at 2 p.m. and will walk over to the Gulf of Georgia Cannery where parents can take a photo of their child with him. There will also be old-fashioned horse drawn carriage rides and carollers will be roaming the streets. At 5 p.m., there will be the lighting of a Christmas tree.

Event #10: Canyon Lights

Location: Capilano Suspension Bridge, North Vancouver

Fee and Time: Dec. 4 to Jan. 3 from 5 to 9 p.m. daily, except on Dec. 25. Admission is $15 for adults, $5 for children (6-12) or $35 for a family of four. For more information go to www.capbridge.comor call 604-985-7474.

Details: The suspension bridge and adjacent forest area will be illuminated with 250,000 Christmas lights. There will be a demonstration by artist Malcolm McFadyen of how to make blown-glass ornaments as well as decorate fresh-baked gingerbread characters.

(resource: Vancouver Sun)

This is a wonderful 1 bedroom suite at the Melville with an outlook to Stanley park and some water view. This city home features a solarium large enough for an office/study. The 9ft ceilings in this unit add a spacious feeling to the 710SQF of open living space. The Melville offers a spectacular roof top sky garden with a panoramic view of the water, mountains and city.