Starting with a visit from St. Nicholas and ending with a traditional Moravian candlelight Christmas service, the Historic Village of Hope will welcome visitors on Saturday, Dec. 14 for its annual Moravian Christmas.

St. Nick will arrive in front of the Community Center on Walnut Street at 4 p.m. when the Christmas tree in front of the building will be lighted and Christmas carols sung.

Lantern tours of the historic village will begin at 5 p.m. and will follow at 20 minute intervals until 6:40 p.m. The cost of the tours will be $10 in advance and $15 at the time of the tour. Reservations are suggested.

Visitors will stop at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on High Street where members of Warren County Community Singers will perform Christmas carols and Priest-in-Charge Rose Cohen Hassan will read scripture. As a special treat, opera singer Alison Bolshoi will perform.  Both antique and modern quilts will be displayed at the church.

At the Community Center, photos will be displayed in a Power Point Presentation and entertainment will be provided by local musicians. Hope memorabilia will be sold and food will be available for purchase.

The Bottomly House at the Inn at Millrace Pond on Johnsonburg Road will be the scene of a Festival of Trees decorated by Koski’s Tree Farm, Monica Sobon and the township environmental commission, The Toy Shop, Sunrise Farms, Audrey and Jen Planer, the Central Sussex Garden Club, Jan Wargo’s Ornaments, Shannon Black Deisgns and Rutherfurd Hall. Volunteers will do a reading from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol around the fire.

Audrey Planer will be at the Moravian Distillery on Millbrook Road to explain the traditional Moravian Lovefeast and let visitors sample the treats served at that special holiday service.

St. John’s United Methodist Church on High Street will be the scene of a live nativity and the Hope Historical Society Museum, also on High Street, will be open and decorated in a traditional Moravian fashion.

After the tours, a traditional Moravian candlelight service will be held at St. John’s, starting at 7:30 and running until 8:30 p.m.