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Christmas is many things.

It’s the birth of the Christ Child, Santa Claus and The Grinch.

Christmas is fir trees, gaily wrapped presents, fruit cake, eggnog and company coming.

But Christmas also has a quiet side – stories told, marshmallows roasting on an open fire, candles burning and songs sung.

And, it was the quiet side of Christmas that was enjoyed at Ole Time Christmas at the Pioneer Museum of Alabama Friday and Saturday nights.

Ole Time Christmas had something for everyone, said Barbara Tatom, museum director. “We were pleased with the attendance both nights and everyone had a good ole time.”

The museum’s Main Street was alive with music and the laughter of the Jolly Ol’ Elf brought the children with their Christmas wishes to share.

“Adults enjoyed the music of Lenny Trawick and others while the children visited with Santa and enjoyed a scavenger hunt inside the museum,” Tatom said. “Christmas stories were read in the Red Schoolhouse and, in the Boy Scout Cabin, the children enjoyed making craft items to take home.”

Both children and adults followed their noses to the sweet aroma of cookies baking in the Demonstration Cabin.

The flickering of a nearby campfire attracted visitors to where Allen Polk was roasting marshmallows. Pope invited his visitors to do their own roasting and, all the while, he shared a story or a yarn to be enjoyed.

From time to time, Pope picked up his fiddle and brought toe-tapping  merriment to the campfire.

“Ole Christmas is a wonderful way for families to enjoy Christmas in a different way,” Tatom said. “We have families that come back year-after year and we have those who come for the first time and have such an enjoyable time that they come back again,”

The Pioneer Museum of Alabama will be open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. December 16-17. The museum’s gift shop has unique gift items for adults and children making it an ideal Christmas shopping place.