Cape St. Claire's Holiday Calendar Runs Through the Mailbox and the Gatehouse

"These bubblers, when operating, are often confused as broken water pipe, so rest assured, the water is off and the bubblers are doing their job!" That note from the Town Manager runs in the November 2026 issue of The Caper, and it means the Cape's waterfront is closing for the season. Before Thanksgiving, staff at the Deep Creek and Lake Claire marinas shut off the plumbing and drain the lines. They also pull extra hoses and mooring lines and put in-water de-icers in place. The portable restrooms come off CSCIA properties for the winter.

As the water side winds down, a second calendar starts up, and it runs on paper and on volunteers. To get Breakfast with Santa seats, you mail in a paper form with a check. The 2027 community calendar comes by mail. Pier slip offers go out by letter. The tree lighting happens at the Gatehouse. In Cape St. Claire, the holidays start in the mailbox.

Breakfast With Santa Fills Up on Paper

Of everything on the list, Breakfast with Santa has the earliest real deadline. It's set for Saturday, December 12, 2026, at the Cape St. Claire Clubhouse, with two seatings at 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. Seating is limited and you need a reservation. To get one, you detach the form printed in the November Caper and mail it back with payment.

The form asks more than how many are coming. For each child it wants a full name, an age, and "a special gift for child's Santa letter." Each child receives a gift and a letter from Santa.

Tickets cost $6 per child and $7 per adult. Breakfast is continental: fruit, donuts, bagels with cream cheese, cereal, juice, coffee, tea and hot chocolate. Make checks payable to "CSC Strawberry Festival," which means the money for this December breakfast goes into an account named after a June event. One more line on the flyer is in capital letters with three exclamation points: "PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN CAMERA!!!"

Breakfast with Santa is a yearly date on the Cape. The November 2025 Caper listed last year's for Saturday, December 13, 2025, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.

Thanksgiving Weekend Stays on Cape St. Claire Road

The marinas are winterized before Thanksgiving, and then the Cape's holiday events start that weekend, back to back.

Saturday, November 28: Goshen Farm

The Goshen Farm Preservation Society promotes its Goodies Sales as a way to start your holiday shopping at the farm. The second and last sale this season is Saturday, November 28. On sale: honey, hot sauces, loofahs, gourds and farm merchandise, with every purchase supporting the farm. The first sale was Sunday, November 1, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Check goshenfarm.org for the hours on the 28th.

There's also a building project at the farm this season. The society is raising money for the E. Joseph Lamp Community Pavilion, a covered outdoor space for field trips, history talks, performances and community events on the farm's 23 acres. The pavilion is named for E. Joseph Lamp, PhD, an educator who worked on the farm as a young man and came back years later to volunteer. The project is estimated at $115,000. The October 2026 campaign page shows $90,000 already secured and $25,000 still to raise. So the farm has covered more than three-quarters of the cost, and the November sales are coming in right as it works on the last quarter.

Volunteers run the whole farm. The Caper pointed out that Goshen Farm "runs entirely on the energy of volunteers" and asked for help with committees, the board, research, event planning and grounds work.

Sunday, November 29: The Gatehouse

The 8th Annual Cape St. Claire Christmas Tree Lighting starts at 6 p.m. on Sunday, November 29, and Santa visits at the Gatehouse until 7:30 p.m. The Town Manager's note puts it at the community's guard shack on Cape St. Claire Road, and calls it a chance to "enjoy holiday cheer with your neighbors."

The two days work well as a pair. On Saturday you can buy gifts at the farm, and on Sunday evening you can watch the lights come on at the entrance to the Cape. You don't have to cross the Severn for either one.

December 12 Runs From Breakfast to the Harbor

The second weekend begins at the Clubhouse and ends on the water in Annapolis. The Eastport Yacht Club holds the 44th Annual EYC Lights Parade on Saturday, December 12, 2026, at 6 p.m., the same day as Breakfast with Santa. EYC holds the parade every second Saturday in December.

The parade started small, much like the Cape's own traditions. EYC members Jim and Shirley Langer started it in 1981. They lived on their boat in Spa Creek, and one cold December night they strung Christmas lights on the rigging and cruised the harbor singing carols. Friends joined the next year. By 1988 it was named an "Official Maryland Winter Celebration," and EYC says boats covered in lights now parade through the Annapolis Harbor for two hours.

So a family with breakfast reservations can do both on one Saturday: a morning seating at the Clubhouse and an evening on the Annapolis waterfront. Book the breakfast seats first, since those are the ones with limited space.

The Smaller Dates and the Rest of the Mail

Between the two weekends, more of the season comes in by mail or by flyer:

• St. Margaret's Church Holiday Bazaar, Saturday, November 21, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Women's Guild hosts it at 1601 Pleasant Plains Road. Admission and parking are free. Vendors sell jewelry, baskets, candles, glassware, knitted items and books by local authors, and morning refreshments and lunch are sold on site. Proceeds go to the church's community and global outreach. Details are at st-margarets.org.
• Evergreen Wreath Workshop, Tuesday, December 1. It's on the Cape St. Claire Garden Club's schedule. The club counts making evergreen wreaths among the skills it has taught members over the decades.
• The 2027 Cape St. Claire calendar, mid-December. Chad Langley won this year's photo contest and a $100 prize. His photo, "Deep Creek Heron," is the cover.
• Pier slip offer letters, December. According to the October board minutes, slip offers go out by mail in December and contracts follow in February.

Some of the December mail involves a vote. The CSCIA Board of Governors accepted the proposed Fiscal Year 2028 budget, which was presented at the October 27 General Membership Meeting. Members vote it up or down at the Annual Membership Meeting on January 12, 2027, at 7:30 p.m. That meeting also holds elections for open Board of Governor and Budget Committee seats. One change in the proposed budget raises SCBD fees to $335, and the full proposal is printed in the November Caper. The Town Manager's note says ballots will be available in December. 2027 maintenance fee invoices have already been entered, and residents are encouraged to pay early. This is general information, not financial advice. For what any fee means for your household, check with CSCIA directly or with a professional.

That's how the season runs. The November Caper carries the calendar and the forms. The forms go back with checks, each child's Santa letter request written on them, and the 2027 calendar arrives in mid-December with a heron from Deep Creek on the cover.

If you're mailing in a Breakfast with Santa form this month, or you have questions about how CSCIA's pier and fee schedule affects a Cape St. Claire home, Brian Jacobs is glad to help. Get a positive, helpful partner and schedule a consultation.