My feelings about Nashville are complicated. On one hand, it’s home. Or, at least it’s close enough to what used to be my home to remind me of the comfort of my childhood. It’s centrally located. Any time my wife and I need a break from the day to day grind, we’re only a morning’s drive away from Chattanooga, Memphis, or Knoxville. We’re a day’s drive from the beach, and if we want to venture out even further, it’s close enough to so many cities that the flights are never too long. Nashville has become an excellent food city, and it feels like there’s always some place new to try. The glitz and glamour of Broadway is a huge selling point for tourists. I hate crowds, and for 51 weeks of the year, I do my best to avoid that part of town. But, you better believe that for that one week when we may have a visitor in town, I love showing them around. I do take a bit of pride in the fact that this has developed into such a destination city that people want to come visit us. And, I’m happy to hit the highlights with them. “There’s the Ryman!” “Here’s Tootsie’s!” “That’s where the Titans play!” All of the tour guiding usually leads to a seat at Dino’s or Brown’s Diner. I have fun with it. I certainly love the little quieter spots and pockets around town that my wife and I have discovered, and I’ll continue to keep those to myself. Locals only.
On the other hand, I kind of detest what the city has become in the last decade. The traffic is terrible. It used to take us about 25-30 minutes to get to Opry Mills from Gladeville when I was a teenager. Now, that’s laughable. The line to get to the airport is usually backed up to Briley Parkway. It’s difficult to get anywhere in this town quickly anymore. Drinks are at least $15 a pop. Gone are the days of $3 beers at the Red Rooster, I suppose. You can hardly walk down Broadway without bumping into someone anymore. The growth downtown has spread to the surrounding areas. Now, you can’t get anywhere in Mount Juliet in 10 minutes. People are road raging in my small town. And, I think there is something to be said about tourism cities losing a bit of their soul for the love of the game. I’m not advocating for Nashville to go back to the crime-ridden 90s. No, I do at least enjoy being able to go have a drink in Printer’s Alley without worry of assault. But, when 49 out of the 50 people you encounter downtown don’t even live here (cue the Mean Girls quote, “she doesn’t even go here!”), and you know all of these people will eventually go back to their regularly scheduled lives, it makes you wonder what’s left for Nashville in the wake of their departure. That may be a different discussion for a different day.
I sound like a disgruntled curmudgeonly old man who hates change. I get it – it probably sounds like I’m not very happy. But, I assure you I am. My roots are here. My work is here. I don’t know that I’ll ever truly leave this place. I’ve just had to adapt and find the things that bring me peace in this ever-evolving landscape. But, my life is here – and this idea brings me to one of the things that does still bring me comfort in this city.
It’s something I feel Nashville is actually underrated for – spending time during the holidays here.
Things just seem to slow down around Thanksgiving out here. They slow down even further, to a molasses-like state even, the closer it gets to Christmas. Even when I was younger and going out to rage on Demonbreun every Saturday night, I always noticed that the bars were a little lighter come the holidays. I guess it’s a natural sort of thing – with so many transplants in town now, folks are flying home to spend more time with their families at this time of year. The music industry shuts down for two weeks at the end of the year (jealous). People are taking time off. People are saving money, skipping the $15 cocktails so they can afford their flights home and gifts for loved ones. It happens for a myriad of reasons, I suppose. In a cheerful way, it answers my question of “what’s left when all of these people go home?” The answer is room to breathe. That period around December 20th through the 23rd has become one of my favorite times of year to go out. There are virtually no crowds. All of the hay is in the barn, so to speak – attractions have been visited, shopping has been done, etc.. It’s time to relax or get out of town. For me, that means no wait times at restaurants. No sweaty crowds. It’s quiet time for an old soul. To me, that’s when the bones of Nashville show. You can really do some exploring and you can see the city pretty clearly.
In 39 years of living here, I’ve developed plenty of my own traditions. If there’s one thing we do every December, it’s take a trip out to the Opryland Hotel. I think you’re technically supposed to be staying in the hotel in order to wander out around and look at the decorations. But, us locals have been parking in the adjacent lot and sneaking through a back door for decades now. It’s the epicenter of holiday festivities in town. The hotel is beautifully decorated. In recent years, they’ve added pop-up bars throughout the lobbies that serve festive adult beverages. And, right across the parking lot, you have access to all of the family-friendly stuff like Ice, some snow-tubing setup, ice skating, a few food trucks, bonfires – it feels like its own little slice of the North Pole. If that doesn’t get you into the holiday spirit, I don’t know what will.
You can usually see the Rockettes at the Grand Ole Opry, amid other holiday shows. Cheekwood runs its annual ‘Holiday Lights’ display. There’s Zoolumination at the Nashville Zoo. The Dancing Lights of Christmas, which is a drive-through light display out at the Wilson County Fairgrounds. First Horizon Park has had a light maze the last few years. There’s the craft fair, Dickens of a Christmas, out in Franklin. You can usually count on The Belcourt to show a few Christmas classics. The Nashville Symphony may play a live score to accompany a Christmas movie onscreen. Downtown establishments host Christmas-themed pop-up bars left and right. I get press releases every year from restaurants running festive menus. I still think about the Thanksgiving pizza from Tailgate. So many new traditions have popped up for my wife and I that it actually budges me some from my curmudgeonly side.
When I sit and really reflect upon why the holidays make me feel so warm and fuzzy, I land on this time period being a connection to Old Nashville. It feels like a time capsule of sorts…maybe time travel. December reconnects me with the things I’ve always loved about Nashville. The noise and the crowds die down for a simpler night out. I can stand and look at that skyscraper of a Christmas tree in the lobby of the Opryland Hotel and feel the same thing as a 39-year-old man that I felt as a child. It’s like anchor points in my life. I may be here in 2025, but I’m also there in 1999 as well. I love being able to share these things with my wife, who grew up in New Jersey. And, dare I say….the holidays have the best seasonal flavors, too.
So, my advice would be to book a few nights at the Opryland Hotel in mid-to-late December. See what that area has to offer. Hope on a bus and head downtown. You might even be able to get into your favorite restaurant without a wait. Go see some live music when you can comfortably sit on a barstool without 18 people breathing down your neck. Find some Christmas lights to look at. Get out and about while the traffic’s a little lighter. Substitute the raging party for a spell of rest and reflection. It’s a time when Nashville never feels more like home.
Here’s a list of attractions during the holidays that I mentioned above if you want to scope ’em out:
- Gaylord Opryland
- Holiday Lights at Cheekwood
- Dancing Lights of Christmas
- Zoolumination
- Dickens of a Christmas
- The Belcourt Theatre
- The Nashville Symphony (they’re doing Home Alone and Elf this year!)
Also, be sure to read the Nashville Scene, and subscribe to NASHToday and Do615 to stay up to date on pop-up bars, etc. – those are usually my three sources for finding the latest holiday menus and pop-up bars around town. Happy Holidays!
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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