As the holidays near their crescendo, two North End communities are tuning up for the Christmas season, providing residents in North Kitsap with the opportunity to make some yuletide memories.

Kingston and Port Gamble will host their respective Country Christmas festivals this weekend, enticing the public to join in the seasonal fun.

This year, Kingston’s eighth Country Christmas begins bright and early Dec. 9 with a Santa Breakfast at Wolfle Elementary School. The meal will include pancakes, eggs, juice, coffee and a visit from the jolly old elf himself. Children and families will be able to get photos with Santa, and though the breakfast wasn’t an original part of Kingston Country Christmas, it’s the perfect way to start the day, said Kingston Country Christmas co-organizer Stephanie Stebbing.

“This year, we made a point to coincide with the breakfast,” she said. “We really thought it would be a good beginning to the celebration this year.”

Festival events will get underway at 11 a.m., she said, with daylong activities including hay wagon rides, horse draw carriages, booths and vendors, arts and crafts for kids, music and an art walk organized by artist Marilyn Bode and the Kingston Art Gallery.

Co-organizer Betty Mathers said she is trying to inspire local businesses to deck the halls, as it were, by having festival goers vote on the best decorated and coziest businesses in Kingston.

“We’re trying to encourage merchants to get gussied up for Kingston Country Christmas,” Stebbing said. “It’s a fun, fun event, and the businesses have fun decorating for it.”

Carolers will wander the Little City by the Sea, serenading the public for about an hour, beginning at noon. The Kingston Junior High School band will perform in the Thriftway parking lot at 2 p.m., followed by the Hometown Band at 3:30 p.m., Mathers said. The Hometown Band is new to the celebration and she feels it will be well received.

“I think everything will go beautifully,” Mathers said. “I think it will be a success, and people will really enjoy themselves.”

“I love how many people make this yearly event,” Stebbing said. “It’s wonderful that it’s becoming a holiday tradition.”

Port Gamble will create its own traditions with its Country Christmas celebration, Dec. 9 and 10. Spreading out through the historic mill town and over two days, the festival will welcome residents with music, gingerbread and all things Christmas, said event organizer Julie McAfee.

“I believe this is our ninth annual Country Christmas,” she said. “Each one is more fantastic than the last. I’m really looking forward to this year’s.”

Santa will make an appearance at the Dauntless Bookstore to hear wishes and pose for photos, and then will help light the tree Saturday night. Kids will have the chance to construct and eat gingerbread houses in the basement of St. Paul’s Church from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, McAfee said. Carolers will roam Port Gamble’s streets, singing Christmas songs as people shop and enjoy the holiday event. The third annual fruitcake competition starts at 1 p.m. Saturday, and though not open to the public, anyone with a nutty recipe is asked to participate, McAfee said.

“This is an old-fashioned Christmas celebration,” she said. “It’s fun for the whole town. The shop owners have a great time, the people who visit have a great time — it’s a wonderful holiday event. There’s a little something for everybody here.”

For more information about the Port Gamble Country Christmas, call (360) 297-8074. For more information about the Kingston Country Christmas, call (360) 297-4165.