Service and Song
Singer-songwriter (and onetime Boston restaurateur) Mary Gauthier performs songs from her latest album, Rifles and Rosary Beads, co-written with veterans and their families through SongwritingWith:Soldiers. The event benefits the national nonprofit, which matches professional musicians with vets and service members to tell their stories through song. Fellow folk artist Jaimee Harris opens at the Charles River Museum in Waltham at 8 p.m. $35. charlesrivermuseum.org
The Telltale Puppets
Puppets and masks blur the line between life and death in Loss of Breath: The Unfinished Life and Death of Edgar Allan Poe. Written and directed by Wesley Savick, a Suffolk University theater professor, the student production incorporates elements of Japanese Noh theater, sideshow illusions, and creations by the Puppet Showplace Theater. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. $15. moderntheatre.com
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Fusion Cuisine
Break out the stretchy pants for the 23d Annual Taste of Jamaica Plain, a showcase of the neighborhood’s dining scene. Wash down food from 20-plus restaurants with libations from Turtle Swamp Brewing and Sam Adams, enjoy live music (at a conversation-friendly volume), and check out the silent auction. The event, at Our Lady of the Annunciation in West Roxbury, benefits the nonprofit social-service agency ESAC. 6 to 10 p.m. $60. esacboston.org
Top Volumes
The 42d Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair fills the Hynes Convention Center with old books and the people who love them. In addition to 130-plus exhibitors of everything from maps to literary ephemera, check out the speakers — including filmmaker Frederick Wiseman — and free appraisals (Sunday 1 to 3 p.m.). Friday (5 to 9 p.m.) $20, Saturday and Sunday free. bostonbookfair.com
Shine On
Get in the holiday spirit at Edaville USA’s Christmas Festival of Lights. Train rides show off more than 17 million lights bringing characters including elves, reindeer, and Santa Claus to life. The old-school amusement park in Carver has more than 90 rides and attractions; on some dates, visitors can sample eggnog and pose for a photo in a life-size snow globe. Daily (except November 22 and December 25) through January 1. $37, ages 2-3 and 60-plus $32. edaville.com
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