While the weather may be unseasonably warm, this is your official warning: the holiday season is closer than you think.

For those who’ve been waiting all year long for the chance to say “‘Tis the season,” the early bird tickets are on sale now for the Niagara-on-the-Lake Rotary Club’s annual Holiday House Tour.

This yearly event is a block-buster tour of a collection of lavishly decorated homes in Niagara-on-the-Lake, offering tourgoers a chance to soak in local historic and cultural sites adorned for the holiday season.

This year’s list includes seven homes in NOTL, which will be open Friday, Dec. 5 and and Saturday, Dec. 6, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tickets are good for both days.

Teams of Niagara-based interior designers and garden centres will deck the halls of these seven homes with unique Christmas decor, inside and out.

Early bird tickets are $49 until Nov. 8, when prices will go up to $54. As in previous years, there are limited tickets available and they typically sell out quickly.

Also part of the Rotary Club’s holiday tour affair are two separate tours/celebrations at the historic McArthur Estate on John Street East: A Merry & Bright Christmas Tour, on Dec. 5 and 6, and A Victorian Candlelight Christmas Tour, on Sunday, Dec. 7.

Co-hosted by the McArthur family and the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum, these tours offer guests a look at how the McArthur Estate celebrates the holiday season, with a magical tour indoors and outdoors on the large estate property.

New this year is the Victorian Candlelight Christmas Tour, which will host a children’s book reading by renowned NOTL artist Trisha Romance of her own book, “A Star for Christmas.”

Proceeds from this evening will go to support the museum’s ongoing expansion project.

Tickets are $65 for the Merry & Bright tour, which is happening every hour, starting at 3:30 p.m. with the last tour at 7:30 p.m., and $75 for the Victorian Candlelight tour, happening every hour at 4, 5 and 6 p.m.

Tickets for children under 13 for all Holiday House Tour events are free.

The full list of houses in the upcoming Holiday House Tour, and their decorators:

• The Cottage, a contemporary home that marries antique, vintage and modern style, at 54 Brock St. (Sprague Interiors Inc. and Sunshine Express Garden Centre)
• Stonewood, a contemporary home with a sculpted garden and pool, at 566 Lansdowne Ave. (Lowkey Farmstead and Willow Cakes Magical Pastry Arts Display)
• The Music House, a 1823 family home that served as the original Methodist meeting house, at 155 Gate St. (Rhonda Holloway of Help Me Rhonda’s Interiors and Faye McAlpine of FMC Designs)
• King’s Landing, a 1908 home built by John J. Wright with a view of the Niagara River, Fort Niagara and Fort George, at 289 Ricardo St. (Regal Florist & Garden Centre)
• Brockamour Manor, a Regency-style 1818 home built by John Powell, at 433 King St. (Decorator: Garden Club of Niagara)
• The Beacon Hill, a 1980s Cape Cod two-storey home, at 686 Charlotte St., (TMV Home Design & Restaging and Sunshine Express Garden Centre)
• Woodbourne Inn, an 1839 Georgian/Victorian-style home initially built as a simple Georgian home by William Woodruff, at 214 Four Mile Creek Rd. in St. Davids, (Bloom & Co)

To get tickets, visit holidayhousetournotl.ca.