Whether you don’t want to dirty your kitchen, are avoiding holiday cheer, or just want a dark, quiet place to sit with your family, there are plenty of restaurants, films, parties, exhibits, and more to help you avoid holiday-induced cabin fever. Here’s what we recommend:

CHRISTMAS EVE

Dine out

Get cultured

                • “Diana Thater: The Sympathetic Imagination” at the Museum of Contemporary Art
                      • The Newberry Library’s “Creating Shakespeare”• The Field Museum’s “Tattoo”• “Making Mainbocher: The First American Couturier” at the Chicago History Museum

See a show

More!

Open Table has a list of more than 70 places that will be open on Christmas Day. Here are seven Reader-recommended spots:

CHRISTMAS DAY

                      • A Denzel Washington-directed adaptation of August Wilson’s Fences       • The grief-filled Manchester By the Sea• Disney’s latest animated musical, Moana
 • The first-contact drama Arrival• Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight
 • Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone’s turn in the musical La La Land

ANYTIME

Ice Skate