Looking to get festive or to avoid the holidays completely? Here are a variety of events to keep you busy until February.

The Art of Painting with Carmen: Held at the Fussell Senior Center, the art class teaches participants how to create a specialized painting chosen by Carmen. Supplies are included in the class fee.  

• Dec. 18, 10 a.m.-noon
• $5 (supply fee)
• 5370 E. Fifth St., Katy

Cocoa, cookies & cuddles: Take a drive out to Rose Therapeutic Farm and enjoy the holiday event featuring fluffy cows, baby goats and lots of snuggles and selfies. Reservations are required. 

• Dec. 28, times vary
• $34 (per person)
• 1324 Peach Ridge Road, Brookshire

Royalous Gaming is now open in Katy.

Zooming in: The internet gaming arena offers more than 30 high-end gaming PCs, console lounges with PS5s and Nintendo Switches, and full sim-racing rigs to a roman-inspired atmosphere. Royalous Gaming is aiming to build a community hub for gamers to play, compete, meet new people and host events, a company representative said. Royalous holds weekly events, tournaments and watch parties, and offers private event and birthday bookings.

Travelers will be able to fly directly to Rome from George Bush Intercontinental Airport, or IAH, beginning May 1, 2026, Houston Mayor John Whitmire announced Dec. 2.

In a nutshell: Italian airline ITA Airways will offer the flights to Rome Fiumicino Airport, Whitmire said during a press conference. The new Houston connection marks the ninth U.S. destination for the airline, officials said.

Joerg Eberhart, CEO and general manager of ITA Airways, said the airline will start with three nonstop flights per week in May and ramp up to five flights per week by June. The flights are already available for purchase through the airline, he said.

Quote of note: “If we look at what’s going on in the Italian economy and the Houston economy, this gives us now the opportunity to go to Italian companies and try to track more of them and locate their U.S. headquarters here in Houston because we’ve got this great service now,” Houston Airports Director of Aviation Jim Szczesniak said.

Nine new medical cannabis dispensaries could soon open in Texas, the Department of Public Safety announced Dec. 1.

The overview: The nine companies were preliminarily approved to join three existing dispensaries that provide medical-grade, low-THC products to eligible patients through the Texas Compassionate Use Program. The program's expansion comes after state lawmakers passed House Bill 46 this spring.

Lawmakers also allowed dispensaries to store products in multiple locations, which advocates said would cut costs, and added more qualifying conditions to the program.

Zooming in: The nine providers given conditional licenses Dec. 1 are:

• Verano Texas LLC in West Texas
• Trulieve TX Inc. in the Panhandle
• Texas Patient Access LLC in North Texas
• Lonestar Compassionate Care Group LLC in North Texas
• Lone Star Bioscience Inc. in South Central Texas
• PC TX OPCO LLC, dba PharmaCann, in Southeast Texas
• Texa OP, dba TexaRx, in the Rio Grande Valley
• Story of Texas LLC in Southeast Texas
• Dilatso LLC in North Texas