By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN

dobrien@dailynews.net

Fried apples and hot cider. Movies, popcorn and caroling.

Freshly decorated trees. Snow on the ground.

Beginning to sound a lot like Christmas?

Historic Fort Hays can promise everything -- except maybe the snow every year -- at its traditional Christmas Past open house.

The fort, along with the Kansas Historical Society, once again will kick off the holiday season this weekend.

One of the longest ongoing Christmas celebrations in Hays, the 39th annual event is set for 7 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Historic Fort Hays, located about a half mile west of the corner of Main Street and U.S. Highway 183 Alternate.

The event is free to the public.

"What's really gratifying about the event is that we hear people say this kicks off their Christmas season," said Bob Wilhelm, director of Historic Fort Hays. "We see some people out here both nights."

One of those is Hays resident Melanie Miller, who has attended the event every single year since moving to western Kansas from New York in 1982.

Miller, director of Hays Public Library, said she was taking in all sorts of new things her first year in Hays.

After attending Christmas Past that December, she hasn't missed a year -- and has gone both nights most years.

Miller said she looks forward to the event as the beginning of her Christmas season, anticipating the feeling she always gets from the Christmas traditions in the dimly lit buildings with light from candles and kerosene lanterns.

"It's a very good re-creation of what life was like here way back then," she said of the mid-1800s.

Miller recalled a night in the early 1990s that she said she never will forget.

"There was a full moon, (several inches) of snow on the ground and an icy glaze over the snow," she said.

"With those candles, it was just beautiful," Miller said in reference to walkways lined with luminaries.

Visitors will be able to ride on a horse-drawn wagon around the grounds and visit the blockhouse, guardhouse and officer's quarters.

There will be the traditional fried apples and hot apple cider warmed over a campfire, as well as fresh popcorn and homemade cookies, a short Christmas film and a display from the Kansas Pacific Model Railroad Club.

Visitors can even join in the caroling in the officer's quarters.

"It's magical; you can imagine being here at the fort 100 years ago," Miller said. "It has historical roots."

"It's my favorite (Christmas) event in Hays," she added. "I wouldn't miss it."