Downtown Highland Park Home Sweet Home for the Holidays Adds Special Whimsy to the 2023 Holiday Season

 

Highland Park continues to be an epicenter of delightful family activities year after year, season after season including this holiday season! During November and December, Downtown Highland Park Alliance invites families to several events adding extra magic to the holidays.

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Wednesday Weekend Windup {Holiday Fun in the Chicago Suburbs November 29-December 2, 2018}

This weekend is definitely one to get your holiday spirit on! There are so many great events -- here are my picks:

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Holiday Lights at Lilacia Park in Lombard, Illinois

Overall the weather this December has been pretty mild considering we live in the Chicago area. However, I chose one of the coldest evenings to explore the magnificent light display at Lilacia Park in Lombard, Illinois. We did plan a bit ahead and brought some coffee and cocoa. I am glad we thought ahead because Lilacia Park is not to be missed!

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Dickens Holiday Village in Antioch, Illinois

Last weekend, we visited Antioch, Illinois to see the annual Dickens Holiday Village. The village features Charles Dickens characters throughout downtown. The figures are crafted by volunteers and add extra charm as you shop the quaint downtown.

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Welcoming the Holidays with Stroll on State in Rockford, Illinois

Rockford's Stroll on State heralds in the holidays with traditional family fun, spectacular light displays, festive performances, a jubilant parade complete with inflatables, spirit lifting fire and ice displays and much more. The event packs in pretty much every holiday delight I can think of from ice skating to petting reindeer to making s'mores to holiday light shows to carriage rides and so much more. Plus, it annually falls on Small Business Saturday, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Not only do Rockford's small businesses open their doors but many also have live entertainment just for the event. Stroll on State truly is an experience that can easily become an annual family tradition.

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Home for the Holidays Village Wide Holiday Event in Barrington, IL December 2, 2017

Home for the Holidays is a village wide holiday event in Barrington, Illinois on December 2. Holiday fun will be threaded throughout the village providing families with a full day of free holiday cheer. The event includes a petting zoo, ice carving, a model train display, a "Nutcracker" performance, Santa visits, carriage rides and much more. The holiday event runs 10AM-6:30PM and culminates with Santa's arrival to the tree lighting aboard a fire truck. A free holiday trolley will transport your family from festival to festival. A great day to celebrate Christmas, family and the community! Be sure to shop local while creating holiday memories!

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Stroll on State in Rockford, Illinois November 25, 2017

Stroll on State in Rockford, Illinois is coming up on November 25, 2017 and is a FANTASTIC way to kick off the holidays. The festival encompasses several streets in downtown Rockford and along the Rock River bursting with holiday fun. There.Is.A.Ton.To.Do! The event is in its fifth year and we are happy to make the trip this year. If you are looking for something to do next weekend, I highly recommend putting this on your list. This visit will actually be our second --- so you can tell that we love it!

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Illumination Returns to Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois November 17, 2017

Illumination at The Morton Arboretum is an incredibly innovative light display that incorporates the nature at the arboretum, lights, music and movement. The event is quite magical and true encouragement to get out in nature on a winter evening. Now is a good time to plan ahead to visit because schedules certainly fill up quickly this time of year! We have been visiting Illumination for the past few years and find it incredibly unique -- a wonderful family tradition!

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Unique Holiday Events in the Midwest

The next two months will certainly be a bit of a blur as we celebrate good tidings and savor those special moments that only happen during the holidays. Before we get all wrapped up in the revelry, I have gathered some unique holiday celebrations in the Midwest with the help of some of my favorite travel gurus. If you are planning something different, here are events that top our lists. Please add your favorites in comments. We all love to add a new holiday celebration to our traditions!

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Impressive Holiday Light Displays in Chicago Suburbs

Image from Illumination at Morton Arboretum

Holiday Lights are here! I have a collection of light displays and home displays that I have found throughout the Chicago suburbs and one in Chicago that seems to be one people love to visit. I will add if I find more--particularly the houses. Please feel free to add comments of your finds. Word of mouth is the best way to find these treasures!

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Ideas for Holiday Fun in Michigan!

Sometimes road trip inspiration can be hard to come by in the winter months. Fortunately for us, travel writer and Michigander Jessie Voigts has put together a great list of upcoming holiday events in nearby Michigan sure to inspire a road trip or two! Thank you to Jessie putting this holiday round up together!

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Festive Cardstock Christmas Ornament Craft

Each season, I enjoy working on a little craft with my daughter. I have been spying cardstock ornaments pop up all over the past few weeks and thought hmmmm....I think we could work on one of these together! I found one over at Hometown Perch that is PERFECT for children my daughter's age so we gave it a whirl. I am glad we tried because it really is an excellent project for 9-year-olds. Now that I have worked on a couple with her, she can easily do some on her own! Plus, they are cute!

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Free Online Holiday Fun and Games, Movies and More!

Image via Pixabay

Inevitably, we all have a wee bit of down time or the need for a a little bit of a mental escape during the holidays. Fortunately, the internet houses plenty of resources at our finger tips! Here is a round up of several websites for free online fun the kiddos (and you) during the holidays:

hoopla is an online source of movies, television shows and music offered through your local library. Many of you probably have access and don't even know it yet! (I actually didn't know we had access until a local library tweeted about it.) hoopla has a nice collection of holiday movies but also is a great resource for year-round entertainment. Viewing does need be on a tablet.

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Columbus Day History {for a little fun}

Today is Columbus Day, so some of you have found yourself home with the kiddos. My daughter has really been enjoying learning about the explorers and actually began her long weekend by watching a little video about none other than Christopher Columbus.

I am total history junkie and I love reading about holidays because you always learn something new! Here is a little trivia for today:

• Columbus presented his plan to sail West to reach China to both Portugal and England before Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain gave him their support.
• By 1492, most educated Europeans knew that the Earth was round. The ancient Greeks had already proved this.
• When Columbus discovered Hispaniola, he actually thought that the island could be Japan.
• By his third voyage, Columbus realized that he had not reached China.
• Columbus sent Queen Isabella 500 Native American slaves as a gift. She was abhorred and believed that as Spanish subjects, they could not be enslaved.
• Columbus' rule over the new colony was often brutal and he was brought back to Spain in chains. Yet, Ferdinand would still finance the explorer's final voyage.
• On his last voyage to the New World, Columbus made it all the way to Panama.
• Columbus' remains were moved several times until he reached his final resting place in Seville, Spain.
• President Franklin D. Roosevelt made Columbus Day an official national holiday in 1937.
• Columbus Day is not a public holiday in Alaska, California, Nevada and Hawaii. 
• In Hawaii, the day is known as Landing Day or Discoverer's Day in honor of the state's Polynesian discoverers. South Dakota observes Native American Day while Berkley, California observes Indigenous People's Day.

Sources: History.com, Wikipedia, CBS News
The Northwest Florida Daily News

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Website Wednesday: Holidays Around the World

One thing that I have always loved to do is learn about traditions throughout the world. Sometimes, I think that these traditions are really being lost in this fast paced world. Through my daughter's eyes, I see the vigor that some of us still have in learning about these traditions. I think that it is important to remember these special little things about life or we will lose them.

For this Website Wednesday, I thought that I would collect a few websites where you can find some information about interesting celebrations across the globe. Check these sites for some interesting information:

Six outdoor (ok, one is in a cave) Christmas celebrations are discussed in Six Christmas Traditions From Around the World in the New York Times.

The History Channel has a ton of information and videos about the holidays. If you go to their holiday page, you will see a list of holidays. Just click on one of the holidays and you will be brought to a page with information and videos about that holiday.

The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has quite an extensive amount of information. The website has a list of countries. All you need to do is click on one of the countries to learn about their Christmas traditions. The Museum of Science and Industry also has pages dedicated to Hanukkah, Diwali, Chinese New Year, Kwanzaa, and Ramadan.

With these websites, you find tons of interesting information about celebrations around the world! Maybe you will start some new ones of your own!

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Cheap Holiday Fun for Kids (Adding Affordable Sparkle!)

There are so many affordable ways to get your child into the holiday spirit. I love to load up on these ideas to have them ready to add a little more holiday magic for my daughter. With kids, it is the little things that often make the season that much more magical. Here are some of my ideas for this year:

• Watch holiday programming on the TV. To do this, you really want to plan now. Start by checking your stations' programming schedule.ABC Family has an excellent list of its holiday programming. By preparing, you can get your holiday fix in without missing some of your favorites!

• You don't need to see Santa at the mall. Santa makes many appearances at local festivals during the season. Many times these jolly functions are free or low cost and you can take your own pictures. (Let's face it, the cost of the pictures at the malls often can be outrageous. Also, the lines tend to be shorter.) 

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Erin Go Bragh Menu

With St. Paddy's Day around the corner, it is time to get together my menu for the day's feast.  Every year we look forward to some corned beef and cabbage.  I honestly don't eat very much beef, but I am all about it on St. Patrick's Day.  The recipe that I used for my base is the New England Boiled Dinner recipe from Better Homes and Gardens.  I have used the same recipe for 12 years!  Here is the recipe with my modifications through the years:

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