Taking the Kids: Twelve places to see the holiday lights
Indianapolis, Indiana. Check out the Soldiers and Sailors Monument with about 4,784 lights. Admission to this annual Circle of Lights, event is free. Travelocity named the Circle of Lights one of the top five "must-see Christmas trees" in the nation, and don't pass up all the holiday fun at The Children's Museum Indianapolis, the largest children's museum in the nation.
A tacky light tour
Richmond, Virginia, produces the Tacky Light Tour every winter. It is a local tradition taking place on selected dates between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve and features festive light displays, lawn decorations and animated scenery. And from Richmond to Virginia Beach, there are 100 miles of lights -- and holiday events.
On a boat
In Seattle, Washington, the The Argosy Christmas Ship Festival is a ship-to-shore holiday celebration that has been a Northwest tradition since 1949. They decorate the ship with hundreds of shimmery white lights and it will sail to different Puget Sound waterfront communities throughout December 2018.
View more than 1.5 million lights on the largest on-the-water holiday light display in the United States on the Coeur d’Alene Resort Journey to the North Pole Cruise.
By time-traveling
Experience a special holiday program each day in December in Colonial Williamsburg and see how the holidays would have been celebrated in the 18th century with musical performances, a ball and authentic foods, as they would have been prepared. Christmastide in Virginia at Jamestown Settlement and American Revolution Museum at Yorktown offers a glimpse of 17th- and 18th-century holiday traditions from Dec. 20 through 31.
In a car
In Springfield, Massachusetts, the three-mile Bright Nights festival at Forest Park is, according to People magazine, "One of the Top Ten Holiday Happenings in America."
In St. Paul, Minnesota, Holiday Lights in the Park will run nightly, Nov. 24 through Jan. 1, 2019 at Saint Paul's Phalen Park. Cruise through the park gawking at more than 60 huge holiday light sculptures and animated displays.
Happy gawking!
========
(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow "taking the kids" on www.twitter.com, Facebook and Instagram where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments.)
(c) 2018 DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
