For many of us, the Christmas holidays are among the most precious times of the year. A glittering tree, stockings hung with care and anticipation, the exchange of gifts–all serve to keep childhood memories alive.
Many of our cherished traditions, however, are relatively new. Here are some Midwestern spots where you can share and enjoy both Christmas past and Christmas present.
Wisconsin
Christmas Through the Years, Old World Wisconsin, Eagle. At Wisconsin’s outdoor living history complex, you can celebrate Christmas as Wisconsin’s settlers did. Visit an elaborately decorated Victorian home and a sparsely adorned Finnish farmhouse where children await Joulu-Pukki, the traditional Christmas goat. Join in hymn singing at St. Peters’ Church. Costumed interpreters help bring 19th Century immigrants’ traditions to life.
Peek into the general store–it’s stocked with holiday provisions. Then meet an Old World St. Nick who relates stories of Christmases past in other countries.
Old World Wisconsin, S103 W37890 Hwy 67, Eagle (30 miles west of Milwaukee). Call 414-594-6300. Self-guided tours 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Nov. 29-30, Dec. 6-7, 13-14. Fee: $7 adults, $3.50 ages 5-12.
Guided lantern-light Christmas tours are available 6-9 p.m. Dec. 5 and 12 only. Fee: $20 per person, reservations required. Call 414-594-6304.
A Polish holiday dinner will be held at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 6-7 and 13-14 in the historic Clausing barn. Hors d’oeuvres, music and entertainment will be followed by an authentic Polish holiday dinner and more ethnic entertainment.
Fee: $55 per person (includes tour). Reservations required (no children under 4). Call 414-594-2922.
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, Lincoln-Tallman Restorations, Janesville. Built in 1857 by businessman William Tallman, this beautifully restored, 26-room Italianate mansion gained a special place in history when Abraham Lincoln spent two nights here in 1859.
For the holidays, the mansion is bedecked as if the Tallman family were preparing for a 19th Century Christmas celebration. Victorian decorations, including paper bells, garlands, blown-glass ornaments and dried flowers, grace the parlors while fine china and linens in the dining room are set off by tall candlesticks in a profusion of evergreens, holly berries and gold beads.
Upstairs, a table-top children’s tree is trimmed with tiny gifts, ribbons and candles. The decorated bedchambers show off antique trunks brought by house guests, with sweaters and heavy cloaks laid out in preparation for outdoor adventures.
Lincoln-Tallman Restorations, 440 N. Jackson St., Janesville. Christmas tours 9 a.m.-4 p.m. daily through Dec. 31 (closed Christmas). Admission: $5 adults, $4.50 age 62 and over, $2.50 age 18 and under.
“Sing We Now of Christmas,” a program of Victorian-era Christmas carols, will be presented by baritone Brian Beecher in the mansion’s parlors at 7 p.m. Dec. 21. Admission: $8 adults, $6 age 18 and under.
For information, call the Rock County Historical Society; 608-756-4509.
Christmas in the Country, Grand Geneva Resort & Spa, Lake Geneva. More than 500,000 tiny lights illuminate the night at this 1,300-acre resort, forming dramatic displays that include “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” a Victorian village, Santa’s stable and reindeer, and other favorites.
Visitors are also welcome to view the resort’s interior decorations, featuring dozens of Christmas trees, holiday flowers, garlands and animated holiday scenes.
A sampling of other holiday events includes:
– Fireside teas served by Dickensian characters, 3:30-5 p.m. daily, Dec. 2-28 ($6.50 per person).
– A “Christmas in the County” musical celebration featuring traditional holiday music performed in non-traditional ways. Performances at Grand Geneva’s Evergreen Theatre on 2 p.m. Wednesdays, 2 and 8 p.m. Thursdays and 8:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Dec. 29. Admission: matinees, $12 adults, $10 age 18 and under, and age 62 and over; Thursday and Friday evenings, $14 and $12; Saturday evenings, $15 and $13.
– Holiday music performed 6-7 nightly by local choirs and musicians, Dec. 4-28. Free.
– Symbolic lighting of the Hanukkah Menorah in the resort lobby at 6 p.m. daily, Dec. 23-30.
Grand Geneva Resort & Spa, 7036 Grand Geneva Way at Hwys 50 East and 12, Lake Geneva. The nightly illumination runs dusk-midnight through Jan. 4. A special holiday lodging package is available. For additional information and reservations, call 800-558-3417.
Illinois
Christmas at Bishop Hill. With its quaint brick buildings and picturesque village green, this west-central Illinois village could be its own Christmas card.
Founded by Swedish religious dissidents in 1846, Bishop Hill became a symbol of mid-19th Century Swedish immigration to America. Today the hamlet of 130 is a National Historic Landmark attracting more than 100,000 visitors each year. Its Old World heritage and ties remain strong–Sweden’s King Carl Gustaf XVI and Queen Silvia attended the village sesquicentennial in 1996. Holiday traditions here are especially charming:
– Julmarknad (Christmas Market), 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Nov. 28-30, Dec. 6-7. Village shops (some 20 in all) are decorated for the holidays, and local restaurants serve Swedish delicacies. There’s music and activities for children.
– Lucia Nights (Festival of Lights), 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Dec. 12-13. Coffee and sweets are served in shops and museums, and carolers stroll the streets. Bishop Hill comes aglow at dusk as villagers place lighted candles in each window. A holiday concert by the Nova Singers takes place at the Colony Church at 7 and 7:45 both evenings. Admission: free (limit of 300 per concert).
– Julotta (Christmas meeting), 6 a.m. Dec. 25. The non-denominational candlelight service, presented in both Swedish and English at the Colony Church, draws worshipers from near and far. Coffee and Swedish rusks are served afterward.
Bishop Hill is located in Henry County, 35 miles northeast of Galesburg. For additional information, call 309-927-3345.
Country Christmas, Galena. The nostalgic charm of a Currier-and-Ives-style Christmas can be found in historic Galena, where carolers stroll the streets, and holiday lights and pine garlands grace the Victorian mansions and Main Street Historic District.
Holiday highlights include:
– Lamplight tours of the Ulysses S. Grant Home State Historic Site. Kerosene lamps glow and the Italianate home where Grant lived when elected president is decorated for an 1870s Christmas. Tours 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Nov. 28-30, Dec. 6-7, 13-14. Suggested donation: $2 adults, $1 age 17 and under.
– Complimentary hot beverages, cookies and holiday music for foot-weary shoppers at the Old Market House State Historic Site annex, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Nov. 28-30, Dec. 6-7, 13-14. Santa’s House, in the same building, is open 2-4 p.m. on the same dates, except Nov. 28. Admission to both is free.
– The Galena Chamber Ensemble’s annual Christmas Concert at Turner Hall at 7 p.m. Dec. 7. Musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra provide the entertainment. Admission: $10 adults, $5 age 18 and under.
– The Main Street Players production of “Fruitcakes,” a zany holiday comedy, at the Sinsinawa Mound Theater (10 miles northwest of Galena) at 8 p.m. Dec. 6, and 2 p.m. Dec. 7. Admission: $10 adults, $5 age 12 and under.
– The Night of Luminara, beginning at 6 p.m. Dec. 20. On this magical night, thousands of candles line Galena’s riverfront levee and trace the steps and hillsides throughout town.
For additional information, call 800-747-9377.
Indiana
Conner Prairie by Candlelight, Fishers. It is Christmas Eve, 1836, and the windows in the cabins and homes of the re-created village of Prairietown are bathed in the warm glow of candle light. Holiday traditions as we know them are just beginning to take root in central Indiana, and village residents welcome you into their homes to share their feelings about Christmas.
Mrs. Zimmerman, the innkeeper at the Golden Eagle Inn, is baking cookies and remembering earlier Christmases in Pennsylvania. At the schoolhouse, the schoolmaster prepares for the next day’s classes and takes care that the children can’t lock him out of the school on Christmas Day.
Down the street, Dr. and Mrs. George Campbell are having a lavish Christmas Eve party, complete with food and festive decorations. Visitors who drop by might have a chance to sample a cookie or join in the singing of carols.
But the Fentons and the McClures won’t be attending. For religious or personal reasons, neither family holds much truck with the holiday.
Conner Prairie, 13400 Allisonville Rd., Fishers (just north of Indianapolis). Ninety-minute Christmas tours offered 5:30-8:30 p.m. Dec. 4-23 (except Dec. 8 and 15). Admission: $10 adults, $8 ages 3-12. Reservations are required; call 800-966-1836 or 317-773-0666.
Warm clothes and comfortable footwear are the order of the day at any of these holiday events.
