Wheeling, WV; Charleston, SC; Lake Lanier, GA & Pine Mountain, GA Christmas Light drive-thrus are a relatively young phenomenon, but one which is growing annually in terms of both numbers and popularity of displays. The concept takes the old neighborhood drive-by Christmas light viewing concept to an entirely new level. Most of the best-known displays can be found in … [Read more...]
OSBORNE FAMILY SPECTACLE OF LIGHTS
Orlando, Florida The Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights is arguably the world’s greatest, most concentrated and most extravagant Christmas light display. Created by Jennings Osborne in Little Rock, Arkansas, the famous neighborhood show has since relocated to the tourism-saturated city of Orlando in Florida, where it is now seen annually by millions of visitors to the … [Read more...]
SILVER DOLLAR CITY
Branson, Missouri Virtually every theme park in America which is open at Christmastime is festooned in coordinated decorations and light displays, usually on such a massive scale that only the focused efforts of a major corporate entity can pull it off. No place is this more true than at Silver Dollar City in Branson. Branson, the largest and most popular family vacation … [Read more...]
SYNTAGMA SQUARE
Athens, Greece Syntagma Square is the heart of modern Athens, and over the last few decades has been home to the city’s best Christmas decorations and festivities. Among other things, Athens endeavors to erect one of the largest Christmas trees in Europe every year in Syntagma Square. This tree and the other decorations, along with live entertainment that the square has … [Read more...]
FIFTH AVENUE & ROCKEFELLER CENTER
New York City, New York There are few major cities in the western world that don’t dress up for the holidays, but nobody decks the halls, and avenues, like New York City; and ground zero for New York’s Christmas splendour is the incomparable Rockefeller Center. Built during the 1930s, Rockefeller Center dominates the heart of Midtown Manhattan and is one of the largest … [Read more...]
AVENUE DES CHAMPS-ELYSEES
Paris, France There is no time of the year when the City of Lights more perfectly lives up to its nickname than during the Christmas season. Like most other major cities of Europe, Paris is wrapped up for the holidays in a dizzying array of lights and decorations. However, few other places in Europe, or elsewhere for that matter, can match Paris for the shear scale and … [Read more...]
CLACKAMAS COUNTY TREE FARMS
Estacada, Oregon Over one hundred million natural Christmas trees are grown, harvested and sold around the world every year; and all of those miniature fir, pine and spruce trees have to come from somewhere. Major producers and consumers of Christmas trees include France, Denmark, Canada, Belgium and the British Isles. In Europe, nearly 40 percent of the continent’s fifty … [Read more...]
STRASBOURG CATHEDRAL
Strasbourg, France The city of Strasbourg in France is the self-described ‘Capital City of Christmas’, and there is certainly reason to believe this, at least within the borders of France. Strasbourg, the largest city in the Franco-German frontier region of Alsace, boasts not one but two of France’s most time-honored holiday traditions. First is the Strasbourg Christmas … [Read more...]
ELF LOCATIONS
New York City, New York The most recent of the major additions to the holiday film genre, Elf has re-introduced the wonder of Christmas in New York to an entire new generation of fans. While New York City has been featured in countless holiday movies, from Miracle on 34th Street to Home Alone 2, Elf sweeps across many of New York’s greatest Christmas sites like no other … [Read more...]
THE MCCALLISTER HOUSE, ETC.
Chicago, Illinois Home Alone was Americana movie mogul John Hughes’ great contribution to the Christmas genre, as well as his most successful film. It also made child star Macaulay Culkin a household name. Home Alone tells the story of Kevin McCallister, a youngster separated from his family over Christmas vacation, in a slapstick fight to the finish against thieves … [Read more...]
