What to Do on a December Saturday?

December is usually the busiest month of the year for me.  There is just soooo much that I want to do; so many fun ways to celebrate the Christmas season!

          

 

 

The Christmas  concerts, caroling, gift shopping, gift wrapping, cookie baking, cookie eating, the list goes on and on.... 

I was looking for something to do that was Christmasy, but something I hadn't seen before.  The Visitors Center in Hammond, Indiana was just the ticket.  Yeah, who knew a Visitors Center could be so entertaining?

  

Visitors get to be the judges of a Christmas Tree Contest, by casting a vote for their favorite tree.  The trees were all so pretty; voting for just one was a difficult task, but I got 'er done.  I picked the Garden Club's Tree because it was outstanding!!!  Decorated with dried flowers, pine cones and herbs, it not only looked fabulous, but had a heavenly scent as well:

I found the Danish tree very interesting:

  

  

Intricate decorations made of white plastic straws were astonishing:

 

The Polish tree, decorated with apples and ornaments made of natural straw, was equally astonishing:

  

One of my favorite holiday traditions are watching the Christmas movies and holiday specials.  A Christmas Story ranks right up there among my top five favs.  I'd say my list of Holiday Favorites looks something like this:

         1. It's A Wonderful Life

         2. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon)

         3. A Christmas Story

         4. It's Christmas Time Charlie Brown

         5. Elf

The Visitor's Center was also decorated with scenes from A Christmas Story.

The movie cracks me up.  Notice how the elf is "helping" to move the kids along:

Of course the leg lamp is a big icon in the movie.

Thus, there was also an ugly lamp contest, where once again, us visitors got to be the judge.

I voted for lamp #1, The Old Boot.

I would have loved to have a doll house like the house in this scene:

Did I mention the scenes were animated?  Yup, that's right, the characters actually moved about.

If a person likes the movie, then they would like the display.

However, if a person has no clue of what the movie is about, then they may still like the displays even though they may be very confused by them. :)

The hospitality at the Hammond Visitor Center was remarkable!  They offered a free seat in the movie room for a showing of-- what else-- A Christmas Story.

They also have a gift shop stocked with leg lamps to be purchased.

And just as you think the adventure is coming to an end, the concierge offers directions to Peteyville.

Well, How would a person recognize Peteyville?  You'll know it when ya see it!  :)

I don't know if my three stands of blue lights still qualify as decorating the outside of the house after seeing this:

Oh My!

It's something to see!

Seeing it in person was overwhelming-- I had to study each section for a few minutes to take it all in.

Byeee Peteyville.

If your looking for something unique to do that's Christmasy, I recommend a trip to Hammond, Indiana's Visitor Center and Peteyville. :)