Downtown Zion is hosting a really beautiful light show, Festival of Lights, we heard about from a friend. We decided to visit on a Saturday night after dinner with the kids. As we got closer to Shiloh Park where the exhibit is located, it started to snow. We found the entrance to the drive thru light displays, which is actually a service road. It was really pretty with the snow falling and the different displays. The kids favorite were the dinosaurs! I think we stopped and watch them for about 5 minutes! The archways and bridge were a big hit too. There are several places to stop and take pictures or enjoy the displays without disrupting the flow of traffic, which is very nice. As we drove out of the park we could see Santa’s Castle to the right. We decided to find a parking spot and get in line, so the kids could see Santa. As we walked in, we noticed the line to see Santa was very long. We decided to walk along the paths and see all the holiday decorated display cases. The path was decorated with little trees all lighted up for Christmas, like a seen right out of a movie. There was probably over 70 of them total. Each one was better than the last. I was so amazed at how much detail was put into each display case. Each one, lighted up and some had music and were even animated, and they were all labeled with who worked on the case and described what it was. We could take as much time as we wanted at each display, the kids enjoyed it as well, even though they were more excited to try and get to see Santa.
Kringle’s Kingdom is located right were the Zion pool is. Which I thought was kind of neat, because they had presents coming down the water slides and the pool all decorated for the holidays. By now, it was snowing pretty hard and was very windy. We decided to head home and drive thru the downtown area to look at the decorations. I can only imagine the man hours it took to wrap all of those trees in lights! Overall, we really enjoyed our short visit and hope to return before the exhibit is gone at the end of the year.

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One of my all time favorite movies is “Christmas Vacation.” It is one of those movies that really gets people into the holiday spirit. We can all relate to some aspects of the movie, which is why it’s so great. In my opinion, the best part of the movie is when, after hours and hours of risking his life putting lights out on his house, Clark Griswold finally enjoyed his masterpiece – the only problem was that his light show blinded the neighbors and caused power outages; luckily Clark Griswold does not live in Vernon Hills.

We went to see the outdoor Winter Wonderland Holiday Light Show (located in Vernon Hills), and I was immediately reminded of “Christmas Vacation” because of the amount of lights. The lights are set-up on the property of the Cuneo Museum. You get to stay in your car which is nice. We drove through the property looking at hundreds of light designs and decorations, we had such a fun time looking at all the lights and Disney characters. Reese especially loved any of the lights that moved, such as the rocking horse and the Ferris wheel.
I really liked the 12 Days of Christmas part. As you drive through the show, little by little you see each day lit up with an image of that days part (i.e. 5 Golden Rings, etc.). We also enjoyed looking for and counting the snow men. At the beginning of the show, there is a sign that challenges you to count how many snowmen you see throughout the ride. The answer is at the end of the show and needless to say, we were wrong – we must have missed some along the way!

The drive through the light show was surprisingly a lot longer than we thought it would be, we assumed it would be nothing more than a 5 minute drive through. This is something we plan to make a tradition each year before Christmas. As we exited the light show, I thought back to “The Griswold’s Christmas Vacation” and realized that the lights at this show put their house to shame!

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Office buildings, strip malls and condos are going up everywhere. The days of driving by big empty fields is getting less and less common. It’s refreshing to see something historic and beautiful still standing and being preserved. We visited the Cuneo Museum this weekend and took the “Holiday Tour of the Mansion”.

I had never been to the museum, however, I had heard about how beautiful it was. That was the feeling we had as we drove through the winding drive and saw the house and yard. Even with all of the snow and slush, it was still evident that this was a gorgeous estate.

The house was owned by the Cuneo family. John Cuneo, Sr. was a successful businessman and farmer. We were told that his kids grew up in the home and some of them now live in nearby areas and still visit occasionally.

The tour begins in The Great Hall. They have a huge Christmas tree set-up with a lot of lights and ornaments. As our guide began the tour, it was evident we were about to learn a lot about the Cuneo family just by seeing their decorations, tastes and furniture. It is apparent that a lot of thought and detail went into each room in the house. It was neat to enter the home and go through the great hall into the dining area and be able to imagine how guests would have felt arriving for a party or event.

We were most surprised to see a chapel inside the home, evidently the Cuneo family was very religious! The chapel is equipped with pews, stained glass windows and other decorative ambiance typically seen in Catholic churches.

The home is very open; the second floor overlooks the Great Hall. There are several bedrooms and bathrooms on the second floor. We loved seeing the bedrooms and imagining the personalities that went along with each of the people who lived there.

The whole house was decorated for the holidays. We learned that one of the trees decorated in a circus theme was actually done by one of the Cuneo’s themselves who comes in to set this up every year, which added a realism to our experience.

We finished the tour and left the house feeling like we had a better understanding about how this family had lived. It’s amazing how much things have changed. This home had so much character and history behind it. The architectural beauty, ancient artwork on the walls and holiday theme made this a memorable experience for us.

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The wintery first weekend of December found me en route to the Westfield Hawthorn shopping mall in Vernon Hills, determined, for once, to begin my Christmas shopping before the last minute. I parked my car and entered the mall through JCPenney, leaving the slush and snow behind and embracing the warm atmosphere within. Throughout the store, Christmas trees comprised of softball-sized globes in varying shades of red lent a decorative flare to the clothing displays. I browsed through the mens' shirts before a rainbow of sports penants just outside the doorway caught my eye. Moments in Sports showcased just about every type of sports memorabilia I could think of, at the same time representing every sports team imaginable. I made some mental notes of potential gifts for the sports fans on my shopping list. Outside, I came across a train chugging around a winding set of tracks. An excited-looking young boy sat at the controls, and smiled as his locomotive made its way around the crowd of onlookers. I continued on past the front of Gamestop, and decided I would stop by later on, as the store was already bursting with youngsters and their parents.
I noticed that the festive atmosphere permeated the mall as I strolled further, with warm lights and pine boughs adorning the walkways. A pleasant scent caught my nostris and led me to Pretzel Tide, a booth specializing in the Bavarian treats. Nearby, a store called Wet Seal was bustling with young women perusing the latest fashions. I noted a couple of articles that seemed to be to my girlfriend's tastes, and decided to check back. Outide, the holidays were definitely in full swing at Woody's, where trees and wreaths led the way amongst stuffed animals and ornaments. Nearby, I watched with a group of onlookers at the Wii demo station, where exuberant youth tried out games for the Nintendo Wii system. The spectators (including myself) were almost as amused as the kids, who jumped and played guitars in synchronization with the video game characters on the screens.
At Macy's, elaborately ornamented trees and wooden nutcracker dolls caught the eyes of interested mall-goers. I rode down the escalator to the lower level, where a line of children waited to sit on Santa Claus' lap at the Wish Station. The woman behind me exclaimed "Oh, a puppy!", and I looked up to see a smiling girl get off of Santa's lap with her black and white puppy in her arms. Nearby at Raceline Motorworks, a crowd watched as racing enthusiasts steered model cars around the store's elaborate racetrack. I continued over to Barnes & Nobles to peruse the magazines and buy some books as gifts, and decided to stop for a cranberry scone and some orange tea before proceeding.

Around a bend, small waterfalls in the front of a store called Home Accents caught my attention, and I stepped inside to see what else I might find. Eastern gifts of all varieties were on display, and I took a liking to some hand-carved sculptures of elephants and lucky Oriental dragons. I continued on to find Playtown Westfield, a fantasy playground where small kids climbed on giant turtles and cars, and adults rested on green padded seating. Towards the middle of the mall, I looked up to marvel at an enormous Christmas tree loaded with presents underneath. At the front of the tree, sporting their purple and yellow uniforms, the Wauconda Junior Bulldogs' Elite Cheerleaders lent their giftwrapping skills to mall customers. My last stop before heading out was Rock America, a rock n roll memorabilia store selling everything from Rolling Stones clocks to Bob Marley wallets. A lifelike,18" Freddie Mercury doll that played Queen's greatest hits struck me as something a friend of mine would like, and a collectors' item too good to pass up. It seems like we all say that the holidays aren't the same as one gets older, but I can safely say that I left Westfiled Hawthorne this weekend with a warm feeling of holiday cheer, and an armload of cool gifts to boot.

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