Christmas in St. Louis

If you're like me, nothing is better than going to look at the Christmas light displays. Some of the best fun I have with my nieces and nephews is just driving around after dusk, looking for houses displaying a fantastic light show. These little gems are sometimes tucked away in a little cul-de-sac, so you have to keep your eyes peeled for the telltale glow emanating from the house. Kids are great at spotting these hidden gems and take great pleasure in screaming at the top of their lungs, "STOP…GO BACK!!!!"

There are several nice free Christmas activities available every year here in the St. Louis area. Two fun spots are actually in Belleville, IL, a fifteen-minute ride from downtown St. Louis. The first one is Eckert's Christmas tree farm where you can ride a tractor pulled wagon out to the 40 acre Christmas Tree Forest to pick out and chop down your own tree. While you're in Belleville, you can find a pretty little light show in The National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. The Shrine, founded in 1958, is open year-round for Catholic religious programs and devotions for any faith in its 200-acre facility. During Christmas, you can drive your car through the 1.5-mile light display, passing a life-size nativity scene and numerous religion themed displays, such as Lourdes Grotto, Our Lady of the Cross, Resurrection Garden and Way of the Cross. You can also park your car and go inside to visit the gift shop and a Christmas tree display.

Now you can head back into St. Louis and stop at Macy's Department Store at Sixth and Locust and check out the Christmas display window. Macy's just bought out the old Famous-Barr store in September, but they assured me when I called that there would be a Christmas window.

If you go just a few blocks south of downtown proper, you can visit the Anheuser Busch Brewery. With its beautifully maintained historical buildings outlined in lights, it is a sight to behold. The entire grounds are lit with over 800,000 twinkling and color -changing lights, including a wonderful 55' high Douglas fir tree.

Another great spot for children is The St. Louis Zoo where you can make reservations to have breakfast with Santa on Saturday and Sunday at 9:00 and 11 a.m. There will be an opportunity to get pictures with Santa as well as visit the Zoo itself, featuring over 11,000 animals, which is wonderfully decorated for the holiday. If you go on selected evenings, you can take the Wild Lights stroll which features animated light displays such as the Flamingo lagoon and butterfly garden, Candy Cane Lane, Penguins in Paradise and listen to bullfrogs croaking 'Jingle Bells" as you walk among the illuminated trees and shrubs. You can interact with the birds at the Penguin and Puffin Coast, make a luminary to take home and hear a fireside story from Yukon Kate, Tundra Tom, Arctic Annie or the Snow Princess. Weather permitting; you can ride the Conservation Carousel that features 64 hand-carved wooden animals that represent protected and endangered species being conserved by the St. Louis Zoo such as the red panda, the Humboldt penguin and the polar bear.

One final destination in the St. Louis area is straight out highway 70W in St. Charles, MO where you can see St. Charles Christmas Traditions, put on every year by the merchants and residents of St. Charles in conjunction with the St. Charles Visitor's and Tourist Bureau. This beautiful area of historic old-town St. Charles looks like it comes straight out of Charles Dickens', A Christmas Carol, with the merchants and some residents donning old-fashioned period clothing. You can visit Santa's Christmas Outpost where Mrs. Santa will read you a classic holiday story. While you're there, let the kids have fun making a free, simple craft project. You can get your picture taken with Santa, pick up a Christmas coloring book, and buy hot pretzels and warm apple cider. If you schedule your visit for opening day, November 24, 2006, at 11:00 a.m., you can witness Santa and Mrs. Clause arriving by a horse-drawn carriage and accompanied by the Lewis and Clark Drum and Fife Corps as well as members of the Traditions cast and historical Santas. As you stroll down Main Street and meet all of the cast members, you can collect a card from each of them, giving you details about that person's life. You can put those cards in the Christmas Coloring book you pick up at Santa's Christmas Outpost.