INDIANAPOLIS — Take it from me. The best Christmas memories are built from experiences — and there are still plenty of opportunities for holiday memory-making out there. Here are a few suggestions.
Children’s Museum offers variety for young and old
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, 3000 N. Meridian, Indianapolis, offers an ever-changing schedule of events and activities for a full day of holiday fun. In addition to photo ops with Santa, visitors can enjoy ice skating in their socks, a castle climb and a larger-than-life interactive snow globe. The pièce de résistance at the Children’s Museum is the 47-foot Jolly Days Yule Slide overlaying the stairway in the Sunburst Atrium. Museum admission is free on Christmas Eve, but note that 2 p.m. is closing time on Dec. 24. Additional Christmas Eve activities include the opportunity to participate in “snowball” fights, a sing-along with The Mistletoes and visits with animated winter characters. Guests can enjoy a live theater experience in the Lilly Theater to find out if “The Magic Snowman” can turn the villagers’ frowns upside down through Jan. 5. The museum also is open New Year’s Day and holiday activities and displays (except for visits with Santa) will remain active through Jan. 5. Visit childrensmuseum.org for more information on admission, Santa’s hours and the daily activity schedule.
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Enjoy tiny holidays with Jingle Rails at the Eiteljorg
As traditional as the iconic train set around the base of the Christmas tree, Jingle Rails at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, 500 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, has become a holiday tradition for many. Featuring 1,200 feet of track and more than 30 different recognizable landmarks including the Indianapolis Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Mt. Rushmore, the Hoover Dam and Yellowstone National Park, Jingle Rails fills an entire room in the museum. Visitors can wander through, around and under 13 different overhead railroad trestles. Most of the exhibit, designed and built by Paul Busse and his team of creative engineers, has been constructed from bark, acorns, tree roots and honeycomb. For each of the last 10 years, the exhibit has continued to grow. Additions for this year include seven historic Spanish Colonial missions of the Southwest, including Mission San Xavier del Bac, the San Francisco de Asis Mission as well as the Alamo. Also new this year is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a working slot-car oval complete with two Indy cars that race around the track to authentic sounds of race day. Attendees will also see the Pagoda, scoring pylon, flag stand, grandstands, the Yard of Bricks finish line and the Goodyear Blimp flying overhead. The Eiteljorg is open until 8 p.m. on Mondays through Dec. 30 and closed on Christmas Day. The Jingle Rails exhibit is included with regular admission to the Eiteljorg and will be on display through Jan. 20. For more information, visit eiteljorg.org.
Trees at Night creates ‘wow’ factor at Indiana History Center
This year, the Indiana Historical Society expands on its Festival of Trees Christmas tradition by adding evening viewing hours with Trees by Night. The Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center, 450 W. Ohio St., Indianapolis, extends its open hours until 8 p.m. through Dec. 23. Throughout the run of Trees by Night, guests can enjoy the twinkling lights of more than 90 theme-decorated trees located throughout the History Center. New themes and creative decorating include trees made from wine bottles, chairs and even an Apollo space rocket tree constructed by students from Neil Armstrong Elementary School in Mooresville. All guests will have a chance to vote for their favorite tree. In addition to the Festival of Trees — available for daytime viewing as well as during the evening — other family-friendly activities include searching for The Elf on the Shelf or the Weihnachtzgurke, 10 pickle ornaments hidden in trees throughout the building. Tickets to the Festival of Trees are included with admission. Visit indianahistory.org for more information.
Celebrate Christmas at Garfield Park Conservatory
If you can’t get enough of train sets, the Conservatory and Sunken Garden at Garfield Park, 2505 Conservatory Drive, Indianapolis, offers the Conservatory Crossing model train village nestled among the poinsettias and thousands of twinkling lights. Like Trees by Night, the Conservatory is open evenings until 8 p.m. on Dec. 20, 21, 22, 27 and 28. Christmas at Conservatory Crossing is closed Dec. 24 and 25, but the exhibit remains open until Dec. 31. Admission is $4 per person or $10 per family. Visit garfieldgardensconservatory.org for more information.
Celebration Crossing celebrates holiday nostalgia
The Indiana State Museum, 650 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, is the perfect place to create intergenerational holiday memories. Parents and grandparents who grew up locally will enjoy revisiting the recreation of the Ayres’ department store Christmas window displays or watching children or grandchildren riding the Santa Claus Express train ride around Toy Mountain. In Santa’s Workshop, visitors can work together to figure out the best way to pack Santa’s sleigh with different sized presents, assist new reindeer recruits as they practice their take-offs and landings, take a break by Chimney Corner to read a story and build a snowman, have fun in Santa’s Front Yard decorating trees or having a “snowball” fight. The museum is closed Christmas Day, but Celebration Crossing remains open through Jan. 5. Visit indianamuseum.org to purchase $1 off tickets and review the entire list of holiday activities.
Christmas magic found in the lights
Light displays seem to be all the rage as more and more venues add lighting extravaganzas to their repertoire of seasonal activities. Lights at the Brickyard, 4790 W. 16th St., Indianapolis, is in its second year for self-guided tours are available seven days a week through Jan 5. Guests can drive themselves along a two-mile route through the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) infield and along the front stretch of the track to enjoy a display featuring more than 3 million lights. New this year is the Plaza Village: the iconic Pagoda Plaza dressed up with seasonal décor and decorated trees that transform the IMS into a winter wonderland where Indy 500 meets holiday décor. Friends and families can sit next to fire pits and enjoy S’mores, seasonal food and beverages while admiring the famed Pagoda Plaza lit up for the holidays through Dec. 24.Ticket prices range from $25 to $100 depending on the date and the type of vehicle. For more information, visit indianapolismotorspeedway.com/events/lights.
Winterlights at Newfields returns for its third year to the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 4000 N. Michigan Road, Indianapolis. The 90-minute outdoor walking tour takes visitors through a winter wonderland of more than 1.5 million bulbs to see lights dance to music on the Lilly House lawn or to stop to take photos at the Snowflake Bridge and the Frosted Forest. S’mores, cider and hot cocoa are available at wood-fire warming stations along the route. Guests can also revisit another Newfields tradition: Deck the Halls at the Lilly House, where each room in the historic mansion features decorative surprises and holiday floral arrangements. This is a ticketed event that has been known to sell out, so attendees are advised to order tickets early at discovernewfields.org/calendar/winterlights.
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