District 214 Community Education

Come explore Chicago’s rich Holiday traditions with CET! After a late morning departure our first stop is to see a tradition dating back to 1942 as we visit the Museum of Science & Industry’s “Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light.” See the museum's grand 45-foot tree which graces the Museum rotunda covered with more than 30,000 twinkling lights and surrounded by more than 50 smaller Christmas trees carefully decorated to represent countries and cultures from around the world. This sparkling display and festival of trees is a true immersion into Christmas! Each tree has a description about the decorations and the customs of that country. Next we enjoy a late lunch/early dinner at the Chicago Firehouse Restaurant, the highly acclaimed fine dining restaurant originally a Romanesque Revival firehouse built in 1905. Afterward, we stop at the colorful Christkindlmarket, Chicago’s enchanting and inviting holiday village where you can shop for holiday gifts and crafts at the large open-air Christmas Festival. Top off the evening with a Christmas Lights drive see the Magnificent Mile, the holiday window displays at Macy’s and Millennium Park to see Chicago’s official Christmas Tree!

Take a step back to the days of Christmas past in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A local guide will lead a narrated tour featuring some of the area’s iconic holiday sights. We’ll visit the historic and spiritual St. Josaphat Basilica, completed in 1901. At the Mitchell Park Conservatory, a trio of beehive-shaped glass domes are bedecked with hundreds of colorful poinsettias, snow white mums and brightly decorated pines for the annual Holiday Floral Show. . Christmas at the Pabst Mansion is a true experience of Christmases past! Built in 1892 by beer baron Frederick Pabst, the mansion is elegantly decorated for the holidays. Lunch is a great holiday meal at the Steakout Supper Club in Greendale . After leaving Milwaukee we will stop in Caledonia, Wisconsin, to see the drive-through “Carnival of Lights”--billed as the biggest and brightest light show in the Midwest, featuring more than two million lights!

Celebrate the holidays on one of CET’s most popular tours - a special event at Place de la Musique, the spectacular Sanfilippo Estate in Barrington Hills. We begin our day with an elegant catered holiday meal in the Estate’s Carousel Building. We’ll dine next to the “Eden Palais'' carousel, the only complete European salon carousel in the world. The spectacular 89-foot wide and 42-foot tall-carved façade has life-size carved horses, giant art glass butterflies and an 89-key gavioli band organ. You will see and hear this masterpiece in its full glory while learning about the estate's amazing collection. Following lunch, visit the Sanfilippo residence for a 90-minute Wurlitzer Theatre holiday organ concert performed by Dave Wickerham, one of the finest theater organists in the world. The afternoon concludes with a self-guided exploration of the mansion where docents will explain and demonstrate some of the world’s greatest collections of restored antique music machines. This elegant afternoon will help you ring in the holidays!