local festivals

Christmas Traditions 2023

Yesterday was a most-anticipated day…our annual trip to St. Charles, MO, for Christmas Traditions! We were worried about the weather (it was supposed to rain the entire day, but we got lucky, and it was mostly dry while we were there), and the traffic (an accident had I-70 at a standstill for a bit on our way there), but we made it in time (and even found a decent parking space!) for the Santa Parade:

After that, we headed down Main Street to look for all of our favorite characters, and we did a pretty good job of it!

As I did last year, I had to take a picture with the Mistletoe Misses…I love their costumes, and they seemed to like my outfit, too!

I also had to get a picture with the Lord of Misrule himself…I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to give him a sword!

But the main attraction is always a visit with Jack Frost. We love listening to his banter and seeing what kind of antics he’s added to his routine from year to year, and of course Bunny always has to take a picture with him. I was surprised to discover that he had been waiting for us this year, though. Usually, we attend the festival earlier in the season, which I guess he knows, and he had been carrying around a special gift for us since (I assume) opening day, which he was excited to present to us, complete with some of his original artwork on the bag. Jack may have a cold exterior, but he truly has a heart of gold! I was exceptionally touched (ok, I started crying right there on Main Street), because I had never considered that our presence there is valued. It was quite a moment, and made this our best trip to Christmas Traditions yet, and I know we won’t forget it.

Even on a damp, gloomy day, historic St. Charles is a beautiful place! And since it was so gloomy, we could really see the Christmas lights, which was very nice!

Our last order of business was getting our yearly photo at the gazebo. We had to wait for a madrigal performance on the steps to wrap up, but we got it in the end. So many years we’ve done this now!

Next year is the 50th anniversary of Christmas Traditions, and we’re already looking forward to being a part of that celebration!

Christmas Traditions

Last year, we made a somewhat tentative return to St. Charles, MO, for Christmas Traditions; this year, we returned in full force!

We made sure that we were there for the Santa Parade. Actually, we were there way earlier than we needed to be, but at least we got a good parking spot!

I truly believe Main Street in St. Charles in one of the prettiest streets in the entire St. Louis metro, and never more so than at Christmas!

We did a pretty good job of finding characters…I think we ended up with 26 of 33 cards. The important thing, though, is that we found both Jack Frost and the Master of Revels, our two favorites! We were impressed by how many characters they have added representing different world cultures…it gave us an opportunity to learn something new!

Jack Frost even gave Bunny a “Blue Crew” pin, which made her day!

I had to stop and take a picture with the Mistletoe Misses, because I looked like I could join their lovely, mid-century group in the outfit I was wearing!

And, as always, I took a photo of the Fab Five by the gazebo. Not in quite the same location as usual, because one of the singing groups was performing in it, but close enough:

Sometimes, I can’t believe just how long this has been a part of our Christmas traditions…it’s definitely one of the things I look forward to the most in December!

A Return to Christmas Traditions

After a hiatus last year due to COVID-19, yesterday we made a return to Christmas Traditions in historic St. Charles, MO!

The parade was a little different this year, including the fact that it ran the opposite direction down Main Street from what we were used to. This actually made it easier to photograph because I wasn’t pointing my camera into the sun, so that was really nice. And Santa liked my Christmas skirt!

Seeing the characters is always the best part, and we saw all of our favorites…in the end, we collected 21 of 35 cards, which is only ok, but the point is, we were there.

The very best moment for me was seeing Bunny see Jack Frost again. If we had accomplished nothing else yesterday, that would have made the trip worth it. And I think he was equally glad to see her!

My annual gazebo picture was a little different this year, but again, the point is, I took it:

Of all the things COVID took away from us last year, missing our favorite family Christmas event was one of the ones that hurt the most. Even if things weren’t exactly the same as they used to be, I was so glad to be back!

Christmas on the Hill 2019

Last Saturday, we got to go to Christmas on the Hill for the first time in several years!

It’s become a much bigger event since the last time we were there. There was a nativity petting zoo, with animals like sheep, llamas, and an adorable donkey who actually wanted everyone to pet him!

We also got to see a reindeer:

I always enjoy walking around The Hill.

The nativity scenes and other store window displays are a favorite thing to see:

We were also really excited to visit the new Piazza Imo…I can’t wait to go back in the spring when the fountain is on!

We took a tour of the Herbaria and learned how soap is made, which was very interesting, and said hello to the store mascot, Soapy:

And we saw Babbo Natale and La Befana:

I love spending an afternoon in such a wonderful local community!

Christmas Traditions 2019

On Saturday, we enjoyed one of our favorite Christmas traditions…the Christmas Traditions festival in St. Charles, MO!

It was so much easier to enjoy the event this year, without my ankle being broken. (Although the day was not without a foot injury…more on that later.) For example, we actually got to see the gingerbread houses this time, and they were spectacular…it was hard to choose a favorite!

We also enjoyed our walk down beautiful, historic Main Street, which always looks so nice at Christmastime!

We saw the entirety of the Santa Parade:

And the hoopla, in its new location behind the Tourism Center:

We also attended the Land of Sweets Gumball for the first time:

And caught up with some of our favorite characters, including the Master of Revels, who we missed last year:

And of course Jack Frost, who let Bunny sit in his cart…they even pretended to run down Susie Snowflake!

We also saw one of the Seaman dogs, all dressed up for the holidays!

We collected 25 of 39 character cards, plus two of the five bonus cards, which seemed a bit slim to us, but we still had a great time!

Anyway, the only downside to the day was me stepping on a thumb tack slightly before we left. It went through the sole of my boot and into my foot, which felt great. As I was due for a tetanus shot anyway, we hit the Minute Clinic on the way home so I could get that taken care of, just in case. What a dumb thing to have happen, but I’ll take it over a broken ankle any day!

2019 Japanese Festival

Yesterday we went to the St. Louis Greek Festival, but on Saturday, we were at the Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden…Labor Day weekend is a good time for multi-cultural experiences in St. Louis!

This was the third time we attended the Japanese Festival, so we knew to look for some of our favorite performers, including the amezaiku artist and the top spinner:

We also got to watch an ice carver make a beautiful bird out of a huge block of ice:

There is always so much to see around the garden during the festival!

We didn’t have a full meal while we were there, but we did visit the food court, and shared some steamed pork and egg buns and sakura lemonade while walking around:

For the first time, we got to see a fashion and cosplay show…Kirby was definitely my favorite!

We also caught the parade, which seemed shorter this year.

But the biggest attraction was the sumo wrestlers. It’s been years since they had a sumo demonstration at the Japanese Festival, and we’ve never gotten to see anything like it before…it was really cool, and I’m so glad we were there!

This is definitely one of our favorite annual events in St. Louis!

St. Louis Greek Festival

After a fun European-themed summer school, I was really excited to take the children to the St. Louis Greek Festival at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in the city today, especially since it’s been eight years since last we attended!

According to Turkey, the Japanese Festival that we went to yesterday (details to come!) was Japanese culture with a little bit of food, while today’s event was Greek food with a little bit of culture, and honestly, he wasn’t wrong. There was food everywhere, plus Greek music and dancing:

When you think Greek food, there are certain things that come to mind…gyros, shish-kebob, spanakopita, and baklava, for example. But they take it to the next level at the Greek Festival, with the standard Greek fare, plus specialty items such as saganaki topped with gyros (so unbelievably delicious!) and baklava sundaes!

Other than the food, the highlight of the day was the church tour. St. Nicholas is a beautiful church, and different from what we’re used to seeing on a daily basis. We also learned a bit about Orthodox history and theology, which was very interesting!

I really don’t know why it’s been so long since we went to the St. Louis Greek Festival, but I’m pretty sure we should make this an annual event, because it was a lot of fun!

Christmas Traditions 2018

Today we made our annual trek west to St. Charles, MO, for the Christmas Traditions festival. (This is not to be confused with the trek north we made a few weeks ago to St. Charles, IL, also for Christmas-related reasons!)

The day was as beautiful as the picture looks, although it was a bit warm for our tastes. But the spring-like temperatures brought our larger crowds than we’ve ever encountered before…it was a good thing they finally decided to close Main Street to vehicular traffic, because I don’t know how all of the pedestrians would have fit on the sidewalks!

St. Charles is never more charming than it is at Christmastime:

One of the best parts of going to Christmas Traditions is seeing all of our favorite characters. We’ll call this year’s attempt a “successful failure.” We saw the number one character we wanted to see (Jack Frost), and a really cool new character (Ded Moroz), but there was no Frontier Santa this year, and we didn’t see the Master of Revels, and a number of the other characters we enjoy seeing every year. In the end, we collected 31 out of 41 numbered character cards, plus one of the bonus cards, which is really not bad!

Bunny had an especially good visit with Jack Frost, the “Bob Ross of Frost” this year. He even embellished his character card with a bit of his artwork for her!

This was a challenging visit to St. Charles for me, since I’m still wearing the CAM boot. The uneven brick streets made walking more difficult than I would care to admit, and our parking space, which was practically on the other side of the Missouri River, made our walk extra long. But I was determined to have fun today, and do the things we usually do, because I hate to miss out on anything. So, even though climbing the brick steps up to the gazebo wasn’t the easiest thing ever, I even got my annual picture of the Fab Five, and I think it might be the best one yet!

And just like that, another year’s visit to Christmas Traditions is over. Even though things were a bit different this year (we were too late to see the parade, and we missed the gingerbread houses), we had a great time! I’m already looking forward to seeing what changes they might make next year…but not as much as I’m looking forward to not having to navigate the event with a broken ankle!

Christmas Traditions 2017

Yesterday was that most magical day of the year when we went to St. Charles, MO, for the Christmas Traditions festival. I think this was one of our coldest visits to the event…some years, we’ve barely needed sweatshirts, but yesterday, we were wearing winter coats, hats and gloves! We braved the cold to see all of our favorite characters and collect their cards along the way…We ended up with 32 of 45 cards, which isn’t too bad! Every year, I hope that maybe this is the year we get them all, but I kind of doubt that will ever happen. Plus, there are Wednesday night bonus cards, so we really couldn’t ever collect all of them, since we can only make the journey to St. Charles once a year, and we would rather go during the day on the weekend.

We visited the Gingerbread Village, where, as always, I was impressed by the talent and creativity on display. I especially liked the gingerbread TARDIS!

Part of the fun is seeding the old buildings, horse-drawn carriages, and beautiful Christmas decorations:

By the time the parade rolled around, a few of us were too cold to watch, and had to head back to the car. Those that stayed enjoyed seeing ALL the characters, and taking part in the camaraderie of the crowd:

No matter how I feel about Santa, I always enjoy seeing the Santas of the world carrying in their country’s’ flags:

We didn’t take a lot of pictures with the characters, but we got the ones that mattered most, including a group shot with my favorite Santa (Frontier Santa, who I am pretty sure is exactly who Mr. Edwards met in Little House on the Prairie), and a photo with Bunny and Jack Frost, her Christmas Traditions hero:

And of course a family picture on the steps of the gazebo!

It always goes by too fast, but we’re already thinking about the fun we’ll have next year!

Christmas Traditions 2016

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the Christmas season…the day where we drive out to St. Charles, MO, for the Christmas Traditions festival!

We started, as we do every year, with lunch. We haven’t eaten at Frankie Tocco’s since before Chickadee was born, so I figured we should go back there so she could experience that part of our family tradition. St. Louis style pizza isn’t my favorite, but Frankie Tocco’s makes it as good as it gets.

We then went through the Gingerbread Village…I really wish I could enter one of those contests someday!

For the last few years, we’ve seen most of the parade…this year, we saw the whole thing! I love seeing all of the different characters in costume, walking down the brick street, passing by all the gorgeous old buildings that are so much a part of St. Charles’ identity.

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And seeing the flags of the world carried by the different Santas is always fun:

We joined the end of the parade and went down to Frontier Park, where we enjoyed a good-natured red vs. green game show, led by La Befana and Babushka:

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After the parade and the character hoopla, we got down to work meeting characters and collecting cards. The children had their pictures taken with all our old favorites…the Frontier Santa, who looks like he stepped out of the pages of Little House on the Prairie, Santa Lucia, the Christmas Angel, and Bunny’s favorite, Jack Frost. He even let her hold his “BLUEkulele!”

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For the first time ever, I had my picture taken with a few characters, too. The Master of Revels has been my favorite since the first time Ryan and I sat down and watched him harass festival-goers over a decade ago(!!!), and like Bunny, I’m also a fan of Jack Frost, and his pal Susie Snowflake (the one character I will take credit for introducing to Christmas Traditions several years ago). I even had the right outfit to take a picture with the frosty duo!

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We managed to find 32 out of 48 characters, which is a lot, but not our best year by any stretch of the imagination. I may die of shock if we ever have a year where we collect every single card!

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I love walking up and down Main Street and seeing all the buildings and decorations!

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And I really love taking a picture of the children by the gazebo…I think this is one of the best photos yet!

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I’m a little sad that it isn’t even December yet, and our family’s favorite Christmas tradition has already come and gone, but we had an amazing afternoon in St. Charles, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s festival!