How much Christmas fun can we squeeze into one day? A lot! In early December, my husband went away for a weekend, and my parents came down to help me wrangle my little hooligans. The girls and I decided to show them a few of our favorite things to do this time of the year.
First up on our magical Christmas tour was Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, MD. We take the girls here every year to see the train display. Before the pandemic began, we even got photos with their awesome Santa. In years past, Homestead has had Christmas villages set up around the store, plus they have a section of children’s toys and books.
We arrived at Homestead shortly after they opened for the day, and there was plenty of parking. Everyone masked up, and we headed inside to browse and explore, slowly making our way back toward the massive model train display. Sadly, the store had stopped selling their Christmas villages so my dad didn’t get anything new for his Christmas village at home. My mom, however, found a gift she had been on the hunt for, and my girls found plenty of things they “needed” to have. I took pictures of their favorites to add to their Christmas lists for Santa. I also made a mental note to tell Santa we don’t have a need for or room for a giant realistic golden lab dog that cost over a hundred bucks…. What would my kids do with it?!
The train display was in the back of the store, and you can hear it before you see it. It is amazing to see! My girls loved circling it, and spotting all the different village sets. Pebble was fascinated by all of the different trains circling on their tracks. There was even a trolley!
After the girls, and my parents, finished watching the trains, we slowly made our way back up front to the exit. On our way, we passed a elf toy workshop display, and boy were those elves creepy looking!
After leaving Homestead, we headed home to get some food to fill hungry little tummies. Our day of holiday fun was off to a strong start! After lunch, we headed over to Historical Linthicum Walks in Gambrills for their holiday scavenger hunt. All three girls knew the drill, and they eagerly ran for the front porch of the historical home for a copy of the scavenger hunt.
Stormy took a list and a pencil and set off, while I told Rainbow what was on the list. All 3 girls went in different directions hunting… Some items proved easy to find, while others were very hard to locate. If another family hadn’t found the “Merry” sign, we would have left without finding it!
After we had found everything on the list, the girls took turns peeking into the windows of the house from the porch. It was a glimpse into Christmas past, and it was neat to see how the family would have once decorated the place for the holidays.
We returned home after Historic Linthicum Walks to warm up, and take some downtime for a few hours. Pebble needed it!
In the late afternoon, we got in the car once again, and headed down to Watkins Park in Prince George’s County for their Festival of Lights. This season the entrance was changed from the main entrance on Watkins Park Dr. / 193 to a second entrance down on 202 / Largo Rd. This lengthened the tour as well as reduced backups on Watkins Park Drive, a problem in years past. From the 202 entrance, you drive into the park, admiring displays of lights on your way. When you reach the traffic circle, you veer to the right, pass more displays of lights, until you circle around to where staff are scanning ticket barcodes or collecting payment. We had purchased our ticket online as it was $8 per car there versus $10 if you purchased a ticket at the gate.
The Festival of Lights is three miles long, and all 3 girls had quickly freed themselves from their car seats shortly after we entered the park. I’d opened the windows of the car for everyone to see the lights better. I’d also downloaded the Festival of Lights I Spy Game for Rainbow and Stormy to play while we drove through. They had to look for things like flying candy canes, singing reindeer, Santa riding a bike, the Emerald City, etc. Both girls tried the game, but soon abandoned it in favor of hanging out the windows to see what they could see! Anything that went over the road was a major hit from the tunnel of lights, to presents shooting from a cannon over the road and into a bag, to a frog jumping from a lily pad across the road into a lighted pond.
It was a magical experience, and we were totally blown away by the detail that went into this event. It was much cheaper than the drive-thru event we’d done in Rhinebeck, NY. There were more lights, and it was longer. This was not our first time doing the Festival of Lights, and it won’t be our last. It is a perfect holiday tradition. Both Stormy and Rainbow asked to drive through a second time at a later date since their dad had missed out on the fun, but we didn’t get the chance, too. There is always next year!
We crammed a lot into this day, and the kids were exhausted at the end, but it was worth it. Lots of wonderful memories were made. If you get a chance in 2022, please check out one or all of these fun holiday events, you won’t be disappointed! Happy trails!