Our Visit to the National Christmas Center & Museum
The National Christmas Center and Museum is located in Paradise, Pennsylvania, better known as being located in Lancaster County. Yes, this is the same county that is famous for drawing in millions of tourists from around the world ever year to visit Amish Country.
One of the best family attractions in Lancaster County is the National Christmas Center & Museum. We had the opportunity to visit a few weeks ago and loved our visit so much, that we’re going to take the grandchildren every year. It’s great fun for BOTH adults and children…plus, their admission fees are very affordable!
This is a self-guided tour and you can take your leisurely time throughout the museum. You’ll find hundreds upon hundreds of decorated Christmas trees and the majority of them are done in a particular theme, some themes are from around the world and other’s are from the U.S.A. The majority of them are decorated in vintage and antique ornaments and a few are done in a more modern style.
There are a ton of exhibits as you walk through. You’ll see life-size exhibits that focus on anything and everything that has to do with Christmas. Some of them are based around popular holiday movies, vintage holiday toys & stuffed animals, Santa Claus & Father Christmas (from all around the world), etc. The exhibits we loved were the animated ones and the ones that featured polar bears & reindeer.
The grandchildren loved seeing the thousands upon thousands of brightly colored holiday lights that decorate the exhibits and/or Christmas trees. It is really cool to see how people decorated their homes for the holiday back in the early 20th century and up through more modern times. Hubby loved the exhibits based around the 1960’s, since those were his childhood memories.
In the one area I really enjoyed learning more about Santa Claus and seeing how his image changed over the years. I saw a figurine and photograph of what he looked like 150 years ago and his image back then didn’t look child-friendly to me at all. I’m glad that in modern times he’s changed his look and now looks jolly and definitely kid-friendly! In addition, hundreds of year’s ago…he was more on the slender side and now that he’s eaten millions of cookies over the years…he’s more plump! LOL
The National Christmas Center & Museum is open I believe 9 months out of the year, so if you’re ever in the area or passing through, this is one fun and amazing place to visit! Locals love to visit every year and many families make it an annual holiday tradition.
I’m featuring several photos in my travel post today to give you a feel for the place. It’s truly “magical” and we’re looking forward to visiting again next year!
