Unique Holiday Destinations: National Christmas Center, Paradise, Pennsylvania

The National Christmas Center is the only Christmas museum in the entire world. Owner Jim Morrison unwrapped the museum in 1998 with just 3 exhibits. Today the museum overflows with hundreds of thousands of Christmas items, some more than 200 years old.

Be entertained, educated and mesmerized as you travel around the globe and through the centuries in fifteen galleries and 20,000 square feet of life-sized, indoor exhibits that showcase both the secular and the sacred aspects of the holiday. Visitors can meander through a life-size retelling of the The Christmas Story, followed by Tudor Towne, a whimsical village full of cuddly Christmas creatures. Make sure to stop at the North Pole for a dazzling display of Santa's workshop filled with animatronics.

Christmas season is also shopping season, and the National Christmas Center pays homage to the ghost of Christmas-shopping past with a Woolworth exhibit. This re-creation of a 1940’s – 1950’s-era five and dime showcases vintage Christmas toys and merchandise displayed in a realistic store setting. The shelves are stocked floor to ceiling with such treasures as the Red Ryder BB gun, Yakity Yak chattering wind-up teeth, tin soldiers on horseback, and 5 cent phonograph records.

The elves are busy in this toy-making wonderland! Animated reindeer nod from their stalls as bears and elves craft toys, wrap packages and sew dolly dresses. Santa presides over all the activity in this life-sized exhibit.

Realistic scenery and lifelike, life-sized characters take you on a journey from "Nazareth" to "Bethlehem". Hear latin and Aramaic being spoken and music from that time period. Walk among palm trees and through a valley in this total environmental experience. At the end, step into the stone grotto and behold the Birth of Christ.

There is an exhibit showcases a ¾ life-sized hand-carved wooden Nativity, nearly 100 years old. Twenty-two figures include the Holy Family and 3 camels which stand nearly 6 feet tall.   
 
With all these Christmas memories, it's no wonder more than 40,000 people visit this museum every year. Put a smile on your family's face, and make a stop at the country's most Christmasy museum during this year's 12 days of Christmas.
 
Looking for that uniquely different vacation destination. Call Rawhide Travel and Tours today 602-843-5100 or visit our website rawhidetravel.com. We can help!

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Rawhide Travel and Tours Inc
6008 West Bell Rd # F105
Glendale, Arizona  85308-3793
(602) 843-5100
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