Macy's Holiday Show in Minneapolis 2009

Now it's November, the Holiday season is well and truly apon us. I saw more than one home taking down Halloween decorations and putting up Christmas lights today. This year, I moved to a new home much nearer to downtown Minneapolis and I'm excited to take my family to two of the best -and free - holiday attractions in the Twin Cities.

Dayton's Holiday Show.... yes, it's been Macy's for a good while now, but you or someone you know probably still calls it that. Macy's Holiday Show, the animatronic puppet display is entitled "A Day in the Life of an Elf". Does that sound familiar? It's the same as last year, back by popular demand, with a few extra additions, like a classroom for the elves. The Annual Macy's Holiday show is open daily from Saturday November 21 until December 30, except Christmas Day. Admission is free, so long as you resist the cookies and the toy store and the opportunity to have your kiddies photo taken with Santa...

The Holidazzle Parade As long as the wind isn't howling, then this is a beautiful event. The annual Holidazzle Parade, actually Parades, fill Nicollet Mall on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday with a fairytale of music and lights. The first Holidazzle Parade is Friday November 27, and the last one is Sunday December 20. Annual attendance for the 15 Holidazzle parades totals around 300,000 people so expect parking to be a pain and take public transit if possible.