National Christmas Tree Day

Museum of Science & Industry

Chicago, Illinois

75th Anniversary 

Christmas Around the World

National Christmas Tree Day is being observed today! It has been observed annually on December 8th since 2015.

This year marks the 75th Anniversary of Christmas Around the World.   This Christmas tradition began in 1942 with a single tree and today there is a giant four story Christmas tree in the grand domed hallway entrance to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.  There are more than 50 trees decorated by volunteers in a style representative of the featured country.   On weekends there are also live performances which you can attend.

Each tree has a descriptive plaque describing the customs depicted on the tree.   There are also dolls, manger scenes, and other traditional decorations at the base of the trees.  If you want to learn more, the gift shop has a book which you can purchase to learn more about the Christmas customs across the globe.

We just visited the museum last weekend, spending hours enjoying the Christmas Around the World exhibit, as well as other parts of the museum.   If you plans include some time in the Chicago area this holiday season, we encourage you to visit the museum with your family to see this amazing display.  Congratulations to the Museum of Science and Industry for celebrating this milestone anniversary of bringing the spirit of Christmas from around the globe to the Chicago area.   A special thank you to the volunteers that made this possible.

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Norwegian Epic Christened

Courtesy Norwegian Cruise Line

Reba McEntire

Christening

Norwegian Epic

Norwegian Epic, Norwegian Cruise Line's largest and most innovative Freestyle Cruising ship to date, was officially christened on July 2 by its godmother country music superstar Reba McEntire. The entertainment extravaganza was hosted by comedian and Curb Your Enthusiasm star Jeff Garlin and included performances by the ship's world-class entertainers on board, including Blue Man Group; Cirque Dreams™ & Dinner; Legends in Concert performers Madonna, Elvis and Tina Turner; Second City® Comedy Troupe; Howl at the Moon Dueling Pianos; among others.

The hour-long event was simulcast in venues throughout the ship to allow maximum viewing opportunities and culminated with Ms. McEntire cracking the bottle to christen the ship.

The ship, which was docked at Pier 88 at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, is now sailing on a two-day preview cruise before returning to the pier the morning of July 4th to host the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks® Spectacular.

You'll notice from the photo that Reba wasn't outside and she wasn't holding an actual bottle of champagne. Reba pushed a button on the screen inside and then they cut away to show the bottle being released to hit the ship.

Ship Christening Tradition

Wine poured upon the deck before a long voyage represents a libation to the gods which will bring good luck. "Christening" a ship by breaking a bottle of champagne across her bow at the time of launching arose from this practice.  Read more about Nautical Superstitions & Legends.

Coming Soon

Although we weren't personally able to attend the Norwegian Epic's inaugural events in New York, we did have other representatives onboard from our agency, so we'll bring you more information from those that have sailed on the largest ship in Norwegian's fleet in future posts.    We'll also be hosting our National Conference onboard the Norwegian Epic in October, so we'll have more to report throughout the year.