Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in Philadelphia, PA

One of my favorite things to do each year is visit local neighborhoods and check out the Christmas light displays. In fact, my very favorite is South Philadelphia--something about those tightly packed row homes all fancied up and competing for best dressed house is truly awesome.

The first year I lived in Philly, the big thing everyone had to decorate their homes were these plug-in plastic Virgin Marys (this was way back in 1986 or so). The funny thing about them was, ahem, that they all had HUGE breasts. I have no idea who made these things, but seriously, they were pronouncedly large--even when they weren't lit up. And the light placement? Well. It was actually IN the boobs themselves. It was, in a sacrilegious kind of way, hysterical.

South Philly also has two little streets--both off Oregon Avenue between Broad and 18th--that have central medians that get decorated to the hilt--music, lights, moving objects--the whole deal. While it may not be up to the standard of the five acres of lights you'll see in New Jersey here and there, it's still cool.

Sadly, in the last few years the large blow-up Christmas decorations that are all the rage now have replaced what I think of as TRUE holiday decorations. They don't work well in the row house world; people shove them into balconies or, (hilariously) tie them to the wall, or perch them on the roof--way too high to actually be viewed. So you might be better off, now, touring those five acres spots in Jersey rather than South Philly.

But I will always fondly remember those big-breasted Madonnas of year's past, and remember South Philly that way. Even if they've been replaced with large blow-up Frosty the Snowman.