Celebrate the holiday season at the Milwaukee Public Museum

THE MILWAUKEE Public Museum will be a perfect family destination this month when it’s transformed into a holiday wonderland with special decorations, musical performances and activities for the holiday season.

The mood is set by opulent décor including 12-foot-tall Christmas trees and a huge humpback whale skeleton covered in more than 500 holiday lights over the Museum’s grand staircase entrance.

In the Museum’s “European Village” exhibit, 33 houses will be decorated to show how cultures around the world celebrate. Experience the magic of holidays past with the toys of the Greatest Generation, a display of toys from the 1920s-‘40s, including early Lionel train sets, Disney toys and a Schoenhut “Humpty Dumpty Circus” with its daring wooden performers.

Special activities and musical performances will run through Dec. 24. Call (414) 278-2728 or visit www.mpm.edu for a complete schedule! Here are just a few of the holiday activities at the Museum, 800 W. Wells St.:

• Make candy cane ornaments, cards and other holiday keepsakes from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
  
  
• Join The Shamrock Club of Wisconsin as it helps visitors celebrate in Irish style Sunday, Dec. 5 from 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. In addition to special activities for children, an Irish dance performance is set for 1 p.m. and a holiday magic show at 2 p.m.
  
  
• Hunt for clues to cultural celebrations in the “European Village” with a guide sheet approved by Swedish holiday saint Santa Lucia. Learn why we sit around a dead tree at Christmas and eat candy out of our socks!

Time is running out to view the Museum’s special dinosaur exhibit, “Scenes of the Dinosaurs presented by Bank One,” a jungle fantasyland where dinos rule! The exhibit runs through Jan. 10, 2005.

See the first full-length feature movie in the Museum’s recently upgraded Humphrey IMAX Dome Theater. Catch the magic of “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” through Jan. 9. Reservations are recommended.

Holiday activities are free with Museum admission -- $8 for adults (16-61), $7 for seniors (62 plus) and $5.50 for children (3-15). IMAX tickets are sold separately.

The Museum is open 9-5 daily, but will be closed Dec. 25. For more information, call (414) 278-2728, (888) 700-9069 or visit www.mpm.edu.