Kringlewood Drive

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: Inglewood Drive
Date: Dec 2016

  For a number of years now, the residents of Inglewood Drive in Toronto have placed giant inflatable Santas on their front lawns.  It has become a Christmas tradition in the neighbourhood and more residents seem to take part each year.

  We decided to take a drive and see this group of Santa ...Clauses?  We are not sure what the plural of Santa Claus should be as we usually only deal with one at a time.

  Each Santa is close to 14 feet tall so they tower over you as you head down the snowy street.  We enjoyed seeing all of the Santas.  Despite the fact that they were all exactly the same product, we started to notice some differences.

  This Santa Claus was bending over and reaching out as if he wanted to give you a hug.  Either that or his back had given out from standing in the front yard all day.  We think it was to give out hugs.

  This Santa had a snowman friend to keep him company. 

  This last Santa was already napping on the job and it wasn't even Christmas yet.  Santa can get his rest on Boxing Day and until then you can enjoy Inglewood Drive (aka Kringlewood).

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Map of Our World
Kringlewood Drive

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Post # 201

Land of 1000 Delights

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 176 Yonge Street.
Date: Dec 2016
Website: www.saksfifthavenue.com

  Saks Fifth Avenue has taken over part of the Hudson's Bay store on Queen Street in Toronto.  This is because Hudson's Bay now owns Saks.  It also means that besides the popular Christmas windows at The Bay, we get more decorated windows along Yonge Street.  We visited the Saks windows in 2016. Welcome to the Land of 1000 Delights.

  The first windows we encountered were not yet part of the Land of 1000 Delights.  The first window featured a polar bear who was running like the mechanism of a clock. The second contained a group of ermine.  An ermine is a stoat in its winter coat.  A stoat is a type of weasel.   The animals looked as if they had been hired to guard the purses in the displays.  It is not uncommon for there to be a $4000 price tag on a purse at Saks so the store could be testing out new security measures.

And now finally, the Land of 1000 Delights.

  The first lady we encountered was Lady Lollipop.  She was covered from head to toe in swirly lollipops.  Many children sport a similar look when eating lollipops.  A few licks of the lollipop and ...ooops!  Next thing you know you have a lollipop stuck to the edge of your Christmas dress.

  Up next was Baroness Lebkuchen.  Lebkuchen is a German baked good similar to gingerbread.  We have never knowingly tried lebkuchen, but now we will have to get our hands on some.  We were only at window number two and already getting hungry.

Countess De Limon was the next lady arriving with zest.  She had slices of lemons, oranges and limes.  We suspect it was candied fruit all covered in sugary syrup.

  A deep purple display contained the Duchess De Chocolate.  This was definitely our style.  We imagined we were unwrapping some gold and purple foil covered, dark chocolates.

  The Queen of The Christmas Crackers was ready to start things off with a bang.  We imagine her dress was entirely filled with bad jokes, paper crowns and if you were lucky, a fortune teller fish.  When she finally pulls her dress off expect to smell something burning and find little bits of paper and prizes everywhere.  Check the cranberry sauce just in case.

  Mademoiselle Macaron was making a sweet entrance.  She had some of the tasty meringue and almond based treats along the edge of her dress.  Those macarons wouldn't last long if there wasn't a glass window between us.  Excusez-moi!

  Little Princess Peppermint was twirling and swirling in her window.  She had a dress made of traditional  red and white candy canes.
 

The highest royal titles are those of Emperor and Empress.  This next window contains Empress Gingerbread.  She ranks much higher than the Baroness, Duchess and even the Princess and Queen in the other windows.  We do enjoy gingerbread during the holidays, but as we mentioned before we have yet to try lebkuchen.

  The final window featured the Marchioness of Confections cutting a candy rug.  A Marchioness is the equivalent of a Marquess.  She ranks lower than a Duchess, but higher than a Countess.  She was covered in all sorts of sweet treats.  We enjoyed our walk through the Land of 1000 Delights.  Now get out of our way as we are headed to the lower level of The Bay where they have their candy department.

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This location is near Queen subway. Visit other Toronto TTC stations.

Map of Our World
Saks Christmas Windows

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Post # 200

The Triple Dog Dare

Location: St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Address: 173 Niagara Street
Date: Jan 2016

   A Christmas Story is one of the greatest holiday movies ever made.  It is always playing somewhere on television during the holiday season.  One memorable scene is where a young boy named Flick gets his tongue stuck to a flagpole.  It was all the result of the sinister triple dog dare.

  The Victoria Public School in St. Catharines, Ontario is where they filmed all of the school scenes from the movie.  A group of children are out in the school yard where Schwartz has just double dared Flick to lick the flagpole.  The double dare soon becomes a double dog dare and from there, despite a breach of etiquette, it becomes a triple dog dare.

  Flick licks the pole and of course his tongue sticks.  The bell rings and all the other children head back inside leaving poor Flick behind.  On a trip to Niagara Falls we visited this filming location.  The school was now being used as a women's shelter and homes had been built in the schoolyard.

  One thing that had not changed since the movie was filmed in the early 1980s was the two houses that sit at the intersection of Gibson Place and Fitzgerald Street.  You can see these homes just behind Flick when the fire department and police arrive to help remove him from the pole.

    That would place the flagpole somewhere near this house that was built on the old school property.  If you are a fan of A Christmas Story we think that you should visit this location.  We dare ya!

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Map of Our World
Triple Dog Dare

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Post # 152

The Bay's Enchanted Forest

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 176 Yonge Street.
Date: Dec 2016
Website: www.hbcheritage.ca

  For many years the Christmas windows at The Bay on Queen Street showed the story of Santa and his elves preparing for the big day.  Now the animals have taken over.  This year the windows were changed and feature the animated animals of the Enchanted Forest.  As much as we enjoyed the previous display, we instantly fell in love with the new windows.  You can read about The Bay's previous Christmas windows here.

  The first of the five windows in the display features a fox den.  Two mischievous racoons are hanging a feather down into the den to disturb the sleeping fox family.  On a video screen at the back of the display a moose walks through the woods.

  The next window showed a group of squirrels rolling up some snowballs.  The intended targets appeared to be a group of ice skaters below.  A group of squirrels is called a scurry.  There was no worry about us being snowball pelted by squirrels, but one of us did almost get taken out by snow that slid off of The Bay store's awning.

   The next window was our favourite.  It featured a bear who was covered in snow while little mice played all around him.  Behind the bear flickered the Northern Lights.

  The bear looked back and forth while his little rodent friends tobogganed and snowboarded and enjoyed some winter fun.

  These two mice had just finished building a snowmouse.

   This mouse was making a snow angel.  None of the mice seemed concerned that their winter hill contained a big brown bear.

 

  The next window showcased night time in the Enchanted Forest.  Snowy owls flew across the sky backed by moonlight.  A mother owl opened her wings to reveal the babies hidden in her nest.

  The last window showcases the Hudson Bay Company's Canadian roots.  An army of Canada Geese in snowshoes march together. 

    After enjoying the displays we headed inside The Bay store.  We were happy to see that another group of wreath wearing Canada Geese had taken over a small section of the ladies wear department.
  One of us was also in New York City in December and while taking a bus tour saw a familiar sight.  The Lord & Taylor store in Manhattan has the exact same Enchanted Forest display this year.  Lord & Taylor is owned by The Hudson's Bay Company.  That means you have at least two cities you can visit in order to see this delightful holiday display.  We suspect that these happy woodland creatures will be making a return visit for many Christmases to come.

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This location is near Queen subway. Visit other Toronto TTC stations.
 
Map of Our World
Christmas Windows At The Bay

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Post # 151

Nyctophilia

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 1 Dennis Ave
Date: Feb 2016 
Website:  cgdy.com

  Nyctophilia means love of the night or love of darkness.  Nyctophilia is also the name of an art installation in Toronto.  The project consists of a cluster of about 30 street lights that can glow different colours.  It is located at the corner of Dennis Avenue & Weston Road.

    The light is generated by LED lights which gives it a softer glow.  Otherwise this would be the brightest street corner in the entire city.  When we visited, the lights reminded us of Christmas lights and some snow even started to fall.  If you find yourself in this area one night be sure to drive by and see the light.  Remember, it is not some sort of hydro company screw up, it's art.

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Map of Our World
Nyctophilia

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Post # 150

Christmas Windows At The Bay

Location: Toronto Ontario, Canada
Address: 176 Yonge Street.
Date: Dec 2014
Website: www.hbcheritage.ca

 The building at the corner of Yonge Street & Queen Street West has been there since 1896.  It was a Simpsons department store up until more recently when it became a Hudson's Bay store.  The Hudson's Bay Company has been in business since 1670, so between the building and the tenants there is a lot of history here.  A long standing tradition is the Christmas windows.  Simpsons used to decorate its front windows each year and now The Bay has continued the tradition.  As the holidays approach, everyone would gather in front of the windows on Queen Street to admire the displays inside.  Usually the windows are decorated in November and stay up until the end of the year.  Due to its popularity, The Bay has had the same windows for a number of years with animated figures showing everyone preparing for Christmas.

  One thing we noticed this year was some Canada geese sitting outside above the windows.  Some of them were wearing ribbons or wreaths.  We don't recall them being there in previous visits.  Below are a few highlights from the windows.

  Elves feed and prepare the reindeer for Santa's big flight.  The Bay has been selling point blankets for centuries.  The multistripe point coats worn by these elves have also had a long history.  They are traditional First Nation designs and products. Through the years, the green, red , yellow and blue stripes on a white coat or blanket have become a trademark of the Hudson's Bay Company.

 

  A big Christmas countdown clock counts down to Christmas Eve as the elves are busy preparing gifts and Santa Claus checks his list. Twice.

Carollers sing together in the street as a familiar looking girl eyes some delicious baked goods.  We were looking through a window at her looking through a window.  Now everyone has a craving for some sweets.

  The last window shows Santa enjoying a feast after he has finished delivering toys to girls and boys all around the world.  Some of the elves bang their knives and forks on the table as they are eager to start eating.  Make sure you view the windows from east to west to get the story in the correct order.  If you came from Nathan Phillips Square and this is the first window you are seeing then keep heading further along.  There are only about five windows in the whole display.
  Downtown Toronto always does a great job of decorating for Christmas and the windows at The Bay are a big part of that.  It is always nice to take a break and watch the windows from the street before cramming back into the Eaton Centre with all the other Christmas shoppers.

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This location is near Queen subway. Visit other Toronto TTC stations.

Map of Our World
Christmas Windows At The Bay

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Post # 86