Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry had their Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light exhibits. The holidays are a special time to explore, share and learn with our families. As we walk through the trees from various nations from the world, we enjoyed the festive stroll while cherishing time with our families.

Christmas Around the World began in 1942 as a United Nations Day salute to American Allies (friends) during World War II. Today, community groups donate their time to decorate the trees. Fun fact is, Museum hangs more than 55,000 lights on its trees for Christmas Around the World.

This year the following countries took part in decorating the trees: Armenia, Austria, Bahamas, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hawaii, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Native American, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Republic of Slovakia, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA, Wales and this time there was a special tree from World Baseball winners - Chicago White Sox Team.

The following Holidays of Lights are celebrated at the Museum this holiday season:- For more than a decade, Holidays of Light brightened the holiday season with the showcase of multicultural traditions featuring light and enlightenment. St. Lucia Day, Chinese New Year, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali, Ramadan, Visakha Puja Day and Winter Solstice celebrated including displays of honor.

Holiday performances started at the Museum this year on November 19th and will end on January 8 - a total of 49 performances from various groups and bands on every Saturday and Sunday. Today Mangalorean Konkan Christian Association had their performance at the Museum. MKCA president Austin Prabhu welcomed the gathering and gave a brief history of Christianity in India. He said that even before Christianity started in Europe, there were Christians in India who baptized by St. Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ who came to India to spread Christianity in the year AD 56.

As a part of Indian Dance Performance, Pranita Jain, Artistic Director of Kalapriaya Dance from Chicago had her students to perform Bharathanatyam. She explained the audience that this dance started in India about 2,000 years ago and it shows India's rich culture and heritage. Audience from various countries who attended this event were thrilled to see Indian Dance and applauded as their appreciation to the dancers after each dance.