The Best Christmas Decorations in Chicagoland: Your Guide to More Than 200 Spectacular Holiday Displays

This volume of winter wonderland of color and light offers a festive tour of downtown Chicago and the surrounding counties. Author Edsey, a Chicago native who has for 10 years hosted holiday bus tours around that city, puts her hometown savvy to excellent use: photos of displays are accompanied by stories about the people who create them, viewing hours, directions and maps. Edsey also provides a history of outdoor holiday decorations, noting that Americans' endeavors echo those of the ancient Romans, who festooned their homes to celebrate the new year. Edsey's visual tour of holiday-themed Chicagoland visits well-known landmarks like Navy Pier and the Art Institute of Chicago, plus neighborhoods like the one that's home to Candy Cane Lane, where, from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s, a parade of 10-foot candy canes stood in residents' front lawns. Readers inspired to create or augment their own display will appreciate the book's many tips—for example, how to disguise floodlights as giant presents—and its appendix of suppliers. (Nov.)