Bring on Christmas! One of my favourite aspects of Christmas is to witness how each of my kids engage with the season at their different stages of development.

My eldest is already writing his Christmas cards for his school friends, my second son is enthralled with the Christmas decorations that are appearing everywhere, and my little miss has a burgeoning sense of the season including a mild-moderate fear of Santa.

Melbourne is a wonderful city to experience the Christmas season and this post, letting you know our favourite activities is becoming my own Christmas tradition. So, without further hesitation let me introduce you to our favourite Christmas activities around Melbourne:

Santa’s Magical Kingdom

Santa’s Magical Kingdom

We were fortunate enough to be invited to the opening of Santa’s Magical Kingdom this year. A flamboyant festival of fun, entry to this event includes tickets to a world class Christmas themed performance by the stars of Silvers circus. Rides for little and big kids, ginger bread man decorating, character experiences, and some fake snow thrown in for good measure make this a memorable Melbourne Christmas event. Sessional tickets can be purchased to Santa’s Magical Kingdom which is located at the Caufield Racecourse until Christmas Eve.

The Myer Christmas Windows.

Little miss was mesmerized by the Myer Christmas windows.

It is the 60^th anniversary of Myer’s iconic Christmas windows display. This year the storybook depicted is “Little Dog and the Christmas wish”. A nostalgic story set in Melbourne’s past this year’s windows were particularly charming. We attended on a Saturday afternoon and their was a long wait to see the windows but the lack of complaint from my three kids indicated that it was worth it.

Epicure’s Gingerbread Village

Epicure Gingerbread Village 2015

For a gold coin donation visitors to the Melbourne Town Square can experience the Gingerbread Village by the Epicure team of award winning pastry chefs. Five hundred kilograms of gingerbread, 360 kilograms of royal icing a, 150 kilograms of marzipan and around 800 miniature Christmas trees are just some of the ingredients used to create this wonderful (and delicious) construction.

The Lego Christmas Tree in Federation Square

One of the highlights of Melbourne’s decorations this Christmas is the impressive Aussie themed Christmas tree in Federation square made entirely out of Lego. My mind boggled at the thought of the effort taken to create this masterpiece. As for the Aussie touches such as Santa on a surfboard – gold.

Melbourne Town Hall Christmas Projections

Melbourne Town Hall – Christmas sound and light display (image from a previous year)

Each night between 9 and 10.40 (alas a little late for my young ones) the Melbourne Town Hall is illuminated by a spectacular light show.

Christmas Square

Presented by the City of Melbourne Christmas Square (on the corner of Swanston and Flinders Street) features a giant Christmas tree, visits from Santa, a Nativity and interactive Christmas sound displays for kids.

For families wanting to experience a traditional Christmas.

Nativity scene. Christmas Square Melbourne

While we embrace the fun and excitement of an Australian Christmas we are also a family of faith. This means that with my kids I will be reiterating the traditional message of Christmas, with it’s intrinsic and wonderful message of hope. We are all participating in our local suburban churchs’ Christmas carols which includes me delivering the message. Realising that for many of us the traditional Christmas message can become swamped with the busyness of the season I’d encourage you to make some time to reflect on the traditional Christmas message –the birth of Jesus.  Please check back to this post in two weeks because I hope to include a link to a list of CBD Christmas church services.  In the meantime here are just a couple: