Winter wonderland

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While UChiBLOGo takes a holiday break until January 3, Hyde Park still offers plenty of winter activities. Some festive diversions: today from 4 to 6 p.m. locals of all ages skate with Santa and light a menorah, a kinara, or a spruce tree. Sponsored by the Chicago Park District, the festivities take place on the Midway Plaisance.

On Christmas Eve Rockefeller Memorial Chapel services include a 4 p.m. “Lessons and Carols” performance and children’s nativity pageant.

For post-Hanukkah fun, U of C’s Newberger Hillel Center recommends the Spertus Institute’s 9th Annual Community Festival on December 25, which offers musical performances, dance lessons, face-painting, and arts and crafts.

At Lincoln Park Zoo’s ZooLights festival, running 5-9 p.m. through January 1, Chicagoans can see their favorite animals under twinkling lights.

To see lights of a different kind, the University’s South Pole Telescope team hosts a December 30 Webcast. Led by astronomy & astrophysics professor John Carlstrom, the group of cosmologists will address how the ten-meter telescope, soon to be completed, will be used. Presented in collaboration with San Francisco’s Exploratorium, the team will tackle questions of dark energy, anti-gravity, and galaxy clusters. It's one way to get your brain revved up for the New Year.


B.E.O.

Photos: Lincoln Park Zoo lights up the night through January 1 (top); University of Chicago cosmologists will give a Webcast update on the South Pole Telescope (bottom).

December 22, 2006