Christmas Countdown Activities. Day 7. A Field trip to the Toronto Christmas Market.

Toronto has Christmas Market, that takes place in the beautiful part of the city, the Distillery District. This historic district is an awesome place as it is, with its shops, restaurants, and theaters, but every year now it also hosts a Christmas Market, European style, making it a great attraction for the Torontonians and visitors.

 

 

Yes, it was cold and the narrow streets full of people were sometimes difficult to navigate, but we enjoyed walking around, staring at the decorations, spotting various TV reporters with cameras, taking pictures here and there.

There was a big Christmas tree, of course, a gingerbread house, Santa with elves, performers every hour singing Christmas carols, or dancing folk dances of various nations, food stands, and much much more.

There was a merry-go-round and a Ferris Wheel, but Santino is not into rides, so we skipped that whole part of the entertainment.

We got lucky and managed to catch a great play "Munsched!", performed by the George Brown theatre students at the Younge Center for the Performing Arts. This was Santino's first theater visit, and he loved it! He didn't understand at first the whole set up. The stage, the lights, the people, everything was new to him, but he figured it out pretty quickly.

He couldn't follow the story and was confused how is it the same people were "playing" school children, and now they are trees and rocks, and where is school, and where do people go (behind the curtains). He also kept forgetting that he was not allowed to talk. I told him that he needs to be quiet, because the spectators are not allowed to talk, yell and roar like dinosaurs. He would be quiet for a moment, but then everybody would burst into laughter, and he would start saying "shhhh, quiet" to people around him. The whole idea of being not allowed to speak, but allowed to laugh out loud was strange to him.

Of course, we were not allowed to take pictures of the play, that makes it really hard to tell what the play was about and how it went. The only picture from that performance is the one below, when Santino got to meet and high-five the actors after the performance.

And after the Christmas Market, we took a stroll to the Eaton Center, to check out the beautiful decorations: 2 giant reindeer, or a beautiful Christmas tree made of lights.

 

Then we enjoyed the window Christmas installations at the Bay across the street. I was so proud of Santino today! His behavior, the fact that he walked with us everywhere without complaining proved that he is definitely growing up, and (yay!) becoming more manageable. He was curious and interested in everything. I am excited, as now I know I can take him out to more places, visit events, plays, etc!

 P.S. I think its worth mentioning, that this fun day in Toronto ended great for Santino, as on the way to the car, right before we left, we saw a fire truck! Santino's perfect day was complete.