Winter is here, with its long, dark nights, but Lightscape at Chicago Botanic Garden offers locals a chance to experience a bit of wonder and magic. This stunning exhibit (which runs now through January 5) features a half-mile walking path illuminated with more than a million festive LED lights. 

During one part of the walk, you’ll find yourself in a tunnel of lights, surrounded on all sides by a luminous glow. Another stretch of the path includes a choir of singing trees, each wrapped with a pulsating string of lights. Yet another area of the show invites you to immerse yourself in a maze of lights hung from above, and near the end of the path you’ll find a garden of fire, filled with the fragrant aroma of frankincense. At the end of the Lightscape path you’ll be able to warm up around a fire pit where you can roast marshmallows and enjoy a round of s’mores and hot chocolate.