On the road: Take in tea service to warm up this winter

Chicago

Tea time

If there's one thing that we can use more of during the holidays it's civilized behavior. So why not get all proper at Atwood Café's annual Holiday Tea Service? Holiday Tea is a festive tradition during which you can warm up and relax after holiday shopping in downtown Chicago. Located inside Hotel Burnham, tea service offers your choice of eight loose-leaf tea options (or a flute of bubbly for an additional cost), fresh cranberry scones, biscotti and sweet petit fours baked in-house by Executive Chef Brian Millman, piled high alongside savory house-made sandwiches.

2 to 3:30 p.m. daily through Thursday, Dec. 25, at Atwood Café, adjacent to Hotel Burnham, 1 W. Washington St., Chicago. The cost is $35 per adult, $20 per child under 12 and $10-12 extra for champagne. Reservations required. (312) 368-1900 or email erin.orr@atwoodcafe.com.

Grape escape

City Winery Chicago Master Sommelier Serafin Alvarado hosts a music, wine and champagne pairing concert with The Rack & The Riddler, a live rock band composed of professionals from the wine world. Alvarado is the first Puerto Rican in the world to be named a Master Sommelier and he is also a talented guitar and bass player. While sipping a five-wine pairing, expect to hear music from the 1960s through current rock with a focus on '90s and early 2000s, especially groups like Foo Fighters, Blink-182, Stone Temple Pilots, Aerosmith and The Black Keys.

8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 15, at City Winery Chicago, 1200 W. Randolph St., Chicago. Cost is $25 for concert and the five-wine pairing; $10 for music only. citywinery.com/chicago or (312) 733-9463.

Seasonal dose

HoliDose, an artisanal holiday-themed market, presents a group of Chicago's top designers, artists and chefs who will offer an eclectic selection of jewelry, clothing, packaged goods and home furnishings. A gift-wrap station will benefit Chicago charity Snow City Arts and We Theory will DJ alongside live entertainment. Look for wild caught-Alaskan salmon, art, wreaths, woolen goods, gifts for the hard-to-buy-for, subscriptions for food delivery, women's designer apparel, chocolate, children's toys and more.

10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 14, at Venue One, 1034 W Randolph St., Chicago. Entry is $8 online or $10 at the door, and both include one drink ticket for the 21-plus crowd. Children get in free. dosemarket.com

Midwest

A room at the inn

Do you have a boutique inn fan on your gift list? The Wisconsin B & B Association offers a new gift card that's good at any of its member inns, 140 to be exact, and is valid for five years. It's a welcome gift for the traveler who likes to enjoy local flavor. The card may be purchased in any dollar amount, and it can be personalized with a greeting. The Wisconsin B & B Association will tuck in a new print directory of all its licensed, inspected, insured inns for 2015, too. Will it be the city brick Italianate Brayton B & B in Oshkosh; Sheboygan's Lake Orchard Farm B & B, a farm in the family for six generations; Pinehurst Inn, Bayfield, a B & B that represents ecotourism at its best; or Token Creek Eco-Inn, Madison among the many choices?

The card is available at WisconsinBandB.com or by calling (715) 539-9222.

Heidel it to Green Lake

The annual "Experience the Magic of Christmas" event at Heidel House Resort & Spa offers storybook holiday activities such as carriage rides, breakfast with Santa, story time with Mrs. Claus, a giant gingerbread house display and cookie, ornament and wreath decorating. The festivities begin with an unlimited breakfast buffet with Santa, followed by wreath decorating, ornament and cookie workshops. Get inspired by the giant gingerbread house handcrafted by the resort's chefs as well as miniature gingerbread houses created by Green Lake-area children participating in the resort's first gingerbread house competition.

8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 13. Heidel House Resort & Spa, Green Lake, Wisconsin. Breakfast is $10.95 for adults and $5.95 for kids 4-12. Carriage rides are $3 per person. Reservations required. heidelhouse.com or (920) 294-3344

Head to the olde Xmas

A trip to Christmas past is less than three hours from Chicago when you head to Elkhart Lake and The Osthoff Resort's Old World Christmas Market, a Midwestern take on the celebrated Christkindlesmarkt at Nuremberg, Germany, that dates back to 1545. It's warm inside the tented market, and isn't that the scent of bratwurst, gingerbread and roasted almonds in the air? Have a snort of mulled wine while you shop among dozens of vendors offering authentic European gifts such as hand-carved wooden toys, Czech blown-glass ornaments, Russian nesting dolls, German hand-carved nutcrackers, gingerbread houses, fine apparel, handmade amber and silver jewelry, scarves and shawls, and much more. Tell the kidlets to keep an eye out for Santa and hop aboard a hayride outfitted with hot drinks and blankets and try to get in on the cookie decorating at the resort.

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, Friday, Dec. 5, to Sunday, Dec. 14. The Osthoff Resort, 101 Osthoff Ave., Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Admission is $6 per adult, children 14 and younger get in free with an adult ticket holder. christmasmarketatosthoff.com or (877) 517-4596.