The Paper Moon Diner has been the favored midnight stop for students at Johns Hopkins and Loyola College for years.  During regularly-scheduled daytime hours, it is a few blocks from the Baltimore Museum of Art, a short hop down the Jones Falls Expressway to the Maryland Zoo, the Walters Art Museum, and more.  The proximity, and the open-24-hours part make it a great place to grab a cup of coffee (us) and a scrambled-eggs with cheese (her) before moving on to our next event.

Two other things I might mention?  The decor - which is covered floor-to-ceiling in toys (in various states), cars, shoes, artwork and anything else the eclectic and wonderful owner's imagination can conjure. Mannequins grace the bathrooms.  Superheros twirl overhead from the fans. Oh the wonders of superglue.  And the food - if you are partial to peanut-butter-pie, this is The One True Source.  And the Paper Moon omelette list is legendary.  It is a diner, after all.

Baltimore around the holidays is part childhood wonder, part outsider art.  The Miracle on 34th Street all-neighborhood light show in Hampden is bright enough, they say, to be seen from space.  Don't drive through. Get out of your car and walk.  Talk to the neighbors.  Admire the hubcap tree.

In historic neighborhoods like Fells Point, Santa arrives by tugboat the first Saturday in December.  This year, Kooper's Tavern hosted  breakfast with Santa that made everyone feel cheerful and bright.  That evening, there was a parade of lighted boats too.  Best seen from the second floor windows of local restaurant Slainte (the first floor is a pub, the second is very family friendly), unless you're lucky enough to know people lucky enough to live here.   And the visitors center had a free (!) gingerbread-house making workshop for neighborhood kids and visitors alike.  Not all of the marshmellows made it onto the gingerbread house, mind you.  She had a marvelous time.