Holidays, 2015

Holidays, 2015
A Winter Scene - red door, a dusting of snow, and a vintage bicycle

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Home for the Holidays...

Recently, we made a couple of out-of-state trips- one to visit my mom in Arizona and another to celebrate the 100th birthday of my sweetheart's father's mother.....in other words, his grandmother.  Here in Colorado, the mountains are being piled high with snow; however, the lower elevations are left 'high and dry.'  So dry, in fact, that getting 'shocked' in a grocery store is quite common---just reaching for a can on a shelf will give you a quite alarming 'PING' of pain!  Arizona, of course, had no snow for the holidays.....
Denver International Airport did its festive best with this beautiful poinsettia tree....

 And Ohio, on the other hand, had a bunch of snow.....we were excited to see it as we landed last weekend!
Our first stop in Ohio was Cracker Barrel....a familiar sight....at this one in Dayton, OH, we enjoyed the old-timey oven piled with old-fashioned goodies.  We had a hearty dinner by the fireplace and headed to our hotel for a much needed rest.

Many of the family members who planned on coming to grandma's reunion could not make it.  They were going to drive from Virginia to Ohio; however, the roads were icy and blowing snow made driving impossible.  We had planned to surprise everyone that we were coming....most of the family lives in Ohio, so those 'Colorado folks' were assumed not to attend, especially so close to the holidays.  How sad we were to learn that the surprise instead was that most of the people we wanted to see were not going to be there.  But the most important person was, of course:  Grandma!

Pretty good for 100 wouldn't you say?  She had her hair and nails all done....In this photo, her two daughter, 3 granddaughters, and 2 great-grand-daughters!

The nursing care facility where she lives had a fabulous tree in the main entrance....really pretty!

After the festivities of the day, we drove around and looked at houses in Ohio and searched for pretty lights....this one was spectacular and the snow made it even prettier

About 29 years ago, I lived in Ohio in this neck of the woods and I took my two daughters ( the third was not born yet ) to the local mall to ride the little train.  I was curious if the train was still there, so we drove over to find out.  Guess what?  It was....and yes, I cried.

As cute as it always was....for 25 cents, the girls could ride around about a half-dozen times....they'd smile the entire time

It was a quick trip, so on Sunday, we headed back to the airport and boarded our plane back to CO....the runways were still quite snowy and icy

Back Home........lots to do yet....but Santa will soon be here!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!


I love Christmas!!! I love the colors, the flavors, the smiles, the songs, the grocery stores stocked with special goodies.  I love baking, fireplaces, the color RED, believing in the magic, giving to others, surprising people, catching up with old friends, watching children's faces in line to see Santa....

I love a wreath on an old barn, ornaments from long ago....
time with family

If you're needing a Christmas fix, I've gathered together some scenes from recent visits to Christmas-y places

Roger's Gardens in September was just beginning to get their Christmas things out

Hand-made glass ornaments

Unusual things for the 'eclectic' Christmas

'Lantern' ornaments....open on the top for a candle


During a recent visit to the Yankee Candle store in New England, I saw some amazing ornaments!  Here, little wedding cakes!

an almost life-sized Santa with a lab puppy

a rather inviting chair

and yes, it snows every 4 minutes at Yankee Candle

little villages with skaters

cupcake ornaments

Glass ornaments that have been painted from the inside!

a Bavarian village with 'snow' for indoors!

the village 'clock' where figurines come out and play music

trees of all shapes and sizes

German nutcrackers

love this little fellow with the glasses

a german figurine---I think this one was over $300.00!


need a Santa?


maybe some Irish ornaments?

donut ornaments, hamburger ornaments.....you name it!

and cuckoo clocks....I love these!

The ruby slipper ornaments


This place is 'mobbed' with people!


Love the intricate paintings of the Russian dolls

Wreaths with fruits, berries, holly, pinecones

This was a FABULOUS German clock, hand-carved in the Black Forest

Of course, Christmas is always fun with my little people!

My tree skirt....Moose Lodge

A few musical ornaments on my own tree

And Santa coming to town in an old truck

My own tree is 'laden' with Moose

and a few little teeny sweaters on hangers

Our downtown area is full of twinkling lights

and the local candy store is humming with candy making

No snow yet.....but this horse is probably happy about that....
If you're as busy as I am right now, you don't have a lot of time to read a lot of blogs.....so I'll skip the words and just wish you all a Very Merry Christmas.....may you savor the Season.....and enjoy every wonderful minute of it!!  Let the child in you awaken again!  xx

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Turning 30, 6, and Christmas lights tour all in one night!

Had to find some cute cupcake paper @ Target to wrap up her present!

granddaughter gets a 'party' dress from grandma in her favorite Teal color- Lake Louise would love this!

Middle daughter and her boyfriend- 30 birthday party

The birthday girls get their ice cream treats with candles

You have no idea how HUGE this poinsettia was in Sushi Den
After dinner, we walked across the street to Stella's where they serve yummy coffee and tea....there, we had our cake and opened a few more presents before we headed to downtown for the annual lights tour!

the bag is almost cuter than the gift! 

Josie opens a card from her great-grandma
And off we go to see the lights!

Channel 7 news building with their environmentally 'correct' lights

the details were outstanding

kind of a White House feel!

really breathtaking in person!

angels, trees, colored lights a-glow!

The newlyweds in front of the County Building Saturday night


if you look closely, they 'renamed' the street Santa Claus Lane....go Denver!

One of the horse drawn carriages

brighter than I've ever seen these lights before

a snapshot near Speers Blvd.

a Denver landmark

yes, it looks like aliens...it's the Performing Arts Complex

Thank you to the city of Denver for this beautiful Nativity Scene!

The lovely horse drawn carriages were lighted for the festive night

a little British pub in the downtown area