A Night of Christmas Delight

It's now a tradition for us. The Arboretum Winter Wonderland. Sponsored light displays of Christmas scenes are set up on the trails and in the woods. Opening Thanksgiving weekend, this is a drive-thru exhibit except for 1 or 2 nights. On those nights, for a small fee, the entire trail is open for foot-traffic only. How cool!

We met some of our kayaking friends inside the main lodge and then buttoned up for the hike.

Awesome new displays this year along with the familiar ones.



One of our favorite paths leads to the chapel in the woods... so realistic, it seems we would be able to walk right inside.


We had fueled up real good with ciambatta rolls filled with spicy chicken and cheese, baked beans and hot coffee with cocoa mix in it... oh yeah!

The air seemed to get more brisk every couple minutes... very energizing!



The aroma of bonfires, the woods and the crisp snowy air made the hike even more wonderful.
Peggy liked the beaver gnawing through this tree, which topples to the ground every 10 seconds or so. We were imagining how huge and great this all would look to little kids snuggled in the back seats of their parents cars, slowly driving through this.





I can relate to these elves on ladders fixing something on the house in the Winter.. hee hee.

Not a large crowd on the trails but it was romantic and made us get "into the spirit".









A new display this year was Bethlehem. The largest scene of the trail, about 50 feet long and 20 feet tall.. the Angels and Star are nicely detailed. We were humming carols and having a real good time!

Back to reality Monday morning, I've got bread baking, steaks ready for supper and a small list of things to keep me busy. Feathery snow came down this early morning, so some sweeping outside was due, and the plows came by, filling in the end of the driveway for a bit of exercise too.

We're getting a bit more used to the early darkness of this season... feels like bedtime around 6, but with decorations to get up, cookies to bake, cards to address and other fun things, we are having a ball.

This is a great time of year to feel like a big kid, remembering the "reason for the season", and all our blessings!

Peace!