We celebrated Christmas with our children and grandchildren on Christmas Eve. It was a wonderful time. Christmas Day found the two of us alone for the first time ever, while the children celebrated with their other families. Busy schedules for the weeks before Christmas left Tim and me happy to keep each other company. We enjoyed breakfast in front of the fire, opened our gifts to each other, read, and spent a quiet day. Around 5 pm, we went out to Butchart Gardens.
The gardens are beautifully lit for the holidays. It's a magical experience wandering along the paths at night. The lighted building in the above photo is the former home of the garden founders.
Throughout the gardens there are displays of the 12 Days of Christmas. It's fun to look for them and count along. Here are the Three French Hens, enjoying croissants with the Eiffel Tower behind them.
This lovely statue stands near the carousel. He's elegantly decked out for the season.
This archway is part of the rose garden, where the flowers sleep until spring.
After our stroll through the gardens, we went to the Blue Poppy Restaurant for a plate of turkey, stuffing, and all the trimmings. We declined dessert there and came home for a slice of Buche de Noel.
Our Christmas Day was different, but an air of quiet contentment reigned. Part of our extended family came over today (Saturday) for a dinner. I'll post about that later.
You describe a delightful day! I think that it is so important to be willing to change, to ebb and flow with life's seasons. I, who am a creature of habit and love traditions, need to remind myself of that when I am balking about change. But there is often a sweet surprise when we accept His gifts, especially those that were not in "our" plans.
ReplyDeleteOh, to walk through that garden...sigh...
Sounds like a lovely step in the ongoing process of transition that is this (late?) middle stage of life. We haven't yet had a Christmas Day on our own, but we had the morning and early afternoon to ourselves this year, which was different -- and, quite honestly, welcome after all the bustle leading up to the day. Butchart Gardens and a restaurant meal together would be a delightful way of celebrating all the possibilities for moving traditions forward.
ReplyDeleteHow fun that they decorate the gardens like this for Christmas. I still have to return to the gardens to see those arches filled with roses. Timing is everything...
ReplyDeleteWe're off to the gardens tonight, having been rained out on every other night that might have worked in our schedule.
ReplyDeleteLike you, we were alone on Christmas morning for the first time ever. Rather than being a poignant experience, it was rather sweet and cosy!
What gorgeous lights and sparkle!
ReplyDeleteHave a very Happy New Year!
We love to be on our own occasionally. Our quiet day was 22nd which was our wedding anniversary, no parties, no people, just us!
ReplyDeleteI love your white and blue china :-)
ReplyDeleteI agree it is such fun walking around in the dark at Christmas time. Not only the decorations but many homes leave their curtains open at Christmas.
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