Rounding Up The Family

Our holiday visits with all the family really began with Thanksgiving at Jonathan and Kahran’s house where we were with all the Davis boys and their families.  After a working trip to Utah and Texas, we were back with the Davis boys in Fearrington Village where I, for the twenty-ninth year, told Stories for A Holiday Season to raise food for the CORA Food Bank.  Between performance days, we got to visit and exchange gifts with family.

Opening Presents with the Davis Boys.

Following our trip to the Baltimore Estate, we drove up to Lake Orion, Michigan to visit with Trish’s mother, Betty, and her brothers, Jerry, Wayne, Doug, and their families, and have Christmas cheer (mostly food) there.  It was a great time as we ignored the twelve degree temperature and stayed inside with family and food.

Trish with her mother, Betty, and brothers, Jerry and Wayne.

We left Michigan and drove back to Goldsboro, NC, where Trish’s daughter, Betsie, and her two children, Mac and Beckham, joined us for a Christmas visit with Trish’s son, Greg’s,  family.

Trish with Betsie and Greg.

 We ate more food and had gifts to open with Greg and his wife, Annette, and their children, Mallory, Jake, and Luke.

Jake, Luke, and Mallory.

Finally...we got back home on December 23rd so we could begin to work hard at doing absolutely NOTHING for Christmas.  We are still living in the garage but a bit of work is beginning to take place in the house, and, we now have a new hot water heater in the garage so we can be comfortably clean.

It is the best Christmas ever!

Christmas at The Biltmore Estate

I have always wanted to go to the Biltmore House at Christmas time.  This year, Trish and I made it happen.  The visit was much more than the House itself; it was the entire Estate in winter.

We stayed at the beautiful Biltmore Inn, located on a view-wealthy hilltop above Antler Village and the Biltmore Estate Winery.  Our stay at the Inn included bountiful breakfast buffets each morning.  The Inn is only a short walk down the hill from the Winery and the shops at Antler Village.  The afternoon of our arrival was warm and we took advantage of the weather for this pleasant walk.

Mountain View from the Inn.

In the later afternoon we had a behind the scenes tour at the House itself.  This was mostly to learn about ongoing restoration and perpetual preservation.  We also had time for a downstairs walk through the House and wine tasting at the Winery before our evening dinner at Cedric’s Pub in Antler Village.

From the Baltimore House Loggia.

The following day was full!  We started with our tour of the large Downton Abbey exhibit.  This exhibit retraces the history of the Downton Abbey TV series and its characters and includes costumes as well as the entire kitchen, dining room, and Mary’s bedroom from the set.  What fun!

Later we had another tour behind the scenes at the house learning about the life and work of all the servants.  This fit in perfectly with the Downton Abbey experience into real life.

The finale of our visit was the evening candlelight tour of the entire house: main floor with countless Christmas trees and live music in the background, second and third floor bedrooms and living suites, the basement with its bowling alley and swimming pool, all the kitchens and pantries,  we spent nearly three house savoring the beauty and filling our own heads with imagination.

Triple Fireplaces in the Banquet Hall.

We left being deeply grateful to the Cecil Family for their endless efforts at preservation and sharing of George Vanderbilt’s legacy.  Their deep love of the Estate and its history and legacy are surpassed only by their willingness to have their property open to all to enjoy.

Biltmore House by Evening Light.

Merry Christmas!

Luminaria

The Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point are the post-Labor Day weekend location of the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival each year.  At this winter time of year one might think that “gardens” would have nothing to offer.  Wrong!

Through the Holiday Season the Ashton Gardens are the home of LUMINARIA, a spectacular light show of Christmas delight and beauty.

The Gingerbread Houses are only the beginning...

As you enter the gardens there are Gingerbread Houses filling the garden’s greenhouse. They are meticulously done and beautifully creative.  We would have made the trip just to see them.

On our way through Luminaria!

Once in the Gardens themselves, the Gingerbread Houses would be left behind except for the lingering aroma of gingerbread that follows along with you for a while.  Gingerbread is not the only smell enhancement along the way; there is the aroma of tulips blooming as the LED tulips bloom and later the smell of peppermint while traveling through a forest of candy canes.

Blue lights sparkle over flowing streams.

The summertime streams of water now flow with twinkling blue lights, the sculpture garden is softly lighted with hundreds of LED candles, a long hillside glows with thousands of luminaries timed to change color and pattern with Christmas music to accompany them. There is even a pair of reindeer...Comet and Dasher...to be visited.  Along the way there are opportunities for warm-ups and hot chocolate.

Walking a path of candy canes.

If you ever have a chance to be near Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah at this time of year, do NOT miss the chance to walk through this holiday of lights.  Dress warmly, though.  It will probably be near freezing when you are there.  It is also a good idea to go early in the evening...we began our visit at dusk near five o’clock...to avoid parking and people crowds.

Dancing luminaries accompanied by music.

Back in Utah

On Saturday Trish and I flew to Salt Lake City.  We flew on Saturday rather than Sunday to avoid the huge Thanksgiving holiday return traffic.  It was worth it...the airports were empty.

Tim Lowry was already here as he had a theatre evening performance of Dickens Christmas Carol at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi.

Since neither Tim nor I had to work again until Monday, he, Trish, and I got to go up to Temple Square on Sunday for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s first Christmas broadcast of the year.  It is a marvelous and moving thing to see and hear the choir with full orchestra bringing Music and the Spoken Word to millions of people worldwide and to be present for the live performance.  To hear a choir of 360 people perfectly articulate the quick short notes of Handel’s  “Unto Us A Child is Born” was amazing.

The Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra sing “God Be With Us ‘til We Meet Again” for their audience after the live broadcast is finished.

This week is composed of three days of school visits under the Timpanogos Institute’s organization.  Each day I do two school performances and then a writing workshop with either teachers or a specific  grade level of students.

Today the day was spent at Edgemont Elementary School in Provo.  Trish and I had a great time there hosted by our friend Debi Richan.  The art work in the halls of the school was spectacular.  Tomorrow we go to Promontory School in Perry, Utah.

In the hallway of the Edgmont Flying Eagles.

Thanksgiving

Last year the Davis Boys and their families all came to Ocracoke for Thanksgiving.  At that time Trish and I were not even engaged and she had never even been to the island.  A lot has happened during that very full year.

This year a return trip was not possible as the house is torn out from Hurricane Dorian and there is no place for anyone to stay or even gather. But...during that same year Jonathan and Kahran got married and they are in a lovely new home in Greensboro, so, we were all invited to come there for the holiday.

Kahran was doing almost all of the cooking, but, we were given dessert and drink assignments.  We made Sangria, pumpkin pie, vinegar pie, grape pie, and fruitcake.

On Thanksgiving Day we all arrived: Trish and I gathered along with Doug and Jill, Kelly and Erin and Frank, Jonathan and Kahran, and the boys’ mother, Beth.  It was a wonderful meal but an even better time of visiting.  We ate off my mother, Grandma Lucille’s Blue Willow China that now lives at their house.

Trish and I had found an old photo of the boys when they were about six, eight, and twelve years old. We had had it restored and brought a copy to each of the boys and to Beth.  Of course we  had to have a new boy-photo made after that.

Jonathan, Kelly and Doug around 1983.

How much we have to be thankful for each year; this one more than ever.

Jonathan, Donald, Doug and Kelly.