Christmas at the Biltmore

Oh joyous time of year, when the brisk chill of winter whirls and swirls, when the cheery lights of the season wink on in windows and dangle, glowing and swaying from shingles and shrubbery in homes across the world. The sights, sounds and smells of Christmas are all around. And there's simply no better place, in my opinion, to celebrate this most glorious season than the Biltmore Estate in Asheville NC, because nothing says Christmas like a 40 foot pine laden with gifts and ornaments large enough to hold court alone under our most humble household tree that are instead dwarfed in size by the others they share stage with. And oh yes, the snow. Ordered special for us, I suspect. How amazing to wake to a wonderland of white, sun rays struggling to peek through gray clouds, illuminating bare branches heavy with ice, glinting and shimmering in the light. And even better than all of that alone is sharing it with friends, and with husbands just returned from far off lands fighting wars we wish we didn't have. From me to you, dear followers, I wish you and yours a Very Merry Christmas and a peaceful new year!

 

"We hear the beating of wings over Bethlehem and a light that is not of the sun or of the stars shines in the midnight sky. Let the beauty of the story take away all narrowness, all thought of formal creeds. Let it be remembered as a story that has happened again and again, to men of many different races, that has been expressed through many religions, that has been called by many different names. Time and space and language lay no limitations upon human brotherhood" - New York Times

Yes, Christmas - that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance - a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved.  - Augusta E. Rundel

 

having a blue Christmas (blue doesn't need to mean sad!)

 

wine tasing! who can resist?

 

reflections!

 

ingenious people built snowmen.

 

staying warm in the greenhouse.

 

just for fun!

Rich & K.C. frolicking in the snow!

 inside the Inn at Biltmore

 the difference a day can make!