Seasonal Garnishes

 

World Equestrian Center
Ocala, Florida

Hopscotching today through holiday decorations ....

Dining room decor

Usually at this time of year, I take my readers through a photo-tour of my home, picturing all of the decorations. I have little that is new this year, continuing to keep things simple for the sake of limited storage options. So, a home tour is not the plan but I will feature some of the jingle we've been enjoying this month. 

living room Christmas tree

Our tree looks better in person than in this snapshot. I really like its simplicity after so many years of assembling a much taller tree and unpacking a ka-zillion ornaments. This tree is standing on a bar stool that is draped in a tablecloth with gold metallic threads woven in the red and green plaid. 

Mistletoe is suspended beneath the living room ceiling fan/light fixture. 💋

Where Santa and his Missus slumber

We don't have a fireplace, but we have hung some stockings from the candelabra on the dining room wall. Hmm. It looks, from the size of this stocking, like our expectations are small -- expecting a stick of gum, perhaps? 

Have you noticed that with each passing year, there are fewer real Christmas carols but more than enough of the secular tunes regarding Santa Claus and such? 

I enjoy including Santa in the season since he is said to be a generous man with a heart for the unfortunate. But the music expecting his arrival outnumbers the carols proclaiming the One who is bringing lasting treasure for all of eternity.

TV screen saver on the all-Christmas music station

There is one recording I've heard several times where Jon Pardi sings "Please Come Home for Christmas" and then morphs into Amazing Grace." Not sure what that is all about -- maybe a prodigal coming home? Here's the link for it on Youtube.

Flamingle Bells cross stitch from Sandy

In recent years Christmas celebrations have included the use of colors other than the traditional red and green. There are artificial trees in pastel colors. Here in Florida, I'm okay with pink at Christmastime since Flamingos are known to replace Santa's reindeer. But for the most part, I stick with the reds and greens in various shades.

Outside our house, Dawg has once again been tasked with greeting anyone who approaches our driveway with his red ribbon. And for the sake of Jersey Girl, who says she can't find my house without looking for Larry the Turtle, he's wearing his holiday finery, too.

I've tied red ribbons around the necks of our 5 stilt-legged birds in both the front and back yards (yes, FIVE, but this is how we decorate in the sub-tropics). 

I'm pretty sure my penchant for these Christmas touches on the outdoor animals is not something Gary would have endorsed before I came into his life, but a little whimsy is a good thing. This is our 4th Christmas since we met; he's getting used to my ways and patiently puts up with my antics.

We have a second Christmas tree on display in a garage window that faces the street. At night we turn on the lights and that combines with a tall Victorian-style lantern to comprise our outdoor lighting. 

front porch

While I'm on the subject of lights, we drove up the road just a few miles to the World Equestrian Center. My town boasts that it is the "horse capital of the world." While I questioned that designation when the WEC was under construction, I'm convinced now that it must be true. 

World Equestrian Center

In my opinion, this holiday light show outshines the horses as it gets bigger and better every year. I took many more snapshots than will be shared here. Look closely in the above photo to see Gary sitting in this car resembling an early 1900s model.

Since Gary is a car guy, we took advantage of all the photo ops that included vehicles (or should I say, "horseless carriages"). This VW bus was a fun inclusion in the display.

If you squint your eyes, you may recognize yours truly waving from this lit-up carriage. 

entrance to the light show at the WEC

Hmm. I see that I have got ahead of myself. I should show you the entrance to the light show as we approached it from the parking lot. (Psst! If you go on a Tuesday night, the parking is FREE. If you wait until the weekend you are charged something like $30 per car, but then you also get live music.... jus' sayin')

At dusk, some of the contrast with the lights wasn't that great, but you get the idea. We enjoyed a leisurely walk in and around the many displays.

Most of the lights were in front of (or in back of, depending on your perspective) the 5-star hotel with the large outdoor arena for horses (real ones, although we saw none that night). 

Inside the arena is the seating area for shows, and two jumbo-trons that on this night served as giant fireplaces (emitting no heat, of course).

Inside the hotel lobby, which is very posh, I didn't take many pictures but enjoyed just gawking at everything while Gary held my hand so I wouldn't walk into anything. This snapshot is one of the few I did take of a gingerbread horse. As we approached him, our nostrils caught the scent of the cookies glued to the horse's body. How pleasant that was, and look, a nativity scene was there, too, on gingerbread bricks.

Gary likes to say that I make friends everywhere I go, and that is not far from the truth. I didn't catch this gal's name, but like me, she was enjoying the glam of the hotel.

I can't really tell you what this is: a tree, or a bell, or possibly an angel? It was massive, standing near the registration desk of the hotel, and as you can see, it was very pretty.

Back outdoors again, we stopped for ice cream. I had the Christmas Cookie flavor in my cone and Gary got the Strawberry Cheesecake. 

Florida Cracker Kitchen

On another day this past week, we met some of our kids at the Florida Cracker Kitchen in Brooksville. It is located pretty much half way between their home and ours, so the drive time is equal. By the way, in case you are wondering about the use of the word, "cracker":

Florida crackers were colonial-era British American pioneer settlers in what is now the U.S. state of Florida; the term is also applied to their descendants, to the present day, and their subculture among white Southerners. The first crackers arrived in 1763 after Spain traded Florida to Great Britain following Britain's victory over France in the Seven Years' War,^[1]though much of traditional Florida cracker folk culture dates to the 19th century.

Thank you, Wikipedia.

some of our favorite people

The food was great! Both Gary and I had breakfast plates and our kids had country-fried steak and something with a flour tortilla. The biscuits are out-of-this-world! We had such a good visit.

Speaking of food, back at home in our kitchen, I made some muffins with a jam filling in the center. They were very messy but oh-so-good. I had to freeze some of them so we don't eat them all at once.

And yes, while I like to have Hallmark movies on the TV while I bake, this time it was Christmas carols on my personal play list.

Even though I do enjoy baking, enough gifted goodies have arrived that I need not spend much time wearing my apron.

Although postage is at an all-time high, I think we have received more Christmas cards via snail mail than last year. Many social media greetings have come as well and we are equally appreciative of them. We have sent out our cards via USPS, the Internet, and in-person visits.

Of course, the real purpose of Christmas is to celebrate the coming of God Himself to earth as a human baby. Somebody said that when the baby Jesus gave out his first cry, it was the first time humanity heard the actual voice of God.  Now that's something to turn over in our thoughts.

Our current culture observes this season of celebration in a myriad of ways for a lot of different reasons. Much of what we see and hear can be a strong distraction from the acknowledgment that Jesus is God's provision to bring sinful man to Himself. May we rise above the glitz of the amusements to embrace our Salvation.

"...a Savior has been born to you;

he is the Messiah, the Lord.

This will be a sign to you:

You will find a baby wrapped in cloths

and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of 

the heavenly host appeared

with the angel,

praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest heaven,

and on earth peace to those

on whom his favor rests."

Luke 2:11-14

Until next time, may your Christmas be blessed with peace and joy!