This past weekend, the first weekend in December, our family spent the evenings celebrating a little local Christmas fun. I feel so blessed to live here in Williamsburg where there is always something exciting going on. Of course this being our first year to experience all this fun, we aren’t always properly prepared for the weather or have enough knowledge of the events for everything to go smoothly….but that is just part of the adventure.
Our first stop, Christmas Town – Busch Gardens! One of our favorite local places all decked out for Christmas. There were live trees lining all the pathways and in each section of the park they were lit with a different color. As it got dark the lights everywhere just made the place glow, it was very beautiful! There were Christmas shows and events placed in all the “countries” around the park themed for each region. You could smell all the holiday treats, kettle corn, fudge, and candies enticing you as you walked through the crowds.
Now, it was COLD, very cold…we weren’t completely prepared for how cold it would be, but we survived – BARELY! Haha The best part of it being freezing was this AMAZING Christmas Town Hot Chocolate. Probably the best hot chocolate I’ve ever tasted. Two mugs later and we were a bit wired, but it was worth it and kept us warm. 🙂
The kids had a lot of fun too. They really enjoyed all the Christmas scenery with the polar bears, snowflakes, trees, lights, penguins and listening to the music everywhere. There were a few rides open which made our son very happy!
Our daughter loves to cruise in her stroller and of course munch on snacks!
Somehow she even took a nap amid the crazy light and booming music of the “O Tannenbaum” show. We then went off for some YUMMY dinner at the Trapper’s Smokehouse and a little jog through Ireland and we made it to the kids favorite show of the night…
The Sesame Street stage show was precious and was a perfect way to end our Christmas evening. Our daughter even said “Elmo” for the first time! Well worth braving the cold for a great Christmasy time!
Sunday night we heard about another local event called, “Grand Illumination” in Colonial Williamsburg. They had live music and three areas of where fireworks would be sent up. Since we did not know much about the event, we figured we would just drive out to the parking garage about an hour before the fireworks and walk around. Haha a funny notion. We live very close to Colonial, so as we turned to go down our usual path, we soon realized that this event was A LOT larger than we imagined. There were people walking from a long ways away, cars were shoved between every tree and lining every curb. We chuckled, thinking we would just casually park in the garage close to town – we soon found ourselves on the hunt for some small hole or corner we could shove our car too and walk through the cold to the fireworks, assuming we would make it on time. We ended up finding a great spot by the Post Office with a bunch of other questionably parked cars. The walk wasn’t bad and the crowds were immense, but it was incredible to be a part of the experience. We made our way to the lawn of the Governor’s Palace…a great spot! There were large fire torches lining the center of the lawn and people just everywhere – singing, talking, laughing, waiting for the SHOW! That night was not quite as cold as the one before, so it was much easier to enjoy the wait – it was a short wait and the fireworks began right above the palace…
Daddy held one kid and I held the other as my camera on a tripod attempted to capture how spectacular the lights were….
If you turned around you could see fireworks going up all around you and the glow on all the onlookers faces was breathtaking.
It really was a special event. It was beautiful, historical and a truly unique experience to be able to walk through those old streets and see it decorated for Christmas and be around all those families and people who were there to enjoy themselves just like we were. I can’t wait to go again next year!
Observing Owl 
Janet
/ December 6, 2011Love your photos on this post Tracey! Sounds like a beautiful
place to live.