Downtown Richmond - James Center

Christmas Eve , Steve and I drove to downtown Richmond to see the decorations at the James Center.  We had dinner inside the Omni.  Spaghetti for me and Clams and linguine for Steve.   I need a set of the dishes that our dinner was served in.  I especially love the cup and saucer.

Beautiful scenery to see while eating our meal

Gorgeous trees outside

  I cropped this so you could see it closer.   The reflection in the glass

 I still have not found these type of lampshades yet,  still looking though

Back home before the snow hits
------------------------------------------short video of downtown lights

While in Tennessee

Steve wanted to see the town of Cadiz Kentucky, on what was the coldest day for us in the teens.  It was about a 25 minute drive from her home in Tn..     Wow it was cold. 
 Everything was decorated so pretty.  Some of the decorations on the square where Santa visited was blown around from the snow storm that came through.   Still it was a beautiful day and we had a great lunch at Hot Diggity Dog.   Chili was had by Seth and we had sandwiches and onion rings-sooo good .  We want to visit in the fall of the year for some good barbecue,  I understand there are vendors out then with some great food.

 Annette missed Santa,  but got a picture with the sleigh.  nice painted scene in the background

 Taking a look in town in the Antique stores and lil shops.  Steve leads the way

 Mighty creative

Love the decorated Pigs in town

 Annette and Seth

 You knew there had to be a Pig tree.  If you click on it ,  you can see it better

 Steve really liked the villiage scene in the museum

local radio station tree

Christmas greenery

Today Steve, my sister Lynn and I toured Maymont Mansion to see the Christmas decorations.   Lots of greenery and beautifully set table for dinner.  Red ribbon was draped on the table and beautiful very large arrangement of red roses was the centerpiece.  Mrs Dooley loved roses.
The tree was decorated in paper doily ornaments along with cones and other handmade ornaments. Gifts were hung on the tree  and not placed under the tree.  Needless to say,  the gifts were not large and fit well in the branches wrapped in white paper with red ribbon.  Tape was not available in their day, straight pins were used to secure the paper to the package.  The staircase was decorated with lots of heavy thick greenery tied with very large red ribbon. 
No pictures were allowed to be taken inside, so I just have more of the outside greenery.   After the tour, we headed to Buz and Ned's for the best barbecue, spare ribs and great tasting lemonade.

I had to capture this skeletal tree.   Star Magnolia.  I love the gnarly limbs against the pretty blue sky.

 This blding. was once used by the Dooley's as a garage for their carriages and motor cars.  The window now decorated with dolls and toys.   This picture is of a gift box with a nice picture of a little girl.

 I must use magnolia leaves for my windows next year,  I really like the way they look in the sill

the carriages had greenery tied to them for the Christmas season,  I thought was a nice touch.

Lynn standing in front of a very large cedar tree

I forgot the name of these statues,  but they sure look cold standing there in front of a frozen pool.

Some Christmas pics of Solomons Island

There was shopping and a heavy dinner on the island Saturday.  The grand kids had a good time looking at the lights.  The people were all so friendly.   There was the parade of boats all lit with Santa and one was shooting off fireworks. The streets were Luminary lit,  such a nice quaint town and this was its 26th Christmas walk.

 The view from our table in the restaurant

loved this tree with crabs as decorations in a shop

streets lit

tree in restaurant