Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens

I have to share the pictures of Lewis Ginter Botanical garden at Christmas.
The colorful displays of lighting  always a treat to see.   Miranda, Genevieve, Adalyn and Steve and I went along.  We had dinner in the cafe of Crab bisque, salad, shrimp salad and sandwich fixings for the girls.

Good idea with the crystal beads layered as they mimic ice dripping from the swag

Animal kingdom with a giraffe in the background

Yep, Genevieve is going for the lights on the ground

Reflection in the water towards the childrens area

they both love the unicorn

Here is the tree house , the kids love to run up the steps to look out over the river

Inside the Conservatory is the large Tree loaded with flowers this year

Adalyn proudly showing off her zipper pull of a dinosaur she got at the gift shop here.

Finally one of Genevieve standing still.  She is constantly moving.

can kind of get an idea how large this tree is

Into the library showing part of the doorway with a swag of flowers and bees with butterflies.

Gorgeous tree with hand blown glass balls and beautiful village underneath

I like the gemstone like color of the baubles

Gosh this was so pretty

So glad they put these back on display this year as I enjoy along with the girls seeing these houses.

I especially like this one being that it had to take a good amount of time with all of the needle work. 

I used to love to work with plastic canvas and now seeing this motivates me to take it up again

The furniture inside is plastic canvas

I thought this doll sized greenhouse was so cute

this taken from inside a doll house - sewing machine room

Inside the reading room is a tree with dried flowers covering it

Had a hard time getting decent pictures because there were lots of people with cameras and it was hard capturing anything without someone else in the picture

all dried from the garden here

We didn't go for members night and the chance to go again was January the ninth but it was still so freezing after the snow, so hopefully next year.

below are two ornaments my grand girls gave me from Pottery Barn.   

Genevieve picked out this one

so cut with the lit christmas tree and lamp post

Adalyn picked out this one.  She loves animals so much

Sweet ornaments from two sweet little girls

Christmas visit to Donna's house

This is the last of my christmas house visits.  My sister Donna had a get together New Years Eve.

She has glass inserts on doors so she placed live white pine garland around door and a live greenery over door with faux poinsettia and ornaments

Pretty lit basket of flowers and ornaments to greet

foyer with nativity is contructed of wood from Israel.  The star in front is turned to play Silent Night.

pretty lit basket under table in entrance

dining room door decoration

just left to entrance is the living room tree, it is very nicely flocked and looks so pretty with all of the decorations.

a collectable decoration book.  It winds from the back and plays a carol with figures that move.

setting out the goodies

I like the look of the layered lights with balls and garland

So true

I always have the urge to pull off the candy when I see these houses. 

In the den is a tree that feels real to me and at first glance I thought it was.

The needles look so real to me

Yes,  always a pickle to be found on the tree

Saying good bye to Donna and Amy

great photo of mom and daughter.  Amy lives in Charlottesville and is a great wedding photographer who travels quite frequently for her work.

Her site here:   http://www.amynicolephoto.com/