Merry Christmas!

We had the joy of waking up to what I will call an incoming white Christmas this year – snow began falling at about 9:00 a.m. on Saturday and continued through the weekend – some of our associates report up to 15″ at their homes this Monday morning!  Here are a couple of pictures from our courtyard and looking across the parkway to the hotel.  We haven’t enjoyed this much snow in quite a while, and we’re all kids again today here at Christmas Place!

Hurray for the glimpses of blue sky!

Nothing is prettier than snow on evergreens!

One frosty slide ride today!

Did you get enough of “A Christmas Story”, wrapping & bows, leftovers, and smiles and hugs and laughter this Christmas??  Tell us about it! 

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Winter Wonderland

As promised, a few pictures of the late winter snow we received Sunday night!  We are so very blessed with beauty here, and it is our pleasure to share it with you.  Makes you think, “hey, it’s less than 300 days until Christmas!”

That’s Gatlinburg in the valley below.

You can bet that’s some cold water!

Think warm, Christmas thoughts – lights on the Christmas tree, a roaring fire in the fireplace, packages piled high, hot cocoa on the stove.  It’s never to early to start thinking Christmas Place!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

If the kids weren’t out of school already, they’d get the day off!

Yay – we’re getting a little snow today!

The temperature is dropping tonight, so we’re anticipating a late store opening tomorrow – keep our elves safe, we do!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

P.S. When is the city going to put all those electrical lines under ground so we’ll have a nicer view of the hotel from here??

Let it snow!

We got hit with some terrific rain storms this morning…the kind that wake you up at approximately 4:28:16 a.m. and keep you awake until the alarm goes off, and leave you fighting to keep your eyes open at 3:55:56 p.m.  The kind that cover the road in sheets of water so you’ve got to keep an iron grip on the steering wheel and all four wheels down on the tight curves.

Then, at work, coworkers start telling me “this was the weather we had the day before the great blizzard of ’93, when we were without power for 10 days and all the restaurants and hotels in town ran out of food!”  Which comments were all immediately followed with “bring on the snow!”  We have quite a few transplanted northerners in the county, and some of them really miss the snow.  Too, we have not a few former south-coasters who are contemplating any and all white stuff with varying degrees of fear and loathing – sort of like San Diegans waiting for rain, if you know what I mean.

Let’s meet in the middle, and settle for a good, but only just inconvenient, 5″ of white, what do you say?  Here’s a picture of my hopes for winter, from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park web site.

So, I was looking at the funny calendars as I like to do, but there’s not much going on.  It’s “Hi Neighbor” month, and I’ve done that already.  It’s “Underdog Day” a week from today, and I’ll try to avoid that.  National Tie Month (note that it is NOT ugly tie month).  Ooo – ooo – Cat Herders Day on the 15th.  Then there’s that whole Christmas brouhaha in a couple of weeks.  What’s that about??  Heh.  Heh.  Heh.

We’re always dreaming of a white Christmas around here!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

P.S.  Have you been watching the U-Name-It-28-Days-of-Deals specials over at the shopping site?  And you remember that we’re offering free freight on orders over $75 through Sunday, December 14th?  You’ve still got plenty of time to snag some bargains and pick up a bauble or two, so get going!

We weren’t kidding about the snow!

Here are pictures of the Shops and the Inn, covered in snow!  Click on each image to see it at full size.  Today, the sun is shining brilliantly over the scene, and the mountains to the south are white.

     

With views like this, I want to indulge in my favorite winter sport, competitive hot-chocolate-chugging in front of a warm fire!  What about you?  The roads are clear, so drive on over for a visit, and bring your camera.

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Snow Day

It’s a good day to start a blog about Christmas, even in February, weeks after the holiday season….it’s snowing like mad this morning! The store is opening late, kids are out of school today, and the store and Inn look like picture postcard photographs. The Inn is surrounded by evergreen trees, the balconies decorated with evergreen garlands, and there are about 4″ of snow covering the area today – and still coming down. We’re all standing by the upstairs window here in the store, rooting for more snow, crossing our fingers that we’ll be able to go sledding this afternoon.

Suddenly, the carolers on the porch and trees in Bell Tower Square look right at home, not quite so lost in the march towards spring.

Hope you are enjoying a beautiful day, whether you’re seeing snow or sunshine in your part of the world.

~Janet @ The Christmas Place