Holiday Fun

We had some snow! On December 10th we had our second official snowfall of the season.  As you can see from the photo it wasn't much, but it was enough to count.  The snow shovels are still untouched in the garage, which is so unusual compared to our average year.  As much as we'd like to get a good snowfall here, we really need it up in the mountains.  The skiers are itching to use their season passes, we rely on the mountain snowpack for our water supply, and the bare mountaintops aren't nearly as pretty and festive as snow-covered ones.  

 Holiday fun is well underway, and what a difference from last year!  No staying home now to avoid the virus; we may not be doing big crowds, but there's plenty of smaller festivities with fully vaccinated friends to enjoy.  One of the first was the annual luncheon with one of my two small quilt groups, held at the clubhouse of a local golf course.  Those big smiles are real; we were all so happy to be together again!  

The other small group decided they weren't ready to do our usual restaurant holiday gathering so we're meeting tomorrow night at a member's house to enjoy an "appetizer dinner."  I'm making this hot crab dip, which is pretty darn tasty.  Served it last night at a small happy hour here for some neighbors, and we ate it all.  

Early in December my friend Lotus and I went down to the Denver Art Museum to see the "Whistler to Cassatt" exhibition and explore the newly redesigned and updated main building, which has been closed for a few years during the renovation.  As a special treat we ate at the new Ponti restaurant, and were happy to find that the food was delicious.  

More recently my friend Inger and I went down to the Denver Zoo's "Zoo Lights," which features "two million LED lights sparkling over 80 acres." One of the things about the holiday season which I love is the lights, and these were amazing.   Can you see the dolphin, fish, turtle and other creatures in this photo?

Photo from Denver Zoo web site

  I thought these pink and blue trees were fun and very "Dr. Seuss" like .

Throughout the grounds there were frame-mounted lights of various animals doing funny things, like these flying hippos.  

And different sections of the park had different kinds of lights.  I was quite captivated by these lanterns. 

Here's me and Inger in front of a well-lit elephant.  We lucked out with perfect weather, cold enough to feel festive but dry enough to be comfortable.  It was the one night we wouldn't have welcomed snow! I've never been to the Zoo Lights before, but it's now on my "don't miss" seasonal list. 

Closer to home, Chautauqua had its Winter Fest last weekend and I walked up to see what was going on and to check out the 15 bear sculptures which artists decorated this year and will be auctioned off in May as a fundraiser.  It was fun to see all the families enjoying the tours and activities, which included carriage rides.     

Two local quilt artists were selected to decorate bears this year, which is pretty neat.  This one is named Blaze and was made by Barbara Beasley, a quilter who specializes in animal portraits.     

And this one was made by Luana Rubin, co-owner of E-Quilter, an online fabric stored based here in Boulder.  She describes herself as an "artist activist" and her bear is titled "If Mama Bears Ruled the Earth."   

Both of these bears have sweet faces, but they still scared Turbo!  He barked a fierce warning!

Now Christmas is just eleven days away.  I'm dreaming of a White Christmas, though we don't usually get one here and this year it seems even more unlikely.  The Washington Post has a link you can use to see what your chances are and here's what I got:

Check out the link; maybe you'll do better!