'Tis the Season?

Laura had her birthday party at the roller rink last Saturday.  She was so excited; she'd been talking about it for months now.  I think a good time was had by all.

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We are going to be crazy busy for the next month.

Will was recruited to join his school's wrestling team (which he is enjoying), Natalie auditioned for and won a role in a local community theater production of "A Christmas Carol", and our community choir is getting ready for our Christmas concert.

It's all fun stuff, but we'll be putting a lot of extra miles on our cars and I may go a little nuts trying to balance out everyone's schedules.

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The kids were out of school for election day and the Biltmore started celebrating Christmas this past weekend so I decided that yesterday would be a great day to maybe see the house without the big crowds that will surely be there on weekends, since apparently a lot of people like to visit during this season to see the house all decorated.

Will's coach decided to have a wrestling practice yesterday since they missed so many days last week (due to weather) and John offered to work from home and chauffeur Will so that the girls and I could still go play.  I have the greatest husband.

It was snowing at the house and starting to dust the ground when we left.  It was a chilly, rainy day down in Asheville.

Natalie, Laura and I had a wonderful time at the Biltmore.  I've never been there at this time of the year.  And the three of us really loved seeing all of the Christmas trees in the house. 

The girls always want to get a picture with one of the lions.

One of the two Christmas trees in the entryway by the front door.

 There are a few signs at the entrance saying that no cameras are allowed inside, so I always put mine away.  It's probably a good thing, otherwise it would take me more than four or five hours to get through the house.  And I would have even more pictures to go through than I already do every time I go there.

Lots of the rooms had Christmas trees, some more than one.  Natalie's favorite was the big one in the banquet hall.  It was the biggest one in the house.  The gift-wrapped boxes underneath it were porportional; some of them were as big as Natalie.  The banquet hall had a total of seven trees in that room.  And it was not crowded at all.

Laura's favorite was the one in the music room, it had musical instrument ornaments and rolled up sheet music tucked in the branches.  We had fun figuring out the themes of different trees and admiring all the ornaments.

It had stopped raining by the time we finished touring inside, so we took a walk around some of the gardens and the conservatory.

Yes, it is still fall!

I love this tree.  It is so pretty!

Those flamingoes were just cool.

Natalie decided that Will and her Daddy need to come see the house and she, of course, wants to come back with them.  So we just might get to see the house with a crowd next time.