Village Lights

I shared a bit about our recent trip to Leavenworth, Washington – but there is more to see.  The little Bavarian-style village is such a whimsical, magical place during the daytime with shops and decorations and friendly people everywhere.

When you see the buildings and many of the homes you have the feeling that you have been transported high into the Swiss Alps!
There are lights on every building – over four hundred thousand lights were installed by the city and there’s no telling how many the merchants and homeowners put up before we arrived.  It’s certainly obvious that they knew we were coming!  The lights are fairly obvious during the daylight hours but with every minute closer to sundown it’s as if someone is scurrying around and turning them on – and turning them all up!At dusk the lights began to show up and I thought it was wonderful.  Little did I know what was about to happen!It got better as time moved along.  The lights on the big tree at the corner of the park had hardly shone up during the day – now it was as if they suddenly had begun to shine.  All of the trees around the park were wrapped with thousands of lights.And from the gazebo in the middle of the park speakers played Christmas music that could be heard all around the downtown streets.

I couldn’t imagine that it would get any better. . .But it did!  We went back after dinner – after the shops had closed and darkness wrapped around the town. It hid the mountains and wrapped us in a world of enchantment.Images that warmed my heart and held me captive in their beauty seemed to call out to me.  A local inn was wrapped in tiny lights of blue and whiteSome trees were encased in bits of color. . .Others had limbs all wrapped in white.

 

It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Everywhere we went. . .

And when the bells rang

The carols that we sang

Were right within our hearts.

(with apologies to Meredith Wilson )