The Magic, Miracles and Joy of an Artist: Dickens of a Christmas

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Dickens of a Christmas

Every year, the first 3 Friday nights in December are reserved for DICKENS OF A CHRISTMAS in downtown Roanoke. It is SO much fun and really puts you in the Christmas mood.

Tonight was the first Friday for Dickens of a Christmas - the hubs and I went and we had great fun. The main streets surrounding the City Market are all closed and filled with people all through the evening. The downtown stores stay open late for this so you can do some Christmas shopping. There was a Live Nativity Scene, Carriage Rides, Strolling St. Nicholas, Street Actors, A Magician, Carolers, Kettlekorn, Fudge, Hot Chocolate, Craft Vendors, Christmas Greenery and Wreathes, Coffee, Baked Goods, and More. We walked around for a while, then had dinner at Alejandro's Mexican Grill. Yum. We then had to have kettlekorn and hot chocolate. I did very little shopping ~ there were too many things to enjoy.

I have a sneaky feeling we'll be going back next Friday......

5 comments:

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...: Sounds like an absolutely lovely time!!! Wish there was something like that here; a little well planned event that really got people out to enjoy the night and give a mental relax for a bit!
Loved the creche pic---it must have been big!

XXOO!!
Anne; December 5, 2009 at 7:29 AM
Marlene said...: Oh what fun that sounds like. Your town appears to be the type of town that I would like to live in.; December 5, 2009 at 8:25 AM
audrey said...: Yes, the creche was LARGE, Anne, as well as the bible pages. I believe it is set up on the long bed of a truck ~ and the animals are so sweet.

***

Marlene, Roanoke is a great place. We have SO many little galleries in the downtown area and they are welcoming and down to earth - you can actually afford to buy something. Several of them are artist-owned and run cooperative exhibits. There is always something happening in the art world here in Roanoke. There are opportunities for me to show my art. (If I could just get enough made!); December 5, 2009 at 10:32 AM
OmaLindasOldeBaggsandStuftShirts said...: What a lovely pictorial this morning. Must have been wonderful. Mr. Kettlecorn??!! Oh my. You are such a lucky lady. The last time I had Kettle corn was in Dallas when I was attending SMU. OH the crunch, the sweetness, the stickiness.
Thanks for the blast from the past. Linda; December 5, 2009 at 12:35 PM
Flor Larios Art said...: Beautiful! I love nativities scenes!; December 5, 2009 at 3:32 PM

For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come!

I AM A "SEARCHER"

"I am one of the searchers. There are, I believe, millions of us. We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content. We continue to explore life, hoping to uncover its ultimate secret. We continue to explore ourselves, hoping to understand. We like to walk along the beach, we are drawn by the ocean, taken by its power, its unceasing motion, its mystery and unspeakable beauty. We like forests and mountains, deserts and hidden rivers, and the lonely cities as well. Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter. To share our sadness with one we love is perhaps as great a joy as we can know - unless it be to share our laughter. We searchers are ambitious only for life itself, for everything beautiful it can provide. Most of all we love and want to be loved. We want to live in a relationship that will not impede our wandering, nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls; that will take us for what little we have to give. We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love.

For wanderers, dreamers, and lovers, for lonely men and women who dare to ask of life everything good and beautiful. It is for those who are too gentle to live among wolves."

~ James Kavanaugh

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Motive, power, and action, arising from Inspiration and Impulse. THE LOVERS represents intuition and inspiration. Very often a choice needs to be made. Originally, this card was just called LOVE. And that's acually more apt than "LOVERS." Love follows in this sequence of growth and maturity. And, coming after the Emperor, who is about control, it is a radical change in perspective. LOVE is a force that makes you choose and decide for reasons you often can't understand; it makes you surrender control to a higher power. And that is what this card is all about. Finding something or someone who is so much a part of yourself, so perfectly attuned to you and you to them, that you cannot, dare not resist. This card indicates that you have or will come across a person, a career, challenge, or thing that you will fall in love with. You will know instinctively that you must have this, even if it means diverging from your chosen path. No matter the difficulties, without it you will never be complete.