It’s a very hard job with all the wonderful pictures that Karen takes, but, I’ve waded into the jump drive to find my all-time favorite pictures from each month in 2019!

January – One of our area’s heavier snowfall made for some pretty pictures..

February – I love this picture capturing the fountain illuminated by the sun in Vatican City.

March – A Viking cruise on the Iconic Western Mediterranean took us to Monte Carlo, among many other grand ports of call, where we experienced this gorgeous sunset after a great day in this popular location.

April brought us cherry blossoms in the capitol city with a back drop of the Air Force Memorial and old stone bridge.

May brought about a surprise Mother’s Day trip to Surfside, Florida. Soft sand, warm breezes and a beautiful Four Seasons hotel with history.

June took us to Nashville to celebrate Karen’s birthday. One of our stops was at an establishment that boasts the longest bar and it’s topped with silver dollars. Karen enjoyed a birthday Music City brew or two while there. We enjoyed our visit to beautiful, historic Belle Meade.

July was an uneventful travel month unless you call spending time in the hospital traveling. Traveling to x-ray, traveling to CT scan, traveling to other not so fun tests. Karen’s thoughtful co-workers sent me this beautiful, cheerful get well arrangement that was much appreciated after my scary ordeal.

August travels took us to Boston for the Downton Abbey exhibition and a side trip to Rockport, which we were enchanted with. There’s something about the water and lighthouses that draws me.

September took us on a fall cruise up the Atlantic coast into Nova Scotia out of New York City. Our ship’s captain expertly executed 360 degree turns so everyone got to see our beautiful Statue of Liberty as we left NYC.

October took us to Las Vegas – yes, it is my happy place! We had lunch poolside at Four Seasons with friends, enjoyed some gambling, and went up to Mt. Charleston for a memorable memorial visit.

November took us to Philadelphia where we checked out the crack in the Liberty Bell, shopped the Chriskindlemarkt in Love Park and checked out the new Four Seasons hotel.

December found us on another ship traveling the Pacific coast this time. We enjoyed our short excursion to Solvang with windmills, pastries, holiday decorations and shopping.

And, that’s a wrap for 2019! Keep up with us as we continue to travel the world in 2020!

And suddenly you know…
it’s time to start something new
and trust the magic of beginnings
–Meister Eckhart

We decided to try something new, instead of using Viking, our old standard, we tried Oceania, a similar small ship. There definitely are pluses and minuses but in the end, we decided that we’d stick with Viking unless Oceania offers us a deal too good to pass up! I liked the ‘warmth’ of Oceania’s decor vs the Ikea Scandinavian decor of Viking. The ship we were on, Sirena, was recently refurbished after being bought from Princess Cruise Line. With only 630 passengers max, there was plenty of opportunity to meet fellow passengers and rarely a line at any food operations. Our cabin was typical in size and style. We opted for a bow-facing cabin, which we will most likely never do again as it hit the waves rather violently, but the view was nice. But that same view you can get on your cabin TV. Mid-ship is the way to go for a smoother ride. We brought along a little decoration for the cabin and enjoyed having it lit when we were in the cabin. It brought a smile to our face and to our cabin steward and room service personnel. We started the cruise with a complimentary champagne toast. And then we were off!

As I mentioned, there were pluses and minuses to Oceania. Our first minus was the bed configuration. It seems no matter what our profile states, we get a single bed, instead of two beds. I love my daughter, but do not wish to share a bed with her. And as you can see by the picture, even two beds are one bed with no space between! On most ships there is a nightstand placed between the beds to give each occupant a little personal sleeping space. On Viking there is complimentary beer, wine and soda with lunch and dinner. On Oceania, only the soda is complimentary. Karen had to pay for wine, and the glass of wine was rather expensive and a low pour. The food, especially the pastries were much better on Oceania. Viking needs to kidnap their pastry chef! Another difference is the airfare and transfers. With Viking if you purchase air, the transfers from airport to pier are included. Not so much with Oceania unless you have a pre or post hotel stay. For this trip, they wanted $89 per person, one way! Our Uber cost a fraction of that price! So, that extra cost needs to be factored in. The excursions on Oceania are rather costly and uninteresting. Why wouldn’t they have an excursion to Muir Woods while in San Francisco? We booked privately with GrayLine. With Viking, each port of call has a complimentary included excursion. Yours to take or not. The bathroom on Viking is twice the size of Oceania’s overall and in the shower and it has a heated floor! Depending on the type of cabin booked, Viking has a complimentary beer and soda mini bar with snacks. Something unique with Oceania is that even at the buffet, you are served. And the table area does not look like a cafeteria, like on Viking. Even at dinner time, the tables on Oceania had a tablecloth. We noticed an extremely ‘relaxed’ service in the Main Dining Room. It would take over 2 hours for dinner, with long waits in between courses.While there are times when Viking’s Dining Room service seems a bit rushed, at least I’ve never had to send my meat back for a re-fire! Tea time was also different on Oceania. A trolley was pushed around and you were served from various plates of sweet and savory bites. Best to get what you want the first time as they make the rounds of all the tables. On Viking, you are provided with a 3-tiered tray of bites. I wish the string quartet had played Christmas songs during tea. Going back to the pastry chefs on Oceania, their gingerbread display beats the pictures I’ve seen of Viking’s gingerbread display, hands down.

A couple of our ports of call involved tender (use of lifeboats for transportation) operations. In other words, we did not dock at a pier, but rather dropped anchor out in the water. Some tender trips were about 20 minutes each way. Once again, much appreciated assistance was provided by crew to step on and off the steady ship onto the bobbing tender. It can be done! We noticed a walker on the tender a couple of different times. So, if they can do it, so can you!

Our first port in Santa Barbara, we opted to take the ship’s tour to Solvang. The only reason we did this was because we didn’t want to miss the ship departing as our time in port was so limited and Solvang was a little distance away. We enjoyed Solvang, which is a quaint Danish-inspired village with shops, windmills and Christmas decorations. Back on the ship, we enjoyed our first specialty dining experience at Tuscan Steak. Unfortunately, the ocean was rough that night with 12 foot swells and we both ‘lost’ our delicious steak dinner. Through the courtesy of fellow passengers, Pat and George, we were able to enjoy a second trip to Tuscan Steak and managed to keep that meal down. Thankfully.

Our second port of call was San Francisco, where we arrived later than expected. That late arrival on top of a very bumpy night left us feeling rather drained. But, we had a tour bus to Muir Woods to catch. Which we missed ultimately. But with an unplanned Uber to Muir Woods, we caught up with our tour in the parking lot. I’ve wanted to see the redwoods for a long time, and was glad to see them finally, even though I really didn’t feel all that ‘normal’ yet. I was weak and my wonderful daughter, Karen, spotted wheelchairs and offered to push me along the paths. Bumpy ride on an empty stomach but much appreciated as Karen was not feeling 100% either . WOW! the tallest tree is 276 feet tall!!! We both made it back to the waiting bus for the ride to Sausalito. Originally we had planned to take the ferry back to San Francisco, but felt that we needed more land time instead of sea time. Of all the cruises we’ve been on, this is the first one to affect both of us so violently with mal de mer (seasickness).

Our third port of call was Monterey. Feeling better, we rented a red hot roadster (blinged out golf cart) and took a spin around to see the sights. We enjoyed the Old Fisherman’s Wharf as it was totally decorated for Christmas. After our roadster trip, we searched out a restaurant where Karen could get a chowder bread bowl and I could find something (yes, I’m a picky eater!).

Our fourth day was a Sea Day, which means staying on board, eating and napping and checking out the ship’s decorations.

Our fifth day port was Catalina Island. We rented a golf cart and toured the island. We saw Wrigley Mansion on top of the hill, heard the chimes from the tower, enjoyed a beer and snack looking out over the bay and did a little shopping. Shopping for us is always to find postcards, which is Karen’s souvenir as she writes about our day and mails them home for us to find in our mailbox when we return. We also look for locally made Christmas ornaments to add to our travel tree.

Our next port of call was Ensenada, Mexico. I always wanted to go there, but after walking around there, not sure why. We took an independent shuttle bus ($4 RT/pp) from the pier to ‘downtown’ as by now not only my hips but also my knees were screaming. I blame the knees on the heavy chairs that I needed to push back and the rocking of the boat. The hips were supposed to be taken care of with the two injections I received prior to the cruise. I don’t quite understand why Oceania failed to advise us about this shuttle, as downtown was about 2 miles away from the pier. There was no mention of it in the daily Currents publication nor in the morning announcements. The shuttle was a step saver for sure! Best suggestion: Use the back stairs as they are easier to ascend.

Back to LA for disembarkation and Uber to LAX to DCA and home. Always nice to come home, it means better grade of TP, my own pillow and bed. The downside is that I can’t bring a housekeeper or chef/cook with me.

As a last note, the Beers of the World post has been updated, courtesy of Karen!

Life is short and the world is wide,
the sooner you start exploring it, the better.
– Simon Raven

Planning Christmas decorations begins early, sometimes over a year early! How are we going to set up Mistletoe Village in a new environment? What are we baking? How are we going to decorate the tree? What decorations should we put out this year? All very good questions!

Mistletoe Village – My inspiration for creating the village was from my grandparent’s little cardboard lit village under their tree every year. I always thought it was a nice display. Our village is a work in progress. Every year we seem to add a couple more things to enhance the display. We also have more buildings to paint! Karen and I have combined both our villages into one large display. This display can take up to two weeks to set up! First, locating the area for the display is discussed. Then the tables are set up. Then the blocking and risers are put into place. Next comes the table coverings, which are white sheets. Next we haul out many bins full of decorations. Then it’s time to unwrap the houses and accessories and start placing them in various groupings – the farm, Santa’s Village, downtown shopping area, residential area, the skating/sledding area, the waterfront area, the town park and so on. It’s a task!

This year’s display layout is a bit of a challenge, reaching the top tier to add pieces to create the scene. But it’s a fun and creative task. After the houses and accessories are placed, it’s time to set the lights. Last year we went to individual remote control tea lights. It was getting way too complicated and a bit dangerous to have all the wired lights under the houses. When it’s all set up it’s time for the final touches – snow! We use batting for our snow, but I used to use angel hair years ago. I loved the way it made the village sparkle. All the buildings and most of the accessories are made of plaster and hand-painted by both Karen and myself. Traditionally, we’d add a building and accessory every year. We have a couple very special buildings in our village. One is a Maple Sugar Factory, in honor of my Dad who made maple syrup. The other is a Diner – actually two diners – One named Dad’s Diner and one named Eat at Ed’s Diner, in honor of Karen’s Dad and my late husband, Ed. When we set up the village, it is with a story or two in mind. Years ago, I read a Harlequin book about a village that popped up during a snow storm, the village was named Mistletoe. And since our Christmas village pops up also once a year…Welcome to Mistletoe! I still have the book packed with the village pieces to this day. Our villages have traveled back and forth across the country as we’ve moved around. Setting this village up every year is a labor of love. Fun to put up, sad to put away…until next year when we do it all over again! (For more Mistletoe pictures from a previous year, check out the gallery!)

Patriotic tree – For the past several years, I’ve had what I call my ‘decorator tree’. This tree has a theme, usually based on our location. One year it was covered in white hibiscus blossoms. Another year red poinsettias. Yet another year it was decorated with red bandanas, twine-coiled rope, red handmade Texas-shaped candy ornaments and white cowgirl hats. Another year we decorated a travel tree with all of our ornaments from vacations as well as a paper chain made from maps. Another year we had a smaller tree with seashell ornaments and seashell garland. Karen and I both love our country and are very patriotic – Karen was born on Memorial Day. This year’s theme is Red, White and Blue – Red ornaments, white star ornaments, red wooden bead garland, white snowflake garland, blue Mardi Gras beads, small American flags and individual candles, with a red, white and blue star on top. I think my vision of what it would look like when done is pretty spot on!

Enchant at Nationals Park
Kicking off the holidays with Enchant at Nationals Park, complete with trees, snowflakes, ornaments, snowmen, reindeer scavenger hunt, ice skating, food, music, vendors, Mr. & Mrs. Claus and lots of lights! I love it when Karen gets a complimentary invite to attend an event!

DC’s Downtown Holiday Market
It was a beautiful downtown DC day so we decided to visit the holiday market. Smooth walking on an even sidewalk. Music playing from the stage with chairs to rest and listen. Vendors lined both sides of the sidewalk. A small friendly group of vendors with very nice merchandise. Karen came home with a warm hat for windy winter days and I came home with the perfect scarf to keep my neck warm when it gets wintery here in the DC area.

Christkindlmarkt Philadelphia
It wasn’t until the 11th hour before we knew we could officially go. We decided to drive (road trip!) as it was only 3 hours away. We stayed at the new Philadelphia Four Seasons and were pampered, of course. We visited 2 Christmas markets, across the street from one another as well as a couple of historical sites. (See separate post).

Pacific Coast Christmas Cruise
We have traveled at Christmas time for the past 8 years. We like to experience different locations, their customs and decorations. This year is no different as we will be embarking on a 7-day cruise in mid-December. Watch for the blog post to come out around Christmas.

Christmas Light Displays
Locally, we have a couple of famous – as in Great Holiday Light Fight – holiday light displays. So, a drive-by is in order to round out our 2019 Christmas events.

Baking – A Christmas tradition that I grew up loving…baking! Every year I gravitate towards old favorites – frosted cut-out sugar cookies, colorful Spritz cookies, peanut butter kiss cookies, magic bars, ginger snaps and more. I generally try to incorporate a new recipe each year. You never know if it will become a favorite or not! Since moving around in the past few years, the batches have gotten smaller as there seems to be less people to share them with. Karen’s co-workers always appreciate the home-baked goodness, so a good selection is always sent with her. One year, a co-worker challenged me to 12 Days of Christmas Cookies. I rose to the challenge and delivered! Our apartment’s maintenance team enjoys my treats and is often the recipient. Remember, holiday baking has no calories when shared with friends and family. So enjoy a sweet Christmas treat!

I can’t do a Christmas post without these pictures below. This is Ed, on graduation day from Santa School. And yours truly, more recently, as Mrs. Santa. Merry Christmas wishes to each and every one of you! Click the play button below to hear Burl Ives sing Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, one of our favorites.

Here’s wishing you all a
Holly Jolly Christmas!

With the winter Polar Coaster holding off, we decided to drive to Philadelphia with the express purposes of checking out the new Four Seasons Philadelphia hotel and the Philadelphia Christmas Village. The weather was overcast and chilly with rain coming as we left the market. There was fog in the morning. While we only saw a little bit of the area, we spent time shopping at the Christmas Village. “Philadelphia Christmas Village will once again bring the charm of an authentic German Christmas market to Center City Philadelphia. It will be officially opened by the original Christkind from Nuremberg, Germany!”*

Christmas Market History*
The History of Christmas markets in Germany roots in the late Middle Ages. One of the oldest and most famous ones is held each year in Nuremberg in the state of Bavaria. It has been passed down from generation to generation, that the farmers of the Nuremberg area started selling their crops in a farmers market during the Advent time in the mid 16th century. Out of this, the world known Nuremberg Christkindlsmarket developed. Check out their website to learn more about their history, event and the city of Nuremberg!

Christmas Village in Philadelphia is modeled after traditional German Christmas Markets. The most famous is the Christkindlmarkt in Nuremberg, Germany. The goods presented in wooden booths include a rich variety of holiday gifts including Christmas ornaments, arts and crafts, toys, sweets, as well as German food and drinks. People stroll around, meet friends, and enjoy live performances of Christmas music.

History of Christkind
Since 1969 and every other year thereafter, the Nuremberg Christkind is selected to represent the spirit of Christmas in Germany. She wears a long white dress with golden stars, a golden crown, and has long blonde curls. She is the German equivalent to the American children’s Santa Claus.

Each year, the Christkind recites a prologue to open the Nuremberg Christmas Market. The Christkind also makes appearances at over 150 charitable institutions. She brings joy to those in nursing homes, hospitals, and kindergartens. However, the Christkind isn’t restricted to just Nuremberg and visits a lot of Christmas markets abroad. In the US, Christmas Village in Philadelphia and its sister market in Baltimore are the only two stops she makes, so make sure to swing by!

Karen and I have visited many Christkindlemarkts in Germany, including the wonderfully fabulous Nuremberg. We also visited the market in Baltimore. We enjoyed our visit to Philadelphia Christmas Village. We had hot cocoa, brats with sauerkraut, soft pretzels with a cheesy beer dip and mulled wine. We met Carl, from Germany at his booth. We’ve apparently seen his wares at previous markets, visited in Germany. Carl was rubbing his hands, and I asked him if his hand were cold. He said no, but I pulled out one of my hand warmers from my glove and gave it to him anyway. Just like the vendor in Germany that I gave one to a couple of years ago, Carl was excited and wanted to know where he could get some. I ended up giving him my other hand warmer before we left. Such a nice man! We spent some time chatting with him and was sad to hear that he would not be returning next year, due to slow business and being away from family and Germany at Christmastime each year for the past 20+ years. We went on our way and shopped other vendors. We have so many Christmas decorations already, but we, of course, added more to the collection!

Made in Philadelphia Holiday Market at Dilworth Park features festively lit tents topped with original Herrnhut Stars. After spending most of the day at the Philadelphia Christmas Village, we headed across the street to a corner bar for a drink, bathroom break and to warm up. We did not stay for the tree lighting as we were getting tired and hungry for a more complete dinner. After a quick walk through the vendors, we hailed a Lyft and headed back to the Italian restaurant where we had eaten lunch the day before.

Besides the Christmas Village, we took a couple of side trips to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross House, and Elfreth Street. There is definitely some beautiful architecture in Philadelphia. Love old buildings! Inside the Liberty Bell hall, we even spied some Carnival Glass! A Marigold Liberty Bell Bank, which I had but gave to my great-nephew and a commemorative convention plate, which I sold with many other Carnival Glass commemoratives in an auction many years ago. I also had a large Liberty Bell Cookie Jar. (Check out my book on Carnival Glass Commemoratives!) Ever played Monopoly? Take a ride on the Reading RR? This is the place. Some of the colder venues, Karen braved the cold and winds for the photo ops while I stayed warm or rested.

Our complimentary stay at the new Four Seasons Philadelphia was very nice. The staff was friendly and wonderful and we were well taken care of. The hotel decorations were very well done. Each of the white urns in the reindeer picture hold 150 white roses! We enjoyed the amenity which consisted of two tarts and a chocolate bar with a picture on it. It’s amazing what can be done with chocolate! Karen had the beautiful boxwood tree added to the room. Since we drove, we brought it home to enjoy and it sits on our kitchen island adding more festive-ness to the house! A special shout out to Emily and Fernando. We enjoyed a couple light bites and dessert in the lounge – one was a Philly spring roll. The desserts were a poached pear with caramel sauce and carrot cake. I’ve never had cream cheese frosting that silky smooth before! Wish it had some fruit and nuts in the cake though. The view from the lounge and pool areas is amazing! We were told that when it snows, it’s like being inside a snow globe! It was interesting to go to the lobby on the 60th floor! Our room was on the 52nd floor – what a view! We waved to the window washers outside – wouldn’t want their job – and they waved back! We had a slow drive home due to traffic and were very tired from our busy, but short and wonderful 2-1/2 days in Philly. Time to re-pack the suitcases for our upcoming holiday cruise!

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.
– Saint Augustine

*Information obtained from PhiladelphiaChristmas.com