Merry Christmas one and all! I hope everyone reading this had a beautiful and restful Christmas with family and friends, near and far.
I wanted to share some Christmas photography that I’ve taken throughout my travels in the mountains of Western NC this holiday season. Along with the pictures, I hope you enjoy the seasoned words of author W.C. Burton. I’ve written a Christmas post showcasing his enviable Christmas spirit and luminous prose in the past ( link here). But I love his book, Christmas in my Bones, so much – I’m sharing it again!
Sylva, NC
“Christmas is not only a holiday, a symbolic festival of the utmost importance in Christendom. It is many things joyous. It is a most felicitous state of mind and heart and spirit. It is a time of loving and giving, of gathering the family together, of ‘God rest ye merry, gentlemen’ and of buying for the wife things which cost a bit more than ye can afford.”
Bryson City, NC
“Well, ‘Tis the season to be merry.’ Let us greet and keep it with gladness. Christmas has always seemed to me a shining tower at the end of the weary year, a beacon to illuminate its closing and to light the way for the entrance of a brand- new unused year, forever full of promise and hope. There is a tingle in the crisp air that is unlike any other winter signal. There is a more luminous steel blue in the night sky and a sharper brilliance of stars at Christmas than any other time of year.”
Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, TN
” Fold your checkbook, take your hands off your pocketbook, sit still and listen to your heart-you can feel that tingle. Walk outside on a clear Christmas night and look up at the stars–it is a practice advocated by wise men.”
Cashiers, NC
“I have never become immune to the excitement of Christmas. Every single year I feel the pleasurable sensation. I am stirred by the atmosphere, infused with the warmth, the cheer of every detail of Christmas celebration and symbol. The glow of yellow candlelight. The wreath on the door. The Mazda candles and stars in windows. The special warm quality of lighted church windows and home fires. The carols. The old, quiet chronicle of Bethlehem. The holly. The mistletoe. The good things on the table. Christmas Eve. Christmas Day. And the twelve days that follow.”
Cherokee, NC
“I am moved by Christmas starshine and Christmas sunshine, gleaming, even if coldly on every decorated house, every tree and bush, each winter-waxed limb and twig. I welcome the greeting of friends, by meeting, by mail and by telephone. Of great importance to me is the Christmas tree, bauble-bright with color, a cone of cheer, a beatitude of green bough and brilliance, its gay shower of lights casting magic over the room.”
Glenville, NC
” And I like, to be sure, the surprise packages under the tree, more made of generous affection than material matter. One parcel in particular is always there, a bountiful bag of memories, souvenirs of Christmases past, ever increasing, old yet ever new, ever more treasured. Memories of gifts, enjoyed more in the giving. The wooded quest for the elusive, perfect Christmas tree. The Christmas you didn’t get as much as you expected and discovered that wasn’t the meaning of Christmas. The Christmas you got more than you expected and discovered that, too, was not the meaning of Christmas.
Above all, the dear, bright faces, now vanished but held in the heart.”
Creative nativity scenes
For kicks- Snap chat Christmas Selfie
MERRY CHRISTMAS! PLEASE STOP BY AND TELL ME ABOUT YOUR CHRISTMAS- PAST OR PRESENT!
WRITE OUTSIDE 
Great pictures. Hi, from Highlands, NC
Hey! You are just a hop skip and a jump away ! Highlands is beautiful!