Walking in a Winter Wonderland, plus
finding The Perfect Christmas Tree
(some assembly required)
A few Friday's ago, November 30th, to be exact, the lovely Colyn and I made a bit of a day of things after work -- we took the light rail into town to work in the am, then took a walk downtown after work to enjoy the lights and Christmas cheer, went window shopping, had a nice little dinner, and then hot cocoa for Colyn and coffee for me at Moonstruck, finally taking the light rail home around 9-ish. 'Twas a very pleasant evening out, though I must say that by the time we got home we were both plum tuckered out.
We took a few pictures whilst wandering about, and you can see them by going to the Photos section on the left (under "Christmas in Portland 2007 Pt. 1"), or click on the photo of the Noble Fir sign to go right there!
While we were window shopping that evening, we passed a little store that sells Russian stuff, those little dolls that you stack inside each other, some Russian paintings, arts and glass work, that sort of thing. Colyn went inside to check things out as she appreciates all things artistic, and while I eventually joined her (and they do have nice stuff inside), I was initially most fascinated by their window display. Specifically, they had a little Santa that climbed up and down a ladder, and it is so cool! I want one!!!
I watched it for several minutes and then realized, our digital camera has a movie mode so I could take a clip of the little guy in action, which I present here for your edification and amusement:
I did find one for sale on ebay today (December 11), it's official name is "Stepping Santa," and the bidding is up to $36, plus $15 shipping. Apparently they still sell these brand-new, but upwards of $60. He's pretty cool, but not sixty-bucks cool. Sigh.
After the Russian store we checked out the mall, Pioneer Place, which is nicely but not overwhelmingly decked out in Christmas decorations, and our timing was great as we got there just as snow started falling, inside the mall. Really! Okay, not really "snow" in terms of ice crystals descending from the clouds, but "snow" as in little bits of soap foram blasted out of some kind of suds cannon on the top floor. Silly, but fun; it was a hoot to look down from our vantage point on the second floor, to the lower levels, where little kids (and even some adults) were scampering among the precipitation. Here's a little video clip of the storm in action:
The following Friday, December 7th, was the annual tree lighting ceremony in the Multnomah Village, so we went. It was scheduled for 6:42pm (seriously, 6:42pm) and we ran late so we didn't get there until after 7pm, but it was still quite lively in the Village -- there were crowds of people, and carolers, and some semi-talented musicians playing Christmas songs on the deck outside Starbucks, and all the shops were open, and basically it was just a lovely little way to spend an evening. Oh, and there was a horse-drawn carriage taking people for rides around the village! Being the village is just about a square block, it wasn't a terribly long ride as far as I could tell. But it was fun and it made for a lot of smiling faces, and a few slow buses (stuck behind a couple of horses who were happy to plod slowly along), though nobody honked, not even once.
Last but not least, on Sunday I helped my dad move some stuff, and in return he helped me pick out a Christmas Tree. Tthe lovely Colyn didn't come along, as she was feeling under the weather a bit, plus she's more than happy to leave Christmas Tree Choosing to those with lots of experience and/or who don't mind getting themselves all frozen and sap-covered going from one overpriced lot to another.
We managed to find The Perfect Christmas Tree, for twenty-five bucks, and brought it home and trimmed it to fit our stand, and gave it a good bath, to which you may be saying, "Did I read that correctly? They gave the tree a bath?" To which I say, okay, it wasn't a bath, it was a shower, but close enough and if you want to read more about it, check out the Photo Gallery!
Stay tuned for even more Christmas Cheer!
