Christmas Eve 2011

Christmas was spent with family on the lower mainland. The night before Christmas was foggy but it was nice to see the sun. I always find it a little exciting to be off the island, knowing that I could drive for miles and miles in any direction (except for west from here), and not get to an ocean for some time.

Christmas cookies

It's funny how you can be inspired to do something you had no intention of doing. Such was the case when I saw the Christmas cookies made by a friend's sister - I'll call her 'M' - and before long I was baking simple sugar cookies.

The brown edges aren't as noticeable once the cookies are decorated.

These cookies were to go to a seniors' gathering that evening and since I was behind time, I was most grateful that M let me use her designs. I marvelled at the perfect little dots on her cookies. How did she do that? So I was pretty pleased when my dots turned out looking like tiny green peas on my tree cookies. The runny green icing was more unruly for drawing lines, however. Maybe it mattered that I just mixed icing sugar with skim milk instead of making royal icing.

Who would have thought of turning circular cookies into snowflakes? I wouldn't have. This is a copy of M's design and layout except that her snowflake patterns are perfectly symmetrical and her cookies were more tidily arranged. But I was in a mad rush at this point.

The designs for the little people were taken from an internet picture. They were supposed to have faces but I couldn't manage that sort of detail. A hunt for new decorating tips is probably in my future.

I had planned to do some decorating with chocolate on the shortbread cookies scattered around the outside of the platter and arrange everything nicer, but if I didn't hurry, my cookies would have shown up when everyone had gone home! Slap, slap, slap, down went the cookies, a big sheet of Christmas-design cellophane was wrapped overtop, and whoosh out the door it went.

Regardless of the imperfections, I think it looked quite festive. And actually, it was fun.

Gingerbread... houses?

Laurel Point Inn in Victoria has a display of gingerbread houses made by local chefs. As with the decorated Christmas trees in the Empress Hotel, people can vote for their favourite and donate to a charity.

A closer view of Emily Carr House. This is quite a good rendition.

This picture taken from the internet shows the real Emily Carr house.

Craigdarroch Castle perhaps.

People certainly are creative!

I like the windows in this house.

This Arizona style display is my favourite of all.

The back of this Harrods is open to show some of the floors. There is even one with grand pianos, which I think I remember seeing in the real store.

A library inside a tree trunk?

Victoria's 'blue bridge' has been the subject of much controversy in town. After months of debate it will be replaced with a new structure.

Butchart Gardens November 19, 2010

It was a cold, damp, dark day at Butchart's but I just wanted to go for a quick walk.

I must find out what type of tree this is at the beginning of the driveway.
Update: the tree is a Camperdown Elm, Ulmus glabra 'Camperdownii'. I'm told "it came from a grocer in Victoria who was going to bulldoze it to make room for an expansion of his supermarket." Luckily his wife intervened and the tree was transplanted here in 1963.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Many lights are up. The lit tree trunks are pretty at night.

At this time of year you can zip along the paths because there are no crowds.

But soon the gardens will be full of people again. 'Christmas light-up' begins December 1st. Here is the this year's display in the gift shop corner window. In the background is the ice rink.