a visit to the museum

hello readers..I.wanted to talk about the previous week..it went by so quickly, I can hardly fathom it.

we have a museum here in my town called the  "Western Development Museum" and altho I have wandered around it many times throughout the years, I never got around to visiting it at Christmas time. For a full week they hold a Festival of  Trees,  an annual event geared to start off the holiday season and to fund raise for a local hospital here.

It is always looked forward to, for it has yet to disappoint.   Decorated trees,  surrounded by areas awash in colour and sparkle,  endowed with every imaginable ornament and object that could possibly enhance and trim a Christmas tree is on display, to dazzle and delight.

There are raffles and handcrafts sales, plus all the beautiful trees are for sale ( altho the prices are high) they are invitations towards spending for a very good cause.

This event is centered right in the middle of turn of the century artifacts and antiques, amid stores furnished right down to the last amazing detail...livery stables, hardware store, general store, vintage and antique cars, farm implements, gigantic steam engines and farm equipment familiar only to the oldest residents of our province.

The museum has reproduced a primitive early settler dwelling, the sod house and surrounded it with tools for cooking, laundry, food preparation, and thousands of sepia tint photographs of early life on the prairies.

For native and settler alike, life on the prairie was hard and it took grit and determination to make a life here.

I grabbed my sons' wife, my 5 year old niece, and my 2.5 yr old grandbaby, and set out to attend the display at long last.





I took quite a few photos of the gorgeously decorated trees, and surrounding displays, but soon became preoccupied with keeping up to the children, who, although well behaved, were ever anxious to run ahead when they spotted the next delightful presentation.

The most fascinating and exciting exhibits for the girls,  I think,  were the dozens of moving Christmas scenes depicting fairy tales, animals, elves, skaters, santa workshops, and holiday carolers.


Naturally, it was an exceptionally cold week for the festival, and likely held some folks back from attending.  The crowd of children enjoying the wonderland for the tenth, or the first time, like our little ones,  made up for the weather with their excuberance and excitement.
I am so glad we had, and took,  the opportunity to visit the museum. I had forgotten how amazing and educational and plain old fashioned fun could be!

bye bye for now ..take care and visit my way again soon....