Candlelight Stroll 2014
The first weekend of December, the Candlelight Stroll weekend in Niagara On The Lake, has long since been our official start of the Christmas Season. The annual stroll is on Friday evening and the main street is always packed with people. You can purchase a candle in a hurricane shade and all profits are donated to charity.
Everyone carrying candles that have been lit from the master of ceremonies and shared with each other until everyone’s light is ablaze!  After opening ceremonies and some caroling, eventually we wind our way through the town with entertainment along the route!
I always do a little window shopping as we go! This boutique always has the most “interesting” clothes on display in their window. Always with frilly lampshade heads! I have to admit the outfits are really over the top, but fun to look at.
We popped into the Christmas Store, which has every ornament under the sun. Nutcrackers, Christmas movie themed things, even Christmas print toilet paper! What do you think of this leg lamp from A Christmas Story?! And of course the moose head eggnog glasses from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation!
Saturday is spent at the Rotary Club Christmas house tour, which is always a delight to see some of the homes throughout town, some historical some new, all decked out in their Christmas finest. We are not allowed to take photo’s inside the homes, so I snapped a few outside while we waited to get in! The urns, filled with everything from pine to cedar, to ornaments to silver trays, were gorgeous.
This urn was massive, probably 5 feet in across! It had a matching one across from it that flanked the walk up to the front door!
This one was more modest in size, but equally pretty with boxwood and I think Fraser Silver Fur branches turned upside down to see the silvery side instead of the deep green.
This beautiful magnolia studded wreath welcomed us into one of the more modern homes, which acts also as an art gallery of the former owner. I love the use of magnolia in Christmas arrangements, but it is quite costly here, so I passed on that this year in my own décor. I wonder if a magnolia tree would survive in our climate!!??
How I wish I could have snapped some pics of the inside of this home. It is the tiniest little home from the street, but with a huge addition on the back. The fireplace was massive, all flanked with white built-in bookcases lined with the owners collection of red crystal. There must have been 100 pieces of this crystal that started red at the base and faded to rose and then finally clear crystal at the top. Everything from huge bowls to footed cake stands. It was so simple yet spectacular. Old silver serving pieces were used in the greenery throughout the outside. You can see the silver tray peaking out the top of this window box.
Deer heads seem to be everywhere this year, including this courtyard garden! They used sumac branches for the antlers and added a jingle bell bow!
Giant willow orbs filled with silver and gold ornaments dotted this property! Some huge like this one, and some a little smaller all sitting atop pine and magnolia filled urns.
Beautiful bows and green garland surrounding the outdoor kitchen in the back yard of this home!
I really wish I could have taken some pictures of the insides of the homes, but I tend to follow the rules (and there was a volunteer in every room we toured) so I didn’t take a chance. If you want a peek at the outside of the homes, you can do so here!
We then headed over to the Lion’s Club to get our tree. There is always a wonderful selection and this year we picked the perfect tree in record time!
I am finishing up our Christmas décor today and will share a little house tour of my own later this week. Tree included!
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