Christmas in Williamsburg

This past weekend, Tom and I went on a quick trip to visit my cousin Julia who is a senior at William & Mary, while also seeing Grand Illumination at Colonial Williamsburg. If you haven't heard of it or been there, Colonial Williamsburg is this mile-long stretch of historic land and buildings preserved from the time right before the American Revolution. You check out the blacksmith making nails, see medicines and freaky surgical tools in the apothecary, buy handmade goods like fresh wreaths, see how government (legislature, courts, governor's palace, even church) worked back then.

We had a great time, though we will remember how cold and windy it was. Brrrr! Upon returning to our car to get warm and take a little break, Tom broke his driver's seat in the car so that it was frozen in the totally-laid-flat position. Hilarious, especially since we had 3 hours to drive back to Raleigh. We ended up using his duffel bag to lean against and split up the drive time 50/50 so neither of us came home with a serious backache.

In the evening, we listened to Fifes & Drums (oh, by the way, I bought Tom a fife so next time you see him, ask him how flute practice is coming) and choral music. Finally there was a grand fireworks show from three different locations.

What's really crazy is that upon looking for photos on Flickr, I happened upon someone who took a picture of us from behind:


Sorry my hair looks so messy, but I was using everything I could (my coat, my pashmina and even my messy hair) to stay warm. lol And there is Tom wearing a spring jacket... craziness.

Anyway, the only thing I can't figure out, is if there is a major lighting of the buildings that we missed? That's why I was looking for photos online. We were so cold and wanted to avoid the gettin-outta-here traffic that we left a tiny bit early.

Well, Williamsburg was charming and festive and now we're back home again. Sigh. There's no place like home.