Friday, December 5, 2008

Luminary Friday

Have I mentioned lately, how great the weather is? It was a warm 76 degrees today and a perfect evening for the Sanibel Luminary Trail, I feel like I walked most of those 3 miles. :-) Starting out at 5:30 by meeting friends at Jerry's.

We planned to catch a trolley, but after finding out there was a wait, we decided to leave one vehicle parked there and just drive the other one to the end of Periwinkle to start at Bailey's Plaza. First thing I saw was Santa and ?? Mrs. Claus or a helper, not sure. Her skirt seemed a little shorter than anything I've seen Mrs. Claus wear. :-) We had a little eggnog and a sugar cookie before getting back in the vehicle and driving to Periwinkle Place to park.

After a quick walk through Periwinkle Place, we then walked to the Island Cow, where we had some wine and another sugar cookie. From there, on over to the Community House, where we had another cookie and looked at the beautiful Christmas ornaments made from seashells by the shellcrafters.

Next stop was Tahitian Gardens, where we made a quick stroll along the shops, stopped to talk to some friends and listened to the Blues Band for a bit. Also saw Santa again. I made sure he saw me behaving properly. :-)

We started walking east again on the path, lit by luminaries and the moon. We met a lot of other folks walking. We were met and passed by many on bicycles, ringing their bells at us, with a cha-ching! The Christmas lights were magical as we walked along.

I was about worn out when we got to the community Church. A wonderful gospel group was playing and singing, and I noticed a sign that said, 'The Sani-Bells. They must have been playing the bells I heard while standing in line for 'The Journey'. We waited for about an hour and 15 minutes. (We had some snacks of cheese and crackers while we waited.) The journey took you through a street in Bethlehem to the manger where Jesus was born. Very nice.

The Church was next to Jerry's, so we got in the vehicle we left there and drove over to Island Pizza to eat, then back to Periwinkle Place to get the other one and call it a night. There wasn't nearly enough time to stop at every business that participated, before we gave out. Maybe we can catch those we missed, next year. We all agreed, it was a wonderful evening.

(Not great quality photos, taken with my cell phone. I'll try to get a few more of the island Christmas lights to put on the blog, another day.)

Trolleys at Jerry's Parking Lot.

Bailey's Parking Area
Santa and Mrs. Claus walking to catch a ride on the firetruck.
Island Cow
Island Cow's Santa

Moon over Sanibel Communtiy House
Blues Band at Tahitian Gardens
Ho~Ho~Ho!
Path lighted by luminaries and the moon.
Sanibel Community Church
animals for petting in the Church yard.
A very good gospel group.
Lots and lots of people.
People in line for 'The Journey'.

4 comments:

A said...

Thanks Tootie for posting these pics,I love them:) Xmas is my fav time of the year.

Snowbird said...

We looked for you guys but didn't see you. Hey you missed out on great food and at Biddles and across the street in the Sanibel Shoppes. Biddles' hush puppies were to die for! We saw the line at the church and decided it wasn't worth it. Had to get to Jerry's for their hot dogs!

Terri said...

Oh my...I love your blog. I may have a love/hate (jealously really) relationship with you!

I love Sanibel! Enjoy and cherish every moment.

MariBy said...

Oh that was a great post Tootie - and the pictures were fun! :D

I was giggling about you making sure that Santa saw you being behaving properly. That's not gonna work, you know. He knows who's been naughty... :)