Decorations INSIDE the Opryland Hotel Resort, Nashville, TN

Poinsettia Christmas Tree

Can you stand some more Christmas pictures?????   This is my last post taken on Dec. 19, 2013 when we visited family in Nashville.  This last set are photos taken INSIDE the hotel.  Hope you enjoy them  and don't forget to check out my other posts from this fabulous trip if you missed them.  You can see them by clicking HERE.  There are a total of 4 posts including this one.  Hope you have enjoyed them.  This is one fancy hotel--and we love visiting there during all seasons, especially Christmas.  Be sure to click on the photos for enlargements.

The hotel is massive --and divided into several different areas... All of these huge areas were decorated.  Sit back and enjoy seeing all of the different photos including some of their gorgeous wreaths,  and even a picture of Santa...

Here is George at the Poinsettia tree.  George is 6'4"---so you can imagine how large that tree is!!

I love the hot air balloons and all of the hanging lights inside this huge hotel.

Another gorgeous tree

See SANTA????  (Sorry that this one is blurry --but I wanted you to see Santa!!!)

This is another of the gorgeous and HUGE wreaths in the hotel.  This one was taken by George.

This girl is in AWE of this beautiful hotel.....

Here is another happy person to be at the Opryland Hotel!

Here is another 'hanging critter' --all dressed up for Christmas.

Here's another gorgeous hot air balloon hanging from the ceiling.

A Nutty Person standing beside a Nutcracker!!!!!!  Is he trying to 'crack' me over the head??????? ha ha .... He's a big one,  isn't he?

Finally,  here's a really neat wreath.   The little snowman just makes me smile.

Hope you have enjoyed seeing some of the decorated INSIDE of the Opryland Hotel Resort..   We certainly enjoyed being there --and if you EVER want to stay in a really really fancy hotel,  come to Nashville, TN and stay HERE.  (I brought George here for his birthday in 2002---as a huge surprise... We had a wonderful time!)

Please take a minute and check out my new photo from Mt. Nebo, Arkansas on my Photo Blog today.  Click HERE to go there!  Thanks!

AND---don't forget to check out the new quotes on my sidebar!!!!  Maybe something will speak to you --like it does to me!

Have a great day---and please stay warm and safe wherever you are!

Hugs,

Emoticons

Beautiful Lights at the Opryland Hotel Resort, Nashville, TN

Here's another post from our December 19, 2013 visit to see the Christmas Lights at the Opryland Hotel Resort.  Hope you didn't miss seeing the gorgeous Nativity from there I published on my January 10th blog post. 

Today,  I'll show you some more photos from outside the hotel.  Above is a beautiful decoration---made to be a huge 'tree' with poinsettias around the bottom.  Beautiful, isn't it?

Here is a close-up of one of the huge Poinsettias.   I love this flower/decoration.  Do you?

Above is a photo showing some of the beautifully decorated trees in the area.  Wonder how many many lights there are total????

Here is one more photo showing more of the awesome trees all lit up.

And here is a photo I took from outside while looking back toward the entrance to the hotel.  I will show one more photo from outside on my other blog (Betsy's Photo Blog) that you do not want to miss seeing.  Click HERE  for that photo (January 15 post).





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We met George's daughter, Kelly and hubby Chuck, in Nashville that evening for a Christmas Dinner at the Claim Jumper Restaurant in Opry Mills Mall and then,  we all visited the hotel in order to see their Christmas decorations --and of course, to take LOTS of photos!!!!   Below are some photos of the four of us taken in the Opryland Hotel Resort.

Here is a photo of George's beautiful daughter, Kelly, and her hubby, Chuck.

Kelly took this photo of George and me ---carrying all of our camera gear!!!!

AND-- Here's a photo of the four of us taken with the tripod... We had a great time with those two very active, very busy young adults.

Finally,  I want to send a shout-out to my middle son, Mark, who turns 44 today!!!!  Happy Birthday, Sweetie.  I love you!

Have a great Wednesday --and don't forget to check out the photo I posted on my Photo Blog.  Thanks to so many of you for your kind words to me after our near-head-on-collision on Monday afternoon.  I'm still talking about it --and keep thinking of what could have been.  For those who don't know,  a car came straight toward us on a 2-lane road here near our home --in OUR lane.  He was about 15-20 feet from hitting us head-on.  George swerved and we went into a ditch.  Luckily,  the ditch wasn't steep and there were no trees nearby for us to hit.  We were FINE and the car is fine --other than being extremely muddy and dirty around the tires and bottom. Our angels were with us for sure --and I thank God and thank George for staying calm and knowing what to do to save our lives.  Neither of us have EVER gone through a close-call like this before.  SCARY.

NOTE:  Anyone getting an email from me (with a Cox.net address)--do NOT open it. I will not send out an email just with a link.  The one that hubby got, was a link and said AMAZING.   I must have gotten spammed!  I will change passwords AGAIN.  Thanks..  (So far,  nobody has received an email except my hubby--so hopefully,  things are okay.)

Another NOTE:  Anyone with Google+  may want to read THIS if you don't want your name used in advertisements --which you may not recommend.  

Hugs,

Emoticons

Nativity at the Opryland Hotel Resort, Nashville, TN

Taken from a distance of the large Nativity

On December 19, 2013,  George and I met his daughter Kelly and hubby Chuck in Nashville for a Christmas dinner at the Claim Jumper Restaurant in Opry Mills Mall --and then the four of us visited the gorgeous Opryland Hotel Resort to see their Christmas decorations.  Of course,  we took a gazillion photos!!!!!

Today I'll share my favorite part with you,  the beautiful Nativity --which is in the front of the hotel.  We had seen the Nativity before (years ago) when it was in an interior area of the hotel.  It is MUCH nicer now;  in fact, I was really impressed,  and can call this Nativity one of the best ones I have ever seen.  Talk about something showing the TRUE meaning of Christmas.  This is IT!!!!

Hope you enjoy the photos---as I just walked around the large area taking pictures from different angles.  As we walked,  we could enjoy an audio telling the story of the Birth of Jesus.  I was so taken by my surroundings that it was hard to stop and take pictures!!!!  BUT--I did manage to get some to share.  Hope you enjoy them.  Be sure to enlarge the photos in order to see them larger.  Get a cup of coffee (or something hot),  sit back and enjoy what Christmas is all about! 

Here is one of some signs around the area.

Hope you enjoyed seeing this gorgeous Nativity... My wish is that you can see it in person sometime--if you ever get to Nashville,  Tennessee...  The entire hotel/resort  is fantastic --and there are many other things to do during the Christmas season.

On another issue,  thanks for your wonderful support and comments on my Wednesday blog on Weight Loss and Maintenance... Click HERE if you missed it.  I just hope and pray that in FIVE years,  I can look back at this post and still be able to say that I am STILL doing it....  A good friend of mine,  Catherine (from Canada),  has been working on getting healthy --and we have exchanged ideas and kudos for quite some time.  She piggy-backed on my blog and published one herself this week.  She has more great ideas which have worked for her.  Please check out her blog post by clicking HERE.   

Hope you made it through the horrible arctic blast this week.  We had 2 inches of snow with ice under it, which stayed with us for 3+ days...  The temperature on our deck one morning was a MINUS 10 degrees (F).... Yipes---it's been a long time since we have experienced anything like this here.  Schools were out 4 of 5 days.  They finally went back TODAY.

UPDATE:  Anyone getting an email from me (with a Cox.net address)--do NOT open it. I will not send out an email just with a link.  The one that hubby got, was a link and said AMAZING.   I must have gotten spammed!  I will change passwords AGAIN.  Thanks..

Have a wonderful weekend --and I'll see you on Monday.  Hugs,

Emoticons

Three Trips in Two Weeks!!!!! (Nov. 25 - Dec. 6, 2013)

George's son, Robert and family

Since I have been away from Blogging for two weeks,  I must admit that George and I have been VERY busy!!!   We took THREE trips during this time...

First,  we took a trip to Palm Harbor, Florida,  where we enjoyed Thanksgiving with George's son Robert and family..  Secondly,  we drove to Chattanooga,  Tennessee,  and got to spend some time with two of my three sons and a couple of grandchildren... And thirdly,  we drove to Ocean Isle Beach,  North Carolina  (by way of the Smoky Mountain backroads and Biltmore)...WOW--what a fantastic couple of weeks!!!!

Today,  I'll give you a short glance into these trips (with the exception of the Smokies and Biltmore which will come later).  Hope all of you are doing fine and had a fantastic Thanksgiving like we did!!!

Above is a picture of George's son,  Robert,  with Melissa,  Zack and Sean.  We had taken a hike on a very windy day near the Courtney Campbell Causeway at Clearwater,  Florida,  trying to walk off some of that delicious food they prepared for us!!!!

View from the Robert Adams' home in Palm Harbor, FL

Here is a great view from Robert and Melissa's living room. That is a beautiful area of Florida!

Fried Turkey for Thanksgiving Dinner

Robert is quite a great chef ---and he cooked MANY wonderful things for us while we were there.. His Dad loves to cook also ---so those two had fun discussing all of the things one should and should not do when cooking!!!!  I had never had fried turkey before --and this one was TREMENDOUS....  Rob uses all of the best seasonings ---so this was truly one of my favorite turkey dinners EVER.

Thanksgiving Dinner

YUM.   I put two photos together to show you what I ate on Thanksgiving day... Not only is Robert a good cook, but Melissa is also... Most everything they make is 'from scratch' ---and it was absolutely fantastic.

Robert makes cheesecakes from scratch ---and we had two different ones while there.  This is a Pumpkin Cheesecake with caramel topping...  SO---other than the turkey,  the cheesecakes were my favorites!!!   Oh My Heart---can you say "DELICIOUS".... Wow!

George and me with son, Mark, from Texas

After getting home from that trip,  we headed to Chattanooga to see more family.   My middle son,  Mark,  drove up from Texas for a couple of days with his beautiful daughters,  Bay Lee and Brooke.  We hadn't seen them in awhile ---so as you can imagine,  we had a fantastic time!!!

Top: Sons Mark and Jeff;  Bottom:  Jeff and beautiful wife, Dawn

Not only did I get to see Mark and the girls,  but it was great seeing son Jeff and his wife, Dawn, also.  They drove up from Georgia so that all of us could be together.   Mark and Jeff are only 16 months apart in age --but don't get to spend enough time together these days...We loved seeing all of them.

Top:  Me with Mark and his daughters,  Bay Lee (with her teeny little dog) and Brooke;  Bottom: Mark and a very happy, proud Mama/Grammy

As I said,  Mark and the girls live in Texas.  Bay Lee is 20 now and in college at Texas State University.  Brooke is 16 and is a Junior in high school.  They have grown up much too fast for this Grammy!!!

Mark and daughters,  Bay Lee and Brooke

Finally,  this is my favorite photo of Mark and his daughters.  It was such joy to see them and get to spend some time with them.  I miss them all so very much!

Me at Ocean Isle Beach

After going back home,  washing clothes and re-packing,  we headed to Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, for a few days.    We did take a couple of side trips (Smoky Mountain backroads and Biltmore)--but will report on them later.   Today,  I'll share some photos from our beach trip.

One thing we love is walking on the beach (and getting lots of exercise--which we needed after all of the good food).  George took this picture of me with some of my shore bird friends!!!!  It was much much warmer (in the 70's) this year --when compared to last December when we about froze!!!!  We love walking on the beach when there are so few people around!!!  We have it all to ourselves.. I did manage to find a sand dollar this time.

George enjoying dinner at Dockside in Calabash, NC

Another reason (besides walking on the beach) we love to go to that area is to go to Calabash, NC to our favorite restaurant (DOCKSIDE).  We have never found the seafood as good ANYWHERE we go... That night we both had Shrimp and Scallops... Our favorite though by far are those huge Scallops... They are fantastic.. YUM...

SUNSET at Ocean Isle on Dec. 5, 2013

Another reason we love to go to Ocean Isle (Islander Inn) in December is to see the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets  (which we cannot see when we go in May).  And as you can see,  we saw some 'beauties'....

What is significant about this sunset is that I took this photo about the time that my sweet father-in-law (John Adams) passed away in Tennessee.  I look at that photo now --and know that God was smiling down (see the Sunbeams?) saying that another of his angels was safely home.  Rest in peace,  John Emery Adams.

Us at Ocean Isle Beach, 12/5/13

We took this photo from the Gazebo at Islander Inn.  You can tell by the smiles on our faces how much we love being at the beach in December!

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On another note,  thank you so much for all of your wonderful comments on my last blog post talking about the death of George's sweet Daddy.  Many of you feel as if you knew "Dad" since I had blogged about him so much.  Dad's health had been getting worse --and our prayers were that he die peacefully--which he did.  He was one amazing and inspirational man --who lived for 101 years,  and whom I adored with all of my heart.

If you want to read what George wrote yesterday on his blog about his Dad,  click HERE.

Be sure to check out all of my new quotes on my sidebar!!!!!  After that--jump over to my Photo Blog (click HERE) for a photo I took on December 2 on our visit to see the lights of Biltmore at NIGHT.

Hugs,

Emoticons