It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

It certainly is the most wonderful time of the year!  Our Christmas tree is decorated and ready for all the presents we've been buying to be wrapped and place beneath it. 

We have been enjoying holiday parties, gingerbread house making, a light parade, Santa Claus visits and church services, where we celebrated the second week of Advent this Sunday. The next few weeks I'll be busy making our favorite Christmas cookies and a favorite savory Zeppole treat.

The beautiful bright Super Moon that passed this month reminded me of the special star that heralded the birth of Jesus and which led the Wise Men to his simple and humble birthplace in a stable, where He lay in swaddling clothes in a manger. The King of Kings who came to teach us to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor like yourself."



As you can see on my Mille Fiori Facebook page on this link, we had horse-drawn carriage rides in our neighborhood recently.  It was fun to sing "Jingle Bells," along with all the riders, as we rode through the neighborhood under the bright moon.

I wanted to share this photo from my MilleFioriFavoriti Instagram feed. As you can see the Colorado foothills that surround us are dry and without a speck of snow! We have had an unusually warm autumn here this year, due to a La Nina weather pattern, and the weatherman tells us that no end is in sight. This Sunday it was 62 degrees Fahrenheit in the Denver area. We can go outside wearing only a sweater or light jacket. I took this photo because I saw this bird flying by, and from a distance, I thought it was a bald eagle. When I came home and cropped the photo I laughed, as you can see it is a crow carrying a white bag in his mouth. Maybe he was doing a little Christmas shopping? I hope this photo always made you smile!  

Enjoy this most wonderful time of the year!

 I'm linking this post to the following blog events:

Amaze Me Monday, Mosaic Monday, All Seasons, Blue Monday, Blogging Monday, Through My Lens Monday, Inspiration Monday, Blogging Grandmothers, You Are the Star Blog Hop, Good Random Fun, Nature Notes, Grand Social, Photo Tunes, Happiness Is Homemade Tuesday Talk, Tuesday Treasures, Our World Tuesday, Ruby Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday, Oh My Heartsie Girl's Wonderful Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Wonderful Wednesday, Share Your Cup Thursday,Little Things Thursday,  No Rules Blog Linky, Travel Photo Thursday, Thankful Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Friendship Fridays, Friday Photo Journal, Skywatch Friday, Sweet Inspiration, Weekend Travel Inspiration,  Pink Saturday, Over the Moon, Happiness Is Homemade

Thank you blog hosts!

Denver 43rd Annual Parade of Lights

Santa Claus arrived in Denver this past weekend at the 43rd annual Parade of Lights extravaganza, which parades past excited spectators for two miles in Denver, Colorado. My daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter attended the parade and had a wonderful time. They are allowing me to use all their cell phone photos and videos to share with you on my blog this week.  I hope you will enjoy them! 





They had grandstand seats, across from the Denver City and County building.  This facebook video on my Mille Fiori Facebook page above shows how the parade begins with the spectacular lighting of the building!  
I've blogged about the wonderful way Denver lights up many of it's building for Christmas in this blog post and also this post and this one.  
The Denver  City and County building lights up with over 600,000 permanently installed, energy saving, LED lights and includes a beautiful lighted nativity scene in front.

My daughter and family are in the upper left of this collage enjoying the different marching bands and parade dignitaries that were passing by in the stagecoach.

There were many ornate floats in the parade, including a living nativity scene...

...a gingerbread house, and a dancing Chinese dragon!

This Mille Fiori Favoriti Facebook video shows the Air Force Academy Cadet Honor Guard that was marching in the parade.

There were also giant balloons in the parade, such as Frosty the Snowman, a Snow Tiger, and the Gift of Life Balloon.

There was a new float this year of a beautiful glowing ice castle made by the Independent Electrical Contractors Rocky Mountains.

Even the America Flag was glowing in the Parade of Lights!

In this Mille Fiori Favoriti Facebook Page video, we can see the arrival of Santa Claus at the end of the hour-long parade!

As you can see my granddaughter was so excited to be at the parade that she stood by the barricade for almost the entire time and enjoyed it very much!  It was one of the highlights of the Christmas season, so far, for her.  

Held since 1975, the Parade of Lights parade is sponsored each year by businesses and is free for spectators, with a fee-only for those wishing to have elevated grandstand seats.

More holiday happenings can be seen on my MilleFioriFavoriti Instagram page--please follow along to see more!

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