Holiday Highlights

SILVER BELLS: City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style. ...

Today was our 'let's do downtown Seattle' holiday experience. First stop: The 'gingerbread village.'

In years past, it has been at the Sheraton, and has been absolutely magical.

This year it was not at the Sheraton, and, frankly, I found it considerably less magical for many reasons. One, it was awkwardly spread out in the lobby of an awkward small mall-like space. The lighting was terrible, the acoustics awful, and the flow was really bad. Basically, not even close to being the experience that it was in the Sheraton. Also, there didn't seem to be nearly as many entries this year. Over all, super disappointing, to me.

The works that were on display were fanciful and fun to look at. The one below celebrated old Seattle.

Loved the buildings on piers and a sailing ship was well done.

This colorful creation featured the city's seafront. The Great Wheel actually spun, and we loved the octopus!

Obviously, this construct was a celebration of Ivar's, a Seattle seafood icon. 

 The kids, next to a display denoting the number of gummies in the show.

This one featured the landmark Smith Tower prominently up above. Down below, it told the story of underground Seattle and the Great Seattle Fire of 1889.

 The entry below was about the future of Seattle. Not the Bertha tunnel under the city.

A close up of one section of the display shows Berta's boring head broken off, and gold coins, representing the money spent on the project, dangle.

Here's what CJ had to say about the gingerbread display. ...

Every year since 1992, the JDRF Northwest Chapter has hosted the Gingerbread Village event at City Centre in downtown Seattle. The Gingerbread Village events feature (mostly) gingerbread structures and landscapes designed by youths with Type 1 diabetes. This year, the theme of the gingerbread structures seemed to be the future, evidenced by the presence of things like flying cars and signs marked "2080".

The structures in City Centre were at disparate locations within, located near the entrances/exits. In contrast to last year's event, there wasn't a particular "line" you had to walk through to see the structures. Around the floor of City Centre, there were various persons in safety jackets and elf hats, handing out free candy canes. The candy canes were delicious.

One of the structures seemed to show a concept of Seattle's skyline circa 2080, judging by the presence of a Seahawk logo and a sign with the year "2080" on it. The gingerbread skyscrapers resembled typical depictions of "futuristic" skyscraper designs. Another structure seemed to show a giant Santa (with clothes not colored red), presumably not made of gingerbread (it would almost certainly crumble that way).

After the gingerbread show, we decided to hop over to the Fairmount Olympic Hotel to see their tree and the Teddy Bear Suite. 

The grand tree in their lobby was a beauty!

It's a local product, a placard informed.

Up on the second floor, we checked out the Teddy Bear Suite. The fireplace at the top of this blog post is from that attraction. 

The display is just a standard sized motel room, so not huge. But the little details are so great. I loved these 'grape' ornaments.

I'll let Annabelle tell you a bit about it. ...

The Teddy Bear Suite is an annual exhibition at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in downtown Seattle. The suite is on the 2^nd floor and consists of 3 rooms, each filled with teddy bears and large ornaments. The 1^st room you walk into has a large Christmas tree and one of those 24-hour Yule Log channels on a TV. There are many bright lights which, although pretty, have a habit of shining directly into your eyes. A small room on the right of that is roped off, but pictures are allowed. The smaller room is lit dark purple, with a large mirror surrounded by stuffed toys. The final room in the suite has a large framed bed with an enormous pile of teddy bears on it. There are a few windows in the room tied with large feather boas and another TV across from the bed. The Teddy Bear Suite is the same every year, and there usually isn’t much wait. It’s pretty adorable, so if you’re in the area around December, make sure to stop by!

While traveling downtown we saw interesting sights, including the ground right next to this top heavy skyscraper being excavated.

We hope the building doesn't topple!

We also drove right by the Amazon biodomes. They're darn near complete. Workers looked to be putting plants inside when we drove by.

We also headed up north, to Swanson's Nursery, a north Ballard haunt of ours for years now.

Historically, they've had camels on display during December, but this year, Curley and Moe were nowhere to be found. 

 The resident reindeer were still around.

Then we had to go find the little red sleigh the kids have sat in for the past 10 Decembers. You can tell it was a tight fit this year. 

And next, we wandered over to where they have their annual model railroad display. But wait, what's this?!?!?!

Be still my Jedi heart, it had a Star War theme!!!!

I spotted the Ewoks right away.

And our beloved princess, or should I say General? - Leia 

 Chewie looked like he was having fun.

 Threepio hitched a ride on a camel!

 Jabba has something super special to put under the tree - Han in Carbonite!

 This little scene was tucked down low. Obviously a meeting of the Dark Side.

 The Jawas were looking to trade some junk.

 Rey and Kylo Ren were readying to square off for an epic battle.

 Luke found a furry friend.

 Oh no, an Imperial droid!

 Yoda had a nice little cabin.

 And he had time to give some light saber lessons.

 Sand Raiders were on site.

 And Stormtroopers charged through the forest.

 On a bridge, Obiwan and Darth Vader dueled.

All in all, what a wonderful surprise. It was definitely my favorite stop today!