Christmas by the Lake

We were back at Christmas by the Lake today for another quartet performance. Our friend David and his fellow sculptor Peter were putting the finishing touches on their ice sculptures. After the music, the kids and their dad hung out around one of the bonfires while Peter of the Canadian Snow Sculpture Team heated a metal bar to help melt an ice 'weld.'

This culminated in a moment of suspense when they welded the delicate horn to the front angel and we all held our breaths to see if it would fall. It didn't.


It was snowing but not blowing, so it felt like a winter wonderland today. I'm told that the temperature on Friday night was actually minus 12 degrees C (10 F), rather than the minus 7 I reported. Today was a balmy -5C (23 F). Nothing a little hot cocoa, glühwein and music couldn't hold at bay.


The outdoor portion of the Christmas Market is a large circle of huts, tables, bonfires, snow and ice sculptures, and space for wandering around and socializing. The top of the circle is enclosed by the Gallery building. Inside the Gallery (left side of photo above) are the artisans' booths, displaying the amazing handmade wares of a couple of dozen wonderful artists and craftspeople, everything from hand-painted silk to hard-carved wood, copper vases to herbal tinctures, pottery, jewelry, weaving, quilting and felting.

Today being December 2nd, we are two days into our Christmas Family Activity Calendar. Yesterday was (a) first day of being allowed to listen to Christmas CD's (b) starting the Playmobil advent calendar (c) performing our arrangement of Vivaldi's "Winter" at the community hall and, at the same event and (d) listening to a dramatic reading of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". Today we attended the market above, and will be putting up our outdoor lights.