Christmas With The Vanderbilts

We had a fun and festive Thursday in spite of the gray skies and drizzle. Friends had some complimentary tickets to Biltmore House and invited us to use them. 

They actually had four complimentary tickets so another couple of friends came too, and since their car held us all we didn't even have to drive.  

Did  I spend an entire day out of the house doing something fun with family coming to town tomorrow and just a week to go before Christmas? 

Yes I did. Carpe diem!  

Also day date episode eleven if you're keeping count. 

I've been to Biltmore a number of times, but not since 2019 and never at Christmas. Biltmore is known as America's largest home, and was built by George Vanderbilt in the late 1800's.  I've always heard it's extra beautiful this time of year and it's true. Wow. 

Every room has a beautifully decorated tree-

Most light fixtures are adorned with some sort of gorgeous ribbon or embellishment-

Bannisters are wrapped-

And fireplace mantels are draped in garland-

I cannot imagine the amount of work that goes into getting the house ready for Christmas. 

It takes me weeks to get my own tree up and finished, and Biltmore is over the top in terms of decoration. This Noah's Ark tree was adorable-

Animals hanging two by two...

The trees fit the rooms they're in and the decor is appropriate for the period furnishings. 

Christmas dinner anyone? 

You need to reserve tickets this time of year and entry is timed. We went into the house at noon and spent almost two hours walking through. 

After we'd seen all there was to see (or all that's open to the public anyway...apparently the house has 250 rooms so we didn't come close to seeing it all) we drove about thirty minutes up the road to Sierra Nevada for a late lunch. Hubs and I shared a burger and their famous duck fat fries which were yummy. 

We got lucky with traffic and in spite of the dark, rainy, fog made it home about 6:30. It was a fun, full day and while I could have been at home ticking off those last to-dos, celebrating the season with friends is always on my list too.

Check.