I'LL HAVE A BLUE, BLUE CHRISTMAS

Wimberley has always been a magical little town at Christmastime -- one of the things I love most about it. This year they decided to kick it up a notch by adding a Blue Christmas event down at Blue Hole park.

The trails were lined with blue luminarias...

and the trees were lit with blue spotlights.

Kids could visit Santa and get blue candy canes...

 or enjoy caroling along with various choirs and musical groups.

One could even grab a cup of hot chocolate or apple cider, and relax around this gorgeous fire pit.

My favorite part of the evening was the hayride we took around the park when we first got there, just as the sun was going down.

See the guy in the ten-gallon hat? Well, believe it or not, he was British, not Texan!

I just loved listening to him and his family talk. I think they live in the States now, but not here. Someone asked him how they heard about Wimberley and he said "Well, it's a funny thing. We were watching the telly when we saw something about some new glasses that could help people with color blindness to see colors better. Well, I happen to be color blind, so I was quite interested. As it turns out, just about the only place you can get these glasses, outside of California, is right here in Wimberley. We thought we'd have to wait a long time to get an appointment, but they happened to have a cancellation, and here we are." He paused for a moment, then said "You can't imagine what it felt like to see my daughter's amazing blue eyes for the very first time -- something which people always remarked on, but which I could never really see before." No. I can't even imagine. But just the thought of it had me tearing up.

I do believe Wimberley's Blue Christmas just became my favorite new family tradition!