Katie and I enjoyed a day at the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina. Katie's first visit to this amazing home was when I was teaching 6th grade in the public schools and was pregnant with her. Now she is 22 and we could really enjoy it together!
It was cold enough to feel Christmas-like but not cold enough to be miserable.
Inside decorations for Christmas included a huge live tree in the dining room. Thirty something feet tall, I believe. It was adorned with huge ornaments including full sized presents among the branches. We were told that Mrs. Vanderbilt would have all the employees and their families in for a party. Children 11 years old and under received gifts each year that were actually in the tree. It was amazing! Of course pictures were not allowed inside.
George Vanderbilt bought acreage that totaled 200 square miles. Here you see the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Much of the land was sold to Pisgah National Forest upon his death. Wow!!
Here's my lovely Katie posing in front of Vanderbilt land. Her bag contains beautiful Christmas ornaments purchased in one of the shops in the old stable. We love to collect ornaments wherever we go.
Here is the greenhouse where amazing flowers grow. An orchid room was what pleased me the most. You will see many of the lovelies below.
OUTSTANDING!
We also visited their farmyard. They raise a flock of sheep and herd of cattle on the property.
Someday we will return and take a nighttime Christmas tour...
The first white Christmas in Hendersonville since 1981...
I was just 16 years old at the time...nothing stands out in my memory about that day.
My Belle, a dachshund-terrier mix, is 17 1/2 years old and celebrating another Christmas as an "old girl." 
Began a Shetland shawl on my triangle loom with the above yarn on the 26th, my wedding anniversary, as my husband was out with the tractor scraping driveways...
Completed 7 foot shawl in a record four days...
Finished product commissioned by my brother in New York for his wife...
