It's Christmas Eve, and so I can't resist

Let's face it, not much gardening is happening in the Northern Hemisphere on December 24th, so I'm gonna go ahead and let my Christmas joy take over today. First up, the Santa Clones. For several years now I've shared photos of the 400 blow-mold Santas that gather somewhere around Portland. Their location always a bit of a mystery and to find them you follow the clues. I set out to hunt them down on a night we had an incredible sunset. As I drove I watched people stop and turn west, phones held high, it was great fun. This is the best shot I got.

Once parked I beat feet to where I thought the clones were this year, only to discover I was wrong. Not too far off though, since this is what I saw.

Thankfully I've been at this long enough to know that looking up and scanning for the red glow will usually pull you in the right direction. The large shiny face is Splash by Michael Benisty.

The clones...

The clone gathering began in 2010, this is their 15th anniversary.

Andrew asked me why I needed to go again this year. Hadn't I already seen them?

Yes I have. Many times. But I will continue to go every year. Isn't that the point of having an annual holiday tradition? The repetition marks the season and the celebration. The family or community involvement brings people together. I've had many interesting conversations with strangers while visiting the Santa Clones over the years.

Looking back to the building where I thought the clones were hanging out. It's a 1940's Pepsi Cola bottling plant.

Speaking of tradition, yes of course I did a Grinch drive-by!

I love him so!

New this year, Andrew and I finally took a stroll through the holiday lights at The Grotto, after talking about doing it for (nearly?) 20-years! "The National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother, The Grotto, is an internationally-renowned Catholic shrine and botanical garden located minutes from downtown Portland, serving over 300,000 visitors annually" (from their website). Andrew and I had visited once before, back in 2010.

The purple lights illuminate the cliffside that separates the upper and lower parts of the garden. The cave itself (the grotto) is some 30' wide, 30' deep and nearly 50' high. I read somewhere that it was carved out of the face of the cliff in 1923.

We got there just after opening at 5pm but the crowds were already intense, on a random weeknight! I took a lot fewer photos than I normally would have, simply because of the number of people. This was a calm moment in the crush.

Truth be told I was extremely bummed when I learned the event (and thus all visitors) was restricted to the lower part of the garden. No taking that bizarre elevator up to the heavens above.

Their lights were done up nicely though and it was good to finally see what we'd been missing all these years.

Back home I'm thrilled one of my neighbors has put up her own Christmas Grinch, and his dog Max too! However you're spending the holiday (if you celebrate) I hope you have a warm and joyful day.

The Bit at the End

Perhaps you've already seen this short on Instagram, after all it has nearly 1.5 million views. It makes me smile every time I see it, just a group of Scottish school boys ringing someone's doorbell and singing Last Christmas to get them in the Christmas spirit. 

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