Christmas at Biltmore

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After all other visitors left, Lise went with us to see the Christmas decorations at Biltmore, the mansion built by George Vanderbilt. Lise and John posed before the tree at the base of the grand staircase.

112718 Christmas Biltmore Lise JC with tree.JPG

I told them I’d walk through quickly and wait for them at the next place where seats were provided for visitors. They kept up with me! I just wanted to see how the house was decorated and how things were different from last year. That’s all they wanted, too. The huge, live tree in the grand dining hall was as impressive as always.

112718 Christmas Biltmore tree.JPG

We ate dinner, went shopping in a newly reopened Aldi’s, and combed Ingle’s for the foods Lise’s friends requested. Many of you know that Aldi’s is a grocery store based in Germany, with stores all over the world. We like the prices and, at this time of year, the imported Christmas goodies. I thought I had enough energy left to shop at our Southern grocery store, Ingle’s. It was our usual weekly shopping day, and Lise looked for foods to take back to Denmark. I think we would have found things easily in our usual store, but to save time, we went to a different one on the way home. After a while, I sat down on a bench to wait for John and Lise. I was one tired heap, having not factored in our morning walk, the extensive walking through Biltmore, the search for things in a different Aldi’s store, as well as the alternate Ingle’s store. Revived a bit, I came home to do battle with some yeast dough. It was as tight as a rubber band, and I didn’t have time to let it rest. I was very disappointed in the four coffeecakes, as I put them in the refrigerator to be baked the next day. I didn’t kill anyone in my exhausted state, so the day ended peacefully. Amazingly, the coffeecakes turned out much better than expected.

Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

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42 thoughts on “Christmas at Biltmore”

  6. That live tree in the grand dining hall was really impressive. I’d hate to have to decorate it. I’m so glad you didn’t kill anyone, you don’t want to spend Christmas locked up. Be sure I’d send you a cake with a file in it. but you might be better off eating the file and breaking out with the cake.I quite enjoy a little trot round our local Aldi supermarket and their competitors, Lidl. I have two presents left to wrap but I’m avoiding it as they’re huge boxes. Such cowardice.
    Keep well
    Ginormous Hugs xxx

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    1. The live tree at Biltmore is replaced once before Christmas, so the people decorate it not once, but twice. I’m sure they have a quick way to do it. Thanks for being willing to send me a file in jail. Congrats on having your shopping done. I won’t think about Christmas until daughter Lise is on the plane to Denmark on Friday afternoon. We are in post-Thanksgiving mode right now.

      xxx Wrapping Hugs xxx

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    1. No, I don’t have a Fitbit. I know how far our walk is and keep a log of it. We’ve walked 520 miles so far this year. That doesn’t count daily living and shopping. I hope you can go to your nearest Aldi store soon if you like German Christmas goodies.

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    1. I wonder if liking to cook runs in families like musical talent. Nathaniel missed the music genes, except he loves to listen to music and has a wide range of favorites. I think his interest in cooking comes through his dad.

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  10. I absolutely LOVE visiting the Biltmore Estate!! We spend a long weekend in Asheville every December at the Grove Park Inn. It is crazy at this time of year, but we wouldn’t want it any other way! I will wave to you when we stop for lunch in Waynesville on the way up in about two weeks.

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  11. Hi Anne – My Comcast web-based e-mail is not functioning this morning. I heard something on the news this morning which may be of interest to David. I cannot find the details of the streaming of this concert, put on by University of Michigan but will work on it, but I wanted you to be able to send David a message so he was available if interested. I believe it is music only, and want to mention that. This concert tonight at 8 p.m. was just to be small and people around the world have begged for it to be streamed. Here are two stories and I’ll see if I can find more details for you:
    https://www.msn.com/en-ca/entertainment/news/university-of-michigan-to-livestream-auschwitz-music-concert/ar-BBQgBcC
    https://www.voanews.com/a/michigan-professor-unearths-inmates-music-auschwitz/4675353.html

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    1. Thank you very much for thinking of David. We are leaving in five minutes to drive Lise to Charlotte to the airport, and I won’t be able to reach David this time. He doesn’t look at his email, and I don’t have time to find an alternate.

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      1. Well that’s a bummer Anne. I wish they had advertised this sooner, (but good news later in this message). I know you used to text with Nathaniel (I remember you said one time that Nathaniel was shoveling snow and texting John at the same time … if my memory serves me right). I thought maybe you could text David to advise, HOWEVER, I heard the story again on my all-news radio station when I got back in the house and the concert will be on the University of Michigan’s YouTube channel afterward… in fact you might enjoy it as well since you have a musical background. I am attaching the story from WWJ Newsradio’s Website which provides the live link and the YouTube link. There was much interest in listening to this concert from all around the world as I mentioned earlier today and not just from people of the Jewish faith. Hope you had a safe trip to Charlotte and Lise has safe trip flight home to Denmark – will you have a short visit with Nathaniel or just do the round trip and return tonight? Here you go:
        https://wwjnewsradio.radio.com/articles/university-michigan-livestream-auschwitz-music-concert

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          1. Oh good, you got to visit with Nathaniel – perfect end to his school week and your end of family and friends visiting the past two weeks. I guess John was tired – lots of driving and visiting the past two weeks – good thing there are no train get togethers in Tennessee going on this weekend.

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              1. I don’t know how he does it either – I’m sure he was in bed as soon as he got home as he will leave early tomorrow morning. We had a little snow and freezing rain yesterday and overnight and I was pleasantly surprised to find it was 33 degrees, no ice and dry this morning. Tomorrow is pretty much a washout because the rain comes to my part of town by 9:00 a.m. – the sun doesn’t even get up til 7:45 a.m. these days, but I’ll probably just walk in the neighborhood … Sunday morning fog and rain until the afternoon. The weather here is “nuthin’ special” believe me. Safe travels to John.

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                  1. That’s good Anne – a long trip for John after a whirlwind two weeks and a long drive Friday. Yes, you’ll have to catch up with everything after family and friends being here over the last two weeks – you’ll just catch up and it will be time for Christmas!

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                    1. John came back from the Christmas party earlier than I expected, and I was glad to have him home. We have two weeks to get things in order. We’re planning to go to NY for grandson David’s college graduation, and he’ll be coming home with us to look for a job. I’m thinking Christmas won’t be nearly as involved as Thanksgiving. As it stands now, only our two grandsons will be here with us, and Nathaniel will fly to be with his parents a day or so after Christmas.

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                    2. Wow – John drove back again the same day … he is a trooper and he’ll sleep in tomorrow for sure after all that traveling. I’m glad he’s home too – the weather is fitful, though now they say we’re getting to 57 degrees tomorrow, but so many other states have ice and snow issues … we had that freezing fog this morning. Hope you have nice weather for your trip to NY as well. That’s nice David will be returning with you – will he stay with you then as well? Is he looking for a job that is music related or was music a minor for David?

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                    3. We’ll be up at the usual time tomorrow, but John doesn’t need as much sleep as a normal human. David will live here. His major is business, but I don’t know what kind of job he wants. He was in the college choir because he loves to sing, having started out in our church choir.

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                    4. I wish I was more like John – this morning again … said just five more minutes … it turned into an hour. I forgot you have a little drive to get to church in Ashville. That will be nice having David with you – I don’t blame him for choosing to live in NC and with you and John. Business should be an easy major to find a job in … have a good day Anne. No walk this morning – fog again but very mild out 46 degrees. I’ll have a walk this afternoon.

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                    6. The weather is crazy – we got to 60 today and 38 tomorrow with some snow (flurries only) … but 1-3 inches of snow Thursday. The weather was like this on December 3rd last year – very mild and people were in short sleeves doing their outside Christmas decorations, then BAM … snowstorm six days later and it never stopped snowing after that.

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  12. I have read about the Biltmore estate at least two years before- shows how long I have been following your blog. Everything looks very exciting and happening at the Vanderbilt estate. Its nice to live in a Christmas land- seems like there are good times all day long. All the walking is keeping you super trim.
    Susie

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  13. Beautiful Christmas tree and family photos. I also love Aldi’s. One of my favorite stores now for a few years. I am so blessed it is only a mile or so from my home. I could walk or ride my bike there if I wanted to brave crossing the busy roads in our are. I’m glad your coffee cakes were good.

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