Santa Fe ~ The Palace Party

 

As soon as we entered the Palace of the Governor’s doors we headed straight back to the Palace Courtyard to get into the “Santa Line”. My daughter, Jen was thrilled to have the opportunity to meet Santa and give him her Christmas wish list. On the way, we walked along the brick walkway lined with luminarias and farolitos.

The warm, flickering fires were both magical and cozy.

The night wasn’t too cold, but there was a slight chill in the air that made folks gravitate to the fires to stay warm.

 

 

In many big cities the fire marshal would be shutting the party down. I’ve heard of how some places, like certain convention centers that host weddings, aren’t even permitted to have candles burning. At the Palace, I found it interesting that no one got close enough to the farolitos to catch their clothes on fire.

The Palace was also serving up complimentary steaming cups of hot apple cider along with sweet and spicy Biscochitos. Mmmm! While one of us stood in line, the others would take turns picking up another cup of cider and a cookie or two. Such a nice treat while waiting to visit with Santa!

Speaking of Santa…..

Jen was pretty excited to meet the jolly, bearded fellow.

And Santa even invited my twinlings up for a visit, candy cane and a photo. That’s probably the last time I’ll see my boys hanging out with Santa at Christmas. *sniff*

(Hey Jax! Santa knows if you’ve been bad or good…..and I bet he knows you gave him horns, too! Stinker! Be prepared for coal in your stocking, son!)

 

There were some fun activities inside the Palace Print Shop where visitors were invited to make clever looking square hats out of newspaper.

There was also Christmas music, too.

But the best music of all was the Native American Singing and Drumming!

For me this was the highlight of our evening…oh heck…our entire day!

I even have a video to share. Don’t miss it…and don’t forget to turn up your volume, too.

What did you think?

After a few minutes don’t you feel as if the drumming and the beat of your heart become the same rhythm and the singing and chanting reaches down deep into your soul? I do.

I get so emotional when I’m listening to this type of music……with so much history and culture behind it. And I just feel so amazingly blessed to live in such an amazing and unique place like my beloved Land of Enchantment, my beautiful New Mexico.