The Beauty of the Holidays

In keeping with the spirit of the season, we enjoyed a very festive weekend with a full social calendar.

The fun began with Geoff and Kathy's annual holiday/ski season kick-off party. Geoff and Kathy always supply ham and a pasta dish, and the rest of the ski club gang provides appetizers, side dishes, desserts, wine and/or beer. There is always plenty of yummy food to eat, good company to be enjoyed, and Geoff's fantastic dvd production highlighting the previous ski season. Every year his skills as a producer/photographer have strengthened, and this year's production was superb. Each trip leader received a copy of the trip he or she led, so we have the Tahoe Trip dvd to enjoy again and again. Thanks, Geoff!

We did not get home from that party until well after midnight, but we were up early on Sunday morning for the trip down to Winterthur Garden and Museum, the former estate of Henry Francis DuPont. There we joined other members of The Medical Club of Philadelphia for a guided "Yuletide at Winterthur" tour of that fantastic DuPont family mansion. We also had time on our own to visit all of the exhibits in the museum. Shopping in the lovely museum shop naturally was included in that free time as well. Later the entire group convened for a very tasty lunch at Buckley's Tavern in Centreville, Delaware that was followed by self-guided tours of the beautiful and festively decorated conservatories at Longwood Gardens.

H.F. DuPont was one of the foremost collectors of American decorative arts, and he turned the former indoor badminton court of the estate into a showcase of various periods in American history and architecture. The winter display features typical Christmas scenes from the post-Revolutionary period. This display shows the influence of German settlers as they introduced the Christmas tree as a decorative element.

Winterthur and Mr. DuPont took the tree up many a notch with special trees created from the many varieties of beautiful flowers and plants grown on the estate. This is the Peony Tree.

While this is the Azalea Tree.

This tree uses small Poinsettias to invoke the amazing Elizabethan jacket that is on display in the museum.

Many of the public rooms in the house were decorated just as they were for the wedding in January 1938 of the DuPont's oldest daughter Pauline. Holiday decorations were left on display that year to add a festive backdrop for the over 850 guests the DuPonts entertained at the reception.

We were very hungry and ready to finally enjoy some lunch after a busy morning of touring and hearing about all of the festive foods served by the DuPonts during their holiday celebrations and entertainments. That family ate and drank very well.

More beautiful trees and flowers awaited us at Longwood Gardens, the former estate of Pierre Samuel DuPont. Those DuPonts loved their plants, trees, and flowers! This one is studded with pots of Begonias just like those seen in the foreground.

Love the living tree skirt around this huge and gorgeous Begonia tree.

This huge tree was festooned with Hydrangea and small Poinsettia blooms.

This tree is a living, backlit succulent that forms a portion of an all succulent wall.

As night fell, the magic of the gorgeous indoor gardens in each of the conservatories was dramatically enhanced. I have never seen such lush Poinsettias in so many varieties and colors.

Despite the gloomy skies and rain that fell off and on all day, the magic of the holidays prevailed inside these two amazing locations. We are so lucky to have them close enough for fairly frequent visits, and thanks to President Mike and Executive Director Mark for another wonderful, convivial and fun Medical Club outing.