A day off

You know what they say about all work and no play … so today we decided to do something about that. Mar has been very busy with the end of semester finals and grading, this is the time of year when she gets tons of emails and questions from her online students. Bernie has been working long hours on the house, busy with cleanup, prep work, drywall, paint, electric, carpentry, you name it. She is so happy to be working, she loves the work.

Today we went to visit The Christmas Ranch in Morrow OH, about a two hour drive. This Christmas village is on several acres owned by a retired dentist and his wife. They got started by decorating their home which quickly became a huge draw for the public but the neighbors complained about the heavy traffic on the weekends so they found some property to accommodate their Christmas dream.

Now they have this place with a couple houses and barns, transformed into a Christmas wonderland with thousands of lights connected to music. This way as the music serenades you the lights give you a fantastic visual show. It was magical to listen to the Mannheim Steam Roller as we stood in the middle of the forest while the lights pounded out the sounds.

They also have a huge bonfire, to which we returned every few minutes with our cup of hot chocolate, to warm up before heading out to explore again. On this cold, cold night the warmth of the bonfire was much appreciated.

This place certainly got us into the Christmas spirit. It has been featured on HGTV and also Good Morning America. If you are near southwest Ohio any time soon, you should go visit and have some hot chocolate while you're there: http://thechristmasranch.com/