Monday, December 05, 2011

~ A Historical Christmas ~

Each year at this time of year, we attend Heritage Park's "Once Upon A Christmas" celebration with the whole family. Heritage Park is a lovely historical park in Calgary which celebrates life here in the late 1800's.

The park is beautifully decorated for Christmas. The recent snowfall helped make everything look very festive!

My favorite house is the charming Thorpe House. The Thorpes were Norwegians, from Eau Claire Wisconsin, who came to help run the new lumber mill in Calgary. They raised eight children in this quaint house!

The lovely St.Martin's church hosts church services and carol-singing over the holidays. It is very snug inside with a wood-burning stove:

The old schoolhouse is one of my favorite places in the park:

These green blinds must have been standard-issue in Canadian schools, as my primary school had them too, decades later. I also recall making popcorn garland at school!

The main street also has a bakery, a pool hall, a newspaper print shop, and a home goods store. You can go inside most of these buildings, where staff and volunteers greet you wearing period costumes!

Even the bank looks good all gussied up for Christmas:

The site is so pretty this time of year:

Fresh snow sets the whole thing off:

I love going inside the houses to see the rustic Christmas decorations:
Paper and bits of fabric are more versatile than we realize!
And here I am with my new bff after our wagon ride:
Hope you have found some lovely Christmas traditions for your family!

22 comments:

  1. What a lovely picture of you, Terri! This is a totally charming historical village with the snow and the vintage homes and buildings. The first home with those three smaller windows on the second story above the main door...sweet. Was it as cozy inside as it appears from the outside?

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  2. Hello Terri~ I found your blog in the blog roll of someone else's site. I absolutely love these photos of Heritage Park. What a beautiful place - just perfect. I subscribed to your blog.

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  3. WOW! What a beautiful place! Are you kidding me? Every photograph is like something out of a book.

    I love the schoolhouse photos and the one of the cast iron stove and tree. The one of the garland made of snowflakes and pieces of fabric is also very sweet.

    What's up with the deciduous Christmas trees? Are they historically accurate? I love them.

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  4. You look so pretty with that horse. How sweet! I loved this post.
    Lovely,
    Lisa

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  5. The decorations are so charming. It looks really cold there. Colder than I would like and especially 150 years ago, brrrr.
    Just an aside, we had the green shades in school in Virginia in the 1970s too.

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  6. We visited here when we came to calgary in 2009, we loved the paddle steamer, i was very impressed and fell in love with the place, hope to visit again one day, but its a long way from the UK !!

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  7. I visited Heritage Park once in the summer, quite a few years ago. The snow and Christmas decorations change it into an entirely different place. So charming. The last photo of you with the horse is just lovely.

    I think this is a great Christmas tradition. The first house especially attracted me.

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  8. Oh Terri! I *love* Heritage Park. Many memories of school fieldtrips, and summer fun. But the best time is always at Christmas. The love the historical village.

    Do they also still do a live nativity in the evenings? I also remember attending that as a child.

    Merry Christmas my friend!
    ~MMW

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  9. Anonymous5:19 pm

    Love the beautiful images of the church and especially of you, Terri- you look great!

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  10. aw, there's that cute smile!

    those pictures = what a charming place! like from a fairy tale!

    joni

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  11. Anonymous10:27 am

    What a wonderful place, and great photos, too. I love visiting historical sites such as this. Thanks for the lovely tour of Heritage Park! It really put me into a Christmas-y mood.

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  12. Anonymous9:47 am

    I so enjoyed this post. I'd love to see the park in person. I visited a flok park like this in Ireland and I wonder if they decorate it for Christmas? What a great idea and wonderful holiday tradition. Your lucky to have this one close! Thanks for sharing! I'm I new follower too!

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  13. How beautiful!! Thank you so much for sharing your day with us. Love the picture of you with your new BFF!
    merry merry
    Christmas!
    Kathysue♥

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  14. I love that the first picture contained a beautiful snow covered wreath - with the bow on the bottom!

    Your photography is exquisite - these pictures look professional. They are beautifully composed and so crisp - what's your secret?

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  15. Terri,
    What a perfect way to spend the day! And, yes the Thorpe house looks like something right out of a novel! I agrre with TTI the pics are amazing quality, spill it?!
    xo,
    ~R

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  16. Terri, what a great visit. Just the right amount of snow to set off the Christmas spirit. Cool and heavy rain here this week. Wish it had been snow.

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  17. Hi Terri!

    How are you? How are your headaches? Better I hope!

    My little daughter is now 5 months and things have settled down considerably! She is absolutely adorable and I love her and getting to spend my days with her! Each day she does something new and she is so cute! :)

    I've been reading and looking at all your photos! What lovely Christmas photos! Really get's you into the Christmas spirit!

    I really like the photo of rain and the table cloth with all the writing on it! And also seeing different details of your home!

    I hope that you are having a fun time now before Christmas and that you get some rest over the holidays!

    Hope that you are doing well and big hug to you!

    Susanne

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  18. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  19. ahhhhh such lovely crisp wintery images Terri! Looks like a magical place. Best wished from me & http://heatherrossthenaturaleclectic.wordpress.com/

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  20. WOW all the snow looks amazing! I've got to have a snowy Christmas one year, never experience that before - it would be so fun and festive :) I have got used to cold Christmas's after living in the UK so long it doesn't quite work the same in the Southern Hemisphere......

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  22. Would love to live there.

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