Today we had such a special morning.
Each year the Georgia Governor's Mansion is decorated for the holidays and open for tours and this year the theme of the Governor's Mansion Christmas is "With a Servant's Heart." The house and Christmas trees in the house are focused on celebrating service and volunteerism. Now if you know anything about me, you know this struck a chord with me. Each of the rooms on the tour were decorated with a theme and focused on topics such as health, human services, the arts, literacy, the environment, wild life and of course, United Way was featured front and center. It was because of United Way that I received an invitation to come to the Governor's Mansion for a closed tour along visit a with the First Lady. Wow, what a special way to celebrate the season.
I just loved these rockers that seemed to be waiting for the Governor and the First Lady to take some time to sit and simply enjoy the day.
While I was posing for a photo with the First Lady I didn't realize at first that the Governor had joined his wife and was standing right behind me. Thank goodness my son said something! It was quite a surprise and yet such an honor to be in such good company early on a Saturday morning. We are so lucky to have such good people in state leadership. I was both honored and humbled to have been invited for this special tour and even happier that my family was included to be a part of the event.
While touring the house there were so many details to be enjoyed. Everywhere you looked there were bits of Georgia history, culture or environment and there seemed to be a story behind nearly every little detail. The china used in the dining room tablescape was hand-painted and every piece was different, representing different Georgia wildflowers. The silver pieces in the dining room too represented so many facets of Georgia and was I understood that many of the pieces had once been on a ship by the name of Georgia.
But the real focus throughout the house was volunteering. (Yay for volunteering!)
And be still my heart when anything to do with ballet is in the room. Don't you love these tree "skirts"?
And then there were simply moments of Georgia pure and simple.
Yes, that is a copy of Gone With the Wind.
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| I love the dried hydrangeas used here. |
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| Having been a librarian for many years it was great to see the Library Association and a focus on literacy! |
Merry Christmas from Georgia!
The mansion decorated for Christmas is gorgeous and such a special time. This year's theme is close to my heart also. So glad you were able to go and share these wonderful photos with us!
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Linda
What a special treat! I'm happy your were part of this event and that you shared the photos with us. The University of Texas is hosting an incredible exhibit on the making of Gone With The Wind movie. I saw it recently, and it is amazing. Wish you could see it.
ReplyDeleteHappy Holidays!
The Governor’s Mansion is very beautiful at Christmas time. We went there a couple of years ago and the decorations were outstanding. That morning many school choirs came to sing as well, we enjoyed it very much. At the same time I have to admit I am not a fan of the current governor and hope that he does more for the people of Georgia than he did in his last term – we have the highest unemployment rate in the nation! (as well as the fourth highest uninsured people in the country.) During the holidays we need to think about all these poor people in our state and hope he will be persuaded to help them.
ReplyDeleteJojo, sooo lovely and what a privilege! We never DID find the governor's mansion in the 18 years we lived in the Atlanta metro, but that was before GPS. Ha! Oh, those ballet slippers were gorgeous, weren't they?
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