NIGHT AT THE LIBRARY

For quite some time now I have wanted to visit the Billy Graham Library. When I heard that they were having a special "Christmas At The Billy Graham Library", I knew that I wanted to go while the grounds were all decorated for Christmas. So...last night, Walt, Grace, Emma and I piled into the car and headed south for the Christmas experience at the library.

We picked one of the most crowded nights of the year so far, so after parking, we caught a shuttle that carried us to the library. Emma was very excited about the shuttle ride!

As we came off of the shuttle we saw Billy Graham's Birthplace all lit up for the holidays. This is the actual home place where he lived just a few miles from its current location, from about age 9 until he left for college. The home has been restored using about 80% original materials. Billy's father built the house in the 1920's for about $9000.00!

It was so neat for me to walk through and see so many similarities to the fixtures and furnishings of my grandparents house. I even saw a set of porcelain figurines that were identical to some that my grandmother had.

During Billy's childhood, the Graham family owned a dairy and so the building is barn-shaped with a huge cross-shaped opening. It is absolutely breathtaking in the darkness with the Christmas lights.

There was a live nativity.

And inside was a beautiful, huge Christmas tree with lots of handmade wooden crosses and rustic ornaments. We took advantage of someone offering to take a group photo in front of the tree.

Inside, they have the Graham Brothers Dairy Bar, where you can purchase salads, ice cream, and sandwiches; as well as, coffee and hot apple cider.

Here are Grace and Emma waiting on Poppa to bring us some coffee and cider.

Emma and me waiting in the Dairy Bar for our treats!

And after we were done eating, we turned our "eating" booth into a little "Photo Booth" and took some pictures of everyone.

I couldn't resist a picture of Miss Emma in front of the gorgeous poinsettias. They were almost as tall as she was!

And before heading out, we decided to stop for one more photo op in front of that gorgeous Christmas tree.

There was so much to see and do, but we decided that we would need to go back for a visit without a certain little "munchkin" with us. The tour itself takes about an hour and a half and we were afraid that might have been just a little too much to ask of a 4 year old!

The grounds must be beautiful in the daylight, but they were absolutely MAGICAL all decked out for Christmas!