Monday Mug Shot

Savannah River Queen
Savannah, Georgia

Mom and I rode the Savannah River Queen at the beginning of Christmastime in 1993. That trip was when I really realized that I didn’t require snow for it to feel like Christmas!

We left to go south Friday morning after Thanksgiving, taking advantage of the holiday to add another day to a one-week vacation. Our travels took us through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, my first time really driving in the mountains using the low gear on my Camaro mountain car and venturing onto the Blue Ridge Parkway, where we drove trough a cloud! That was quite cool! Steep roads, no guard rails and stopping at an overlook to look dow on the clouds!

We spent a couple days a Myrtle Beach, South Carolina before moving on to Savannah. ne thing I loved about Savannah was those pralines! We stayed on Tybee Island and went back into Savannah to sight see. We took the trolley to get around. I did fin in the mountains, but a couple of times driving a sports car on the cobblestone streets was enough for me! The trolley stopped at River Street Sweets, where they make the most heavenly of the classic Savannah confection and ant everyone to know about it! When the trolley stopped, a representative of the candy shop cae onboard to welcome visitors and suggest to stop here and pick up the next trolley to go on. He bait the travelers with praline samples! Mom and I were getting off the trolley there anyway because it was the stop for the riverboat and RIver Street Sweets was on our itinerary anyway!

The Savannah River Queen ports in the Savannah RIver. Mom and I took the afternoon sightseeing cruise with Santa. The ride was quite cool up the Savannah River and back, seeing the industry ports, fishing boats and beautiful parks ad bed ad breakfasts near the riverfront. It was the beginning of December, sunny, warm with just a slight coolness in the gentle breeze and we were drifting down the river in a riverboat decorated with pine garland and red bows with Christmas music playing. A different Christmas picture for this girl from the north, but no less Christmas than a carriage ride in the snow at Greenfield Village in Michigan.

Then the kicker of the boat trip, out visit from Santa! I know that the “Santas” you see down here, especially during Santas “crunch time” between Thanksgiving and the big night are the cream of the crop of the down below elves and ot Santa himself. Remember I worked for him as a management level elf when I lived in Michigan. I also know that his representatives in other parts of the world speak different languages. Santa himself speaks like 30-some different languages. But, in all of my years, I had never seen Santa's likeness and heard a southern accent! Santa had candy canes for everyone and after a brief chat with the adults as he was making his rounds with the candy canes, he sat with the kids for the duration of the trip.

When we went back to the are of the trolley stop, there was the rep from the candy store with more samples! This time we went in and bought 2 boxes. One to enjoy on the rest of our trip and one to bring home to add to the Christmas goodies. It was a festive trip that showed me what I really “needed” for it to feel like Christmas. I realized on that trip that Christmas lights decorating the boat and streets in Savannah were what made it the holiday season to me. It’s the light in your heart not the snow on the ground that make it Christmas!