A Blue and White Christmas

It was a busy day that took me around some of my favorite spots in town and on campus. I saw many lovely Christmas trees in my travels, and of course, I stopped to photograph each and every one! I am a lover of the light, wherever it may hail from, and this time of year, there may be no light more fun than the shine and sparkle put out by the Christmas lights and decorations.

I should probably have called this posting Blue and White Christmas, Take 2, for this was where I took the photo that became my very first blip-posting on December 15, 2011. How peculiar that I should match it, down to the very day, four years later! And no, that wasn't intentional.

This photo was taken inside Penn State's Old Main, our chief administrative building. Along with the Nittany Lion, it is one of the chief images used to represent our University. I walk by the building frequently when I am on campus; occasionally, I even wander inside for a look. For this is MY Penn State, and I tend to wander wherever I choose! I go inside all kinds of buildings, often just to see what's inside; I'm curious that way.

In the original photo I posted, you couldn't really see the details very well, as the light was rather muted. And so you couldn't tell (but *I* could) how ratty the Land Grant frescoes were starting to get. Since then, the University worked with an external company to repair the frescoes, and now they are looking fresher and lovelier than ever! (More about that project here.)

If you're curious to see the outside of this building, you can find it here, in a photo taken on a picture-perfect blue-sky winter day. It has been very mild around here lately, and I remember back to a past view of winter time on campus, when some industrious souls built a snow dinosaur on the lawn of Old Main. We could try that now, I guess, but we'd have to build it out of mud, as there isn't any snow! (Shh, don't tell anybody, but I really MISS the snow!)

The song to accompany this image - I'll bet you guessed it already - is the holiday classic, Blue Christmas. I was intrigued to find this version online which features Elvis Presley (of course), and he is joined through the magic of technology by the lovely and talented Martina McBride. Elvis and Martina perform Blue Christmas.