Ho, Ho, Ho – Christmas In June

You guessed it.  It was another rainy day.  Our friends at Rainbow Plantation are begging us to come back – they need the rain.  In any event, the four of us ventured out to do a little sightseeing (or gunkholing).  We headed to the German town of Frankenmuth, Michigan which is home to Bronner’s Christmas Store.

But first, we had to feed our faces so we set sail for the Cracker Barrel Restaurant in Flint, Michigan.  As usual, the menu didn’t fail to meet our expectations.  They sure put a lot of pecans in their pecan pancakes which are served with warm maple syrup – the real “stuff”, not the maple flavored syrup.

Next it was onto downtown Frankenmuth. The area was first settled and named in 1845 by conservative German Lutheran immigrants.   The city's name is a combination of two words. "Franken" represents the Province of Franconia in the Kingdom of Bavaria where the original settlers were from and the German word "Mut" which means courage, thus the city name Frankenmuth means "courage of the Franconians".

We stopped by the Covered Bridge Gift Shop where there was a video on the building of the covered bridge that crosses the Cass River and leads the way to the Batavian Inn.  It’s all hand crafted and the only covered bridge in the United States known to have dormers – six of them, three on each side.

We continued to wander the streets of Frankenmuth and dropped into several shops that looked interesting.  Judy was able to find a lace valiance for the kitchen window at the Woolen Mill.  We finished our downtown tour by visiting the Lager Mill which is a micro brewery.

  

Finally, we made our way to Bronner’s Christmas Store which is billed as the largest Christmas Store in the world.  Being a wet rainy cool damp spring day, there weren’t a lot of patrons walking the isles; probably one of the best days to be there if you don’t like crowds.

The Angel welcomed us,

As the shepherd’s tended their sheep in the fields?

There’s several Nativity scenes surrounding the store which is the size of 5.5 football fields and located on 27 acres of beautifully landscaped property. 

Here are some photos from inside the store.  Bronner’s offers 6000 styles of Christmas ornaments, 400 styles of Nativity scenes, miles of Christmas lights, and artificial Christmas trees of all shapes and sizes. Collectible lines include Precious Moments, Seraphim Angels, Hummels, 56 lighted houses, and much more. 

   

Also, there’s Bronner's Silent Night Memorial Chapel which is open daily for viewing and meditation and every evening Bronner's ½-mile long Christmas Lane glistens with thousands of twinkling lights.  Unfortunately it was pouring so we didn’t get to visit the Chapel and it was daytime so we didn’t get to view the twinkling lights.  Maybe another trip on a starry night is in order.

Merry Christmas and May God Bless  - - - - - - - - -