Today, I told my friends and work colleagues about my fantastic evening snow date at the VanDusen Gardens' “Festival of Lights.”

But did you know that there is a real Scottish presence at the VanDusen

I didn't know what a Scottish Shelter was. But it was supposed to be the site of the “Candle Shrine” where you could light a candle and make a wish – and contribute a donation to the Make A Wish Foundation.

But being known as Toddish McWong – of course I had to check out the “Scottish Shelter.”

– photo Deb Martin

Was this the Scottish Shelter?  A sheltered rock grotto covered by tree branches would surely give some protection from the elements.  Afterall, Scots are known for being thrifty and efficient and creative people.

Nope…. no sign saying “Scottish Shelter” or “Candle Shrine.”

But on the other side of the grotto, we followed the path to the Lover's Lookout, where we crammed out of the cold with 8 other people.  I guess it was a “Swinger's Lookout.”

Then we saw a sign saying “Candle Shrine.” and we continued down the path.

– photo Todd Wong

We found a small hut, brightly  lith with Christmas lights on the outside.  But on the inside it was lit entirely by candle light and looked warm and inviting.  My girlfriend Deb remarked to the volunteers inside that they must be in the warmest place at the event (after we visited shivering hot dog vendors, waffle vendors, and security people standing beside propane heaters).

-photo Todd Wong

Yes it really was a Scottish Shelter “built in the style of a highland cottage” in 1975

-photo Todd Wong

It looked gorgeous inside, sparkling with candles and tea lights.

Just before we left the gardens, we discovered a small area with two statue busts.  One of them read:

Festival of Lights at VanDusen Gardens.  The new snowfall makes it exceptional. In an amazingly romantic gesture (or amazingly stupid) I invited my girlfriend out on a snow date.  While it was wonderful to walk through the snow draped, light sparkling garden setting, it was really much too cold to be holding hands without gloves on.  So… we linked arms, or put our arms around each other as we explored this truly winter wonderland.

Check out the 2008 Dancing Lights display.  Imagine Christmas lights on psychotropic drugs or just simply choreographed to music.  The Dancing Lights display occurs every 30 minutes.  There is an island in the lake, and all the lights are coordinated to fast paced instrumental music sounding something similar to Manheim Steamroller.  It was cold standing and watching… so I was glad that we had already visited Santa's kitchen where I had ordered a $4 hotdog and $5 chicken fingers.

Guess who we met on the pathways… Santa Claus! 

This Santa Claus was very friendly.  He called out to other walkers on the path to help us take a picture, joking that they would walk away with my camera.  We visited him later inside “Santa's workshop” which is a lovely way to take a break from walking in the cold and warm up while listening to his very corny jokes.

And we made Christmas wishes at the Candle Shine located inside the Scottish Shelter.  See my article about our visit: http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/_archives/2008/12/18/4027681.html

We found the Gingerbread House, after initially walking down Candy Cane Lane.

We even met Santa's elves who referred to themselves as Gnomes… and sang the Michael Buble song “Home” but sort of changed the words to sound like “Gnome.”  They were hilarious.  In this picture they are performing Elf calisthenics.

http://vancouver.ca/parks/parks/vandusen/website/events/fol.htm
4:30 to 9 p.m. every night, December 5, 2008 through January 4, 2009 except December 25th when the Garden is closed.

• Santa's Living Room: Dec. 5 – 24 with Santa appearances 5:30, 6:30, 7:30, 8:30 p.m.
• Svend and Jens, our Scandinavian Christmas Elves appear nightly in the Centre Court
• Magician David Wilson: Dec. 26 – Jan. 4, in Santa's Living Room at 5:30, 6:30, 7:30, 8:30 p.m.
• Dancing Lights on Livingstone Lake: 15 minute show every half hour on the half hour starting at 4:30 p.m.

check out my other pictures on Flickr

Festival of Lights @ Van Dusen…