My Backyard - Waterfire; Providence, RI

Friday night. Date night with hubby. Nice to be out, just enjoying ourselves and not worrying or agonizing over our unemployment situation. The road of romance led to Providence. The downtown Providence Place Mall to be exact. We arrived thankfully before the evening onslaught of holiday shoppers.

First stop: Macy's. Always reliable store to purchase gifts for the family party yankee swap this weekend. Hubby and I found 2 perfect gifts in our price point and moved on. Next up: Bed Bath and Beyond. We've gone back and forth about trading in our old dependable Tassimo for the popular Keurig coffee maker. (I've been inconsolable ever since Starbucks jumped ship and joined forces with the K-cup.) We hemmed and hawed and finally gave in. Luckily, I had some of those pretty blue 20% off coupons and handed them to the cashier to save some $. Our Christmas gift to each other this year was now in hand.

Tucking our purchases into our car, we headed off to an early dinner at one of hubby's fav places, Dave & Buster's. We admired the newly redecorated sports theme of the bar area. Definitely have to come back here on a game day!

Dinner over, it was time to head out into the mild, clear Winter night and across the street to Waterfire at Waterplace Park. For those of you who've never witnessed the spectacular lighting, please make it a point to find the time to visit. The lighting schedule is posted on their site.

The lights, fires and music combine to offer an ethereal atmosphere. It's amazing to find such a relaxing serene work of art in the middle of a big bustling metropolitan city. But tonight it was even more special. Decorated and lit Christmas trees ringed the water basin. Santa Claus was there, too, listening to the hushed voices of the children who whispered their Christmas wishes to him.

 

Traditional holiday songs rang out from overhead speakers. We watched as the fire tenders holding flaming torches stood tall in their boats and silently floated to the vessels containing wood. As the torches touched the wood, flames leapt upwards to light up the water surrounding them. When all the vessels were lit, thunderous applause erupted from the appreciative onlookers. Breathtaking!

 

We decided to venture out further into the park to see what else was going on. We found carolers strolling through the crowds; they kindly urged everyone to join them in singing along to the familiar holiday tunes.

 

A little further on, we came upon the downtown ice rink. It was filled with smiling skaters of all ages. A mighty pine tree festooned with holiday lights stood watch over the rink. With cups of hot chocolate in hand, we stopped for a few minutes to watch the skating fun.

Hand-in-hand, we strolled back thru the park and headed to our car, happy with our date night choice. A fun, romantic evening for sure!