Visiting the Holiday Greens Show in Troy, New York with Mom

Mom Enjoying the Holiday Greens Show

A Patriotic Christmas

Home for the Holidays

The Grand Entranceway

I’m back in Colorado cherishing a very special holiday moment I shared with my mom in my hometown of Troy, New York just before I left. It was extraordinary for many reasons. It was the first time since 2001 that I was with my mother in December, which allowed us to do something Christmas-y together. (I moved to Colorado in January 2002 and became a ski instructor shortly thereafter. Once ski season starts, I hardly travel anywhere except perhaps to another ski destination.) I also relived childhood memories that I know have played a formative part in my life.

Mom and I picked up on a tradition that began some sixty-one years ago at the Holiday Greens Show, a glorious open house of sorts at the Hart-Cluett House, home to the Rensselaer County Historical Society. I believe mom started going to the Greens show from the beginning and she first brought me there some fifty years ago. Decorated from balustrade to mantelpiece with an abundance of fresh greens, Christmas trees, fresh and dried flowers and a treasure trove of memorabilia by the Van Rensselaer Garden Club, this mansion shimmers with all the beauty of the holidays every year for four days during the beginning of December. It’s like stepping onto a Hollywood set of a nineteenth-century film filled with elegance and grandeur, merrymaking and holiday charm.
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