Eat, Drink, Be Merry: Christmas on Sanibel Island

Sanibel Holiday staffers and guests always look forward to the Christmas holidays. It's a special time on the Island with a lot of activity and good cheer.

And, one of the highlights is always the Luminaria Festival. A magical celebration where beautiful luminaria line Periwinkle and the surrounding streets, the Festival bills itself as a gift to the community.

This year Sanibel Holiday will be participating in the Luminaria. We'll be hosting an open house where we offer refreshments, goodie bags and a small "gift". Our location, the Olde Sanibel Shoppes, is a highlight of the luminary trail. It is a trolley stop. Santa visits. A choir does a performance. All the businesses in this plaza do it up beautifully for the holidays. So we can't wait to get the holiday festivities off to a dazzling start on December 4 with the Luminaria!

During the actual Luminaria night, residents and visitors are able to travel through more than three miles of lighted luminaries to visit stores, shops and restaurants all beautifully decorated in their best holiday finery. The "attendees" of the Festival are also able to enjoy refreshments and live music. The festivities start at dusk and end approximately 9:30pm.

Aside from Luminaria and exploring the Island, if you like unusual and artsy stuff, you can really have a field day with Sanibel seashells with the holidays in mind.

Seashells are so beautiful in and of themselves, and their lovely configurations are ideal for creating unique Christmas tree ornaments.

According to one seashell crafts person the ease of creating seashell X-Mas tree decorations makes for a great project for the whole family.

First, the recipe for what you need to get started.

Ingredients Needed:

Sea shells
Gold Gilt or silver and gold paint
Tiny rosebuds (silk or real)
Pearls
Glue gun
Clear nail polish
Gold or silver very thin ribbon or cord

Next, the process, what you need to do to "cook" your trinket:

1. Gilt or paint your shells and let dry. (you can also leave the shells plain and cover with clear nail polish if you prefer).

2. Glue a rosebud or pearl in the well of the shell or decorate it how you want.

3. Glue a loop of the thin ribbon or cord on the top to hang it with . Cover base of ribbon hang with with rosebud , pearl , or a bow.

A simple recipe, an easy meal!

All it takes is to get yourself down to Sanibel, and this year it also should be easier than ever.

Lovely condos are available that normally are booked at this time of year. Airlines are offering good deals, car rentals are below normal in rates. And seashells? Well the shells are already there waiting for you and free for the taking!