Every year the town of Orangeville Optimist Club and Orangeville Seniors Centre lights up the night with a Christmas display that winds along the stream bank of one of the towns parks, Kaycee Gardens. Numerous businesses and individuals help with a multitude of displays. In the 1998-9 winter the snowfall made the display all the more attractive. This year, the park is again lit up, but the weather has not provided the snow. Ontario Explorer has decided to contribute in our own way by providing a 'virtual white christmas' show casing scenes from the park last winter.

For the residents of this town who might be unable to visit the park we offer this gallery as a alternative. For those of you who can visit the park, we hope this gallery allows you to take this experience home with you. Hopefully, it will also allow residents who have left town to reach out and touch home again.

We invite visitors to view these pictures and download them to your own computers. There is only one restriction. These photos may be used for personal use only. They may not be duplicated or distributed, or used for any business purposes whatsoever.

We would like to thank the people of Orangeville who have lit up the park over the years for this winter pleasure.

	By Clicking On a Picture it will enlarge itself to full screen. Use the BACK button on your browser to return to this list. You can RIGHT CLICK on a picture to save it to your computer. One option you will get is to SET AS WALLPAPER. This will put the picture on your computers desktop. Each picture is a different size to accommodate different monitor resolutions.
	Perhaps my favourite part of winter is the quiet. The world seems a bit slower and a bit sleepier. You can hear the wind, almost the breath of the earth, without the din of birds, and bees. Not that the pleasures of summer are unwelcome, but winter seems to almost have a heartbeat if you listen close.
	I am certainly not the first observer of the peaceful solitude winter offers. Perhaps the most famous poem on the topic is Robert Frost's Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening:
	Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow.
	My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake, The darkest evening of the year.
	He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound's the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake.
	The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep And miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep. - Robert Frost (1874 - 1963)
	It is ironic, that despite the promise of holidays filled with joy we have often come to fill them with committments and noisy busy-ness that seems to rob us of those moments we have looked forward to all year. Try and take the time to sit quiet and listen to the wind in the pines, or the crackle of the fire.
	You might also remember those whose lives may be troubled this time of year. Perhaps you might like to see what Erin McKnight has done to contribute.
	More Pictures will follow soon!