John and Keri from Texas gathered at the Williams House just before Christmas for a beautiful December wedding.  It’s been a warm fall, but their special day was a bit cool but sunny and beautiful.  Keri joined John on the Williams House front porch and recited vows with Byron while guests looked on.  The reception followed in our courtyard under the 500 year old live oak.  Deborah prepared a variety of tasty items followed  by a beautiful wedding cake and a champagne toast.  

 

Tis the season to be jolly…and have tea at the Williams House.  A group of ladies joined us for a festive start to the Holiday season with a tea prepared by Deborah with finger sandwiches, scones, chicken salad pastry, cheese pastry, and sesame sticks.  Dessert included chocolate covered strawberries, cookies of several varieties, and filled pastries!  It was a great way to get into the Christmas spirit and enjoy the Williams House.

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black Friday is famous for its shopping opportunities and great bargains.  It’s no different in historic Fernandina Beach except……. you have to wear pajamas to get store discounts from local merchants.  There is also a contest for best dressed patron weraing pajamas as well as admiring stares from fellow shoppers and on-lookers.  We had one couple staying at the Williams House that got into the program and donned their best pj’s and headed for downtown.  Other guests felt they brought the wrong set of pj’s for such an excursion and just headed out to see the event in action.  It was fun for all and based on packages shopping was also in full gear.  We took a stroll and captured some of the more interesting and artsy efforts, many of whom will no doubt be in the running for “best dressed”.  It is a fun event and a great way to recover from the overeating on Thanksgiving with a healthy walk.

 

This Thanksgiving holiday we provided an afternoon tea and carriage rides for guests of the Williams House as well as an evening dinner at a local restaurant.  Deborah prepared tasty finger foods served with hot tea, iced tea, punch and several nice dessert options.  Either before or after tea, guests could ride with Amelia Island Carriages for a tour of several historic homes and learn about the rich history of Amelia Island.  We try to change our packages each year and this is the first time we have had carriage rides on Thanksgiving.  Served from 2-4 pm the Tea was the perfect bridge between our full and delicious breakfast and the 6 pm timing for the main Thanksgiving meal.  As the official taste tester at the Williams House, Byron sampled all the offerings and deemed them satisfyingly tasty!  Meanwhile, Cinnamon enjoyed a long afternoon nap on the porch and multiple visits from guests willing to provide love and petting.  Seems he has little evidence to judge holidays as being  different from his usual day at the Inn.

 

Saturday was a big day on Amelia Island as all eight B&B’s decorated for Christmas, baked their favorite cookies and opened their doors to over 500 visitors for the Amelia Island Bed and Breakfast Cookie Tour.  The tour is held the Saturday before Thanksgiving each year, and this time visitors enjoyed a warm and mostly sunny day.  Trolleys, taxi’s and horsedrawn carriages carried visitors between Inns and fresh cookies and refreshments were ready at each stop.  At Williams House we began decorating Nov. 1 and finished a day or two before the tour.   We had six rooms plus the common area open for touring and everything was decorated to the max.  Our cookie was a peanut butter, oatmeal variety with both regular and dark chocolate M&M’s.  Thanks to our slight over-cooking, I am still enjoying a few.  Carriage horses Boomer and Jazz moved between Hoyt, Williams House and Fairbanks and the trolley moved visitors from Hoyt to Elizabeth Pointe.  Taxi’s took them the final leg to Amelia Ocean Front.  We had an excellent turn-out that was 70% higher than last year.  Apparently lot’s of folks wanted to get into the Christmas spirit or they are really serious cookie fans!  A portion of the revenue will be given to Barnabus Center, our charity for 2011, and the added crowd versus last year will help us give them a larger donation. We want to thank Barabus for their volunteers who helped each B&B with stageing their rooms and guiding visitors.   Our thanks from the Williams House and all the other B&B’s for public support of this tour and our charity and we look forward to even bigger results next year!  We hope you enjoy some pictures from the event and the Williams House.