~Fun Fall/Winter Trip~ National Crafts & Cowboy Festival & An Old Time Christmas at Silver Dollar City

~PrimitiveGypsy is being compensated with tickets in exchange for this post, all thoughts and reviews are our own and not influenced in any way.~ I am always looking for fun new things to do with my family every year, aren't you? We go to the Pumpkin Patch, we check out Christmas lights but this year I really wanted to go out of the box and do something we hadn't done before. So this year we are heading to Branson, MO for the National Crafts and Cowboy Festival and the Old Time Christmas at Silver Dollar City! We've been wanting to go for awhile now but the kids were little and we wanted them to remember and enjoy. Paired with these festivals this will be fun for the entire family.

Are you wanting to see Silver Dollar City and check out the festivals for yourself? Here is some great information.

For fall, Silver Dollar City presents the National Crafts & Cowboy Festival, featuring some of the nation's finest craftsmen and authentic cowboys. The festival presents a Wild West Show with trick riders, ropers and a world-champion Native American Hoop dancer; Western music; a barn dance, and 125 visiting craftsmen. Best of Missouri Hands juried artists demonstrate their art and fall harvest foods are served up September 13 - October 28 at the Branson, Missouri theme park.

The Home of American Craftsmanship presents the nation's largest festival of demonstrating craftsmen, with entertainment and activities saluting the Great American Cowboy. There are over 125 visiting craftsmen from around the country coming to demonstrate their art, including Best of Missouri Hands juried artists, all joining Silver Dollar City's 100 demonstrating craftsmen. Silver Dollar City's Wild West Show features trick riders, Native American dance with 8-time World Champion Native American Hoop Dancer Nakotah LaRance, comedy canines, and trick roper and bullwhip artist A.J. Silver. Legendary Western actor and watercolor artist Buck Taylor will host the "Buck Taylor's Cowboy Emporium," featuring a variety of Western crafts. Plus they will have Chuck Wagon & Food Network Chef Kent Rollins and Extreme Mustangs featured in the Red Gold courtyard. Also included is a Western Barn Dance presenting kick-up-your-heels fun, with a live band. There will be Western music with groups including The Malpass Brothers, The Home Rangers, Belinda Gail and Kristyn Harris, 2016 Western Music Association Entertainer of the Year. New this year will be the nation's pioneer culinary heritage coming to life with campfire cooking and cowboy cuisine, including Cowboy Beef Stew and Dutch Oven Desserts.

Here is some history behind this festival. Silver Dollar City began the fall crafts festival tradition in 1963, bringing in visiting craftsmen in addition to the park's growing resident crafts colony, with the goal of showcasing the makers along with the finished artwork. More than half a century later, a unique feature still is that all visiting crafters, as with the park's own, demonstrate their work so guests see the process, the skill and the creativity of true craftsmanship. This became the nation's largest festival of demonstrating craftsmen. The focus on authentic craftsmanship was one of the reasons the U.S. Congress in 2010 proclaimed Silver Dollar City the "Home of American Craftsmanship." In addition to craftsmen, Silver Dollar City added features with another American icon several years ago, the cowboy, to carry on the festival as The National Crafts & Cowboy Festival.

Are you preparing your Christmas Spirit? You may enjoy the Holiday and Christmas Festival this winter.

The Old Time Christmas festival will be adding a huge new area this year: Christmas in Midtown, with towering light displays 9 stories high, animated figures in lights, and 1.5 million additional lights, bringing the park total to over 6.5 million lights! Christmas in Midtown is the largest single lighting expansion in the past 20 years of this festival. It is one of the nation's most acclaimed Christmas festivals, profiled by USA Today, CNN Travel, The Travel Channel and Good Morning America. The new Christmas in Midtown is a 70,000 sq. ft. area filled with new light displays 9 stories high, including 30 angels, animated reindeer pulling a sleigh, 3 light tunnels, two 40-foot long moving trains, dozens of stars and snowflakes, and a 50-foot tree, all created at Silver Dollar City.

Christmas will include Rudolph's Holly Jolly Christmas Light Parade, led by the most famous reindeer of all, features musical lighted floats with 200,000 lights accompanied by 33 costumed characters, Rudolph's Christmas Town, where kids can meet Rudolph, Clarice and Bumble, also includes activities from Reindeer Games to cookie decorating. It will also include two original musical productions presented with Broadway-style experiences, with elaborate sets and talented casts: It's a Wonderful Life, adapted from the Frank Capra classic, and the acclaimed production A Dickens' Christmas Carol. The Christmas on Main Street light & sound show features the 5-Story Special Effects Christmas Tree with over 350,000 colorful LED lights. Tinker Junior's Toy Shop is an interactive show for kids featuring a 12-foot talking and singing Christmas tree. Kids can also meet Santa in Santa Claus Lane, illuminated in colorful lights. Plus, the festival presents holiday shows, a musical Living Nativity, shows, rides, shopping and new Silver Dollar City dining specialties. Hours and Schedules are HERE.

During An Old Time Christmas, Silver Dollar City is open Thursdays - Sundays, plus Wednesdays Nov. 22 and December 20, and open after Christmas Dec. 26-30. Hours and schedules are HERE.

~ Review ~ Unique Heat Portable Space Infrared Heater

~I received this at a discount for my honest and unbiased review but it still cost me a good amount. Links on this page are a friends and she will get a small commission from them if you purchase.~

The size of this Infrared Space Heater is just the best. It weighs as much as a small dog and makes moving around your home or even loaning to a friend so simple. The Infrared heating makes for a nice smooth heat without that too hot feeling you get from a typical electric room heater. Also good is that this space heater can heat multiple rooms. We have one propane heater for our large home, so we have a ton of little tiny electric space heaters in every room in the house. Our pipes tend to freeze every winter. So the uses for this infrared heater are great. It works perfectly in the downstairs by the bedrooms where the heat from the propane heater tends to not reach. Not to mention propane can be a real pain and expensive to have them come and fill.

This infrared heater is cool to the touch, so safe for kids and areas where they are, also with pets. Put the remote up and they can not change all the settings easy since they are on the top and not the front. The area is easy to read and use even for me and I get confused easily. It was just a cinch to program and setting it up is so simple all around. Just figure out where you want it, plug it in and turn it to the setting you prefer. I noticed after using it a few days instead of the small heaters my electric bill went from around $12 a day to $2-$3. So what a savings this space heater has saved me. This was the best money I have spent in years on any kind of heating or cooling unit and I will be buying another one for my upstairs bedrooms.

You can find the Unique Heat Portable Space Infrared Heater on Amazon HERE.

~Review~ Wood Sully Cherry & Maple Watch by JORD

~I received this in exchange for my honest review, all opinions are 100% my own.~

First let me just start this with...we are not a watch wearing family. Neither my husband or I like new modern digital watches nor do we like to be on a time restraint. But my husband and I were both super excited to be able to get a watch from JORD. They make high quality wooden watches. My husband and I are both artists so we were just fascinated by the beautiful designs JORD has to offer. Each watch is handcrafted by an artist, designer and watch smith. Each watch is made with a beautiful sustainably sourced wood from all over the world.

We just loved the excellent quality of this watch. It's a beautiful Cherry and Maple wood. The patterns in the wood are just lovely. We chose the Sully because of the beautiful contrast of the wood colors. The blend so well but also stand out apart from the other. We spend a lot of our time outdoors hiking, and fishing and so we love how this watch blends into the beauty of the outdoors and doesn't stand out and scream HEY look at this technology. The clasp is easy to open, but stays shut while wearing it. It has a push button that is simple to open one handed. It's made from Stainless Steel which is wonderful for people with different metal allergies. It's also good because it will not rust or oxidize and is easy to keep clean. The face plate of the watch is just beautiful, its large and has easy to read numbers. The watch hands are also a large size which makes it easy to tell time and quickly.

JORD recommends the following for cleanings. Start with mixing two tablespoons each of olive oil and lemon juice. Apply a small amount to a soft cotton cloth. Wring the cloth to spread the mixture further into the material and apply to the wood using brisk strokes (this helps distribute the oil evenly). You may also apply a natural coating such as beeswax, butcher block oil, or walnut oil to the watch. Doing this on a regular basis will protect against damage and improve the durability of the wood while helping to maintain the moisture balance. This in turn prevents drying or cracking of your wood watch.

JORD sized the watch prior to it's shipment so it fits my husband perfectly. It is always recommended to take something of this quality to a reputable jeweler for repairs or a change in size. JORD also supplies a 12 month warranty to be free from defects in material or workmanship. The cost of this watch in my opinion is very good. This watch retails for $130 and I believe is worth every penny and more. It will last for years and years with good care.

I am just fascinated with this elegant JORD watch. My husband has not stopped wearing it since it's arrival and I am jealous I don't have one of my own. The craftsmanship is just unmatched in any watch either of us has ever owned previously. I have never in my life seen my husband wear a watch on a regular basis until now. If you would like to see the other wonderful quality styles JORD has to offer your can go look around their website at www.woodwatches.com