I opened the mail this week to find a gift from Victoria, BC’s famous Butchart Gardens: admission for four to The Magic of Christmas display–including a ride on the Rose Carousel–anytime this Christmas.

So in the spirit of the season, I’m going to pass it along to one lucky TheseBoots reader.

I wish this magical event had been around when I was younger: my one and only childhood visit to the gardens–now a National Historic Site–is memorable only because I was so fantastically bored.

I vowed at age 11 I would never drag my own children through acres of roses and rhodos and call it an adventure. (Not that the gardens missed me–Butchart attracts more than a million visitors a year from all around the world.)

Clearly I wasn’t the only young person who felt this way. In the intervening years (and there have been many, I assure you) the gardens have become more kid-friendly, adding:

• a carousel (the only one on Vancouver Island);
• a children’s pavilion where families can host birthday parties;
• Family Discovery Walks;
• and weekly summertime fireworks.

Now, until January 6th, there’s nightly entertainment, outdoor skating, and plenty of holiday sparkle.

Oh, and some really nice plants.

How to enter:

Leave a comment below and tell me who you’d like to ride the Rose Carousel with. I’ll do a random draw on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009 at 8 pm PST. Good luck!

(And if Victoria’s not your neck of the woods, maybe you’d like to try for four tickets to the VanDusen Gardens Festival of Lights in Vancouver…enter before Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009)

Update, Dec. 10: Congratulations to Vancouver Island photographer Que Banh who had a 50-50 chance of winning this great prize! Enjoy!