Sadly, we were disappointed when we went to Christmas in Lithia yesterday. There are fewer and fewer craft booths every year. This year the gymnasium was only half full. The lady who makes the cow accessories we loved doesn't even come any longer. :-( I was hoping to get a salt-and-pepper set from her at some point and maybe even the creamer and sugar bowl. Ah, well.
We did get a cute little dog ornament, a sheep trinket to add to my sheep collection, and a very pretty Thanksgiving/fall potholder in bright oranges and yellows that will be more used as a decoration, I suspect.
After that we had to take care of the "big shopping" at BJs and ended up making an early afternoon of it since my digestive system was doing the equivalent of handstand off and on all day.
James had to trot off to work this morning. I sat down and wrote my cousin Debbie a letter to tuck into her Thanksgiving card and also made out another card, then took them both downtown to mail. After doing one circuit of Marietta Square, I noticed a parking space available and took it. I wanted to check out the Hallmark store—they have the loveliest things, including dozens of Jim Shore items. The crechè shown as the featured item on Shore's home page right at this moment is there: isn't it gorgeous? I also wandered through one of the antique stores on the way back to the car. If it's cool on Friday I really ought to stop by and walk around, or maybe on the 30th; everyone's already decorated for Christmas, and these wonderful little shops, which used to be shoe stores and dress shops and haberdasheries and drug stores with the "indented" entries with display windows and tile walkways, are so wonderful at this time of year.
Stopped at Michael's to use one of the 50 percent off coupons and discovered that all the LeMax houses were half off, so got one for James to turn into a hobby shop. Almost everything was on sale, so I ended up buying a book with the coupon. Also visited the mall. Not many decorations up yet, but Hallmark was festive enough, and on the way home discovered that the city of Smyrna is putting up their Christmas lights.
If there is anything good about the drought we are having, it's been the vivid colors of the trees. Due to the soil difference, Georgia trees never look as brilliant as New England trees—several autumns have seen leaves that turn dirty bronze and limp brown—but this year we're having a run for the money. The dryness has brought out the trees in bright color and the frost we had a few nights ago really helped. Within three miles in several directions from our house are trees of such color they take your breath away. There is a little maple on Spring Road that shades from light green to bright golden to orange, with a half-dozen branches that end with tips of dark scarlet. The BP station at Atlanta Road and Concord has four small maples right on one corner and each is a different color: one a butter yellow, one orange, one a deep crimson, and one between orange and crimson. I have seen trees the color of a Werther's butterscotch candy, of molten iron, the maroon of the velvet curtains that used to open before the movie at the Majestic Theatre. Stunning.
I've spent a bit of the afternoon checking out the Christmas boxes. We need a few gift cards; otherwise everything is shipshape, and in the case of two gifts, ready to mail.
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