Weekend Recap

Happy Monday and happy three weeks until Christmas!  Gah!  I’m so excited and this past weekend’s activities added to all the seasonal fun!
Our weekend started off like this….
We’ve been having gorgeous sunrises, sunsets and a few calm evenings here and there.  Last Friday the lake was crazy calm.  Jon and I joked about throwing a rock into the water to ruin it for everyone.  Which of course we didn’t, but we giggled over our sick twisted humor…  😉

Later in the evening Jon and I packed up the kids and we headed to a town up the road for their annual holiday retail open house.  It’s the cutest little town without a single big box store.  The downtown is magical this time of year.  Christmas music plays throughout the streets, carolers are out and about, there’s always lots of hot cocoa, snacks and sweet treats are free and if you’re lucky, you’ll spot Santa.  Jon and I have gone to this little town almost every year since we moved to where we currently live and we love it.

One of the stores had this cute onesie and oh-how-I-wish I would’ve had it for Eliza for when she was a baby!

We stopped by our favorite photography studio and spotted THE one and only Santa in a portrait through the window; seriously – that’s Santa Clause.
I should be getting the kids’ Santa photo back soon and I can’t wait to share it!

While Jon and the kids grabbed some hot chocolate and cookies, I ventured into a store I’d never been into before and loved all their little signs and cute little merchandise.

I’d love for this sign to reside in my kitchen…  😉

On Saturday, Elmer showed up with doughnuts (he’s done this one before 😉 ), Eliza pretended she was the Princess and the Pea and then we went on a Christmas train ride here in our town.

The train station was all decked out in Christmas decor.

All aboard!

We had arrived about fifteen minutes early, took the kids potty and loaded up on the train.  To our surprise every car was full.  We ultimately had to walk all the way back to a car that had a table and chairs so that we would all have a seat.  The way the Christmas train rides go now-a-days has changed a lot since Henry was a baby.
It used to be free and we could sign up through the library, but now it comes at a cost.  Usually we’d so so many people we knew.  Not this time around.  In fact, we didn’t recognize a single local while on the train and we heard some people say they came from an hour and a half away.  Crazy!
Our town isn’t huge and you can usually count on seeing at least one person you know anywhere you go out, so it was a little odd not to see a single local on the train, but it was encouraging that people were willing to drive to our community to partake in a sweet holiday train ride.

We walked to the front of the train to go meet with Santa.  I was a little nervous with the kids looking a little too closely at him, considering the Santa they’re used to is the one I mentioned up above, the one at the photography studio.
Luckily, the kids didn’t want to talk to him and barely looked at him.  I think the rocking motion of the train and all the people threw them off a little.  Phew.

The Christmas train took us to one of our favorite parks up the road…err…up the tracks?  The kids loved getting out and playing for twenty minutes!

We loaded back up and selfied it.

Eliza and Jon had several staring contests.

Eliza helped Jon smile.

……And a wonderful stranger took our picture.

We went out of town to an Italian restaurant for dinner, swung by to check out the live nativity at a local church (it was their 31st year doing it and I think it’s pretty cool) and then went back into town for the Christmas parade.
Rumor has it that the Christmas parade always used to be at night and then somewhere along the way, it was changed to Saturday morning/afternoon.  After living here for over ten years now, it was the first year that Jon and I had ever seen a nighttime Christmas parade and boy-oh-boy it was sooooo much better!  The sounds, the lights, that warm Christmas feeling – you guys, I was seriously impressed!
Nativity…

Parade…

This was a hot air balloon float.  The heat was intense.

Our local utility truck hosted the Grinch with the Grinch song blaring from the truck.
It was, hands down, THE hit of the entire parade!

On Sunday, I slept in and that husband of mine made breakfast for the kiddos and brought me coffee in bed.  He does this practically every weekend and I definitely don’t take it for granted.  I always wake up to the sound of my coffee mug being placed beside me on the nightstand.  Jon then heads back out into the kitchen to finish up breakfast or to clean up after the kids.
Major hubby points, for sure!
After some much needed R&R, we headed next door for a birthday party.
Henry loves parties…and cake…
He was REALLY taking in the moment…
I do the same thing when I eat.
After the party, we came home and I instantly remembered that Eliza had taken it upon herself to make a “hotel” in our family room.  Apparently, while we were next door, we did not receive turndown service.  Boo.

I made homemade pot pies that took me around two hours to make and then while they finished cooking, I headed over to a local boutique/market/barn with a friend of mine, Katy.
This place is only open one weekend a month.  I’ve been wanting to go since I first heard about it at the beginning of summer, but it never worked out; until yesterday.  You guys, I thought I’d be there for twenty minutes.  Nope.  We were inside this massive barn for well over an hour!
Oh my, my, my – I was feeling inspired!

I was loving everything so much and in complete awe over the owner’s talents that I ended up falling in love with a large buffet table.  Unfortunately, it had been sold and it was being transformed into a rabbit cage, for which I’m sure I showed visible disappointment upon hearing of such a transformation.  😉
Luckily the owner showed me a couple of other buffet tables and this one struck my fancy.  It wasn’t the instant love I felt over the first one, but the feeling was still there.  Long story short – I took a picture, came home and showed Jon, told him the price and that the owner would paint it for me and lo and behold, Jon said, “get it!”  My jaw dropped to the floor!  Oh my word, I was excited!  I can’t wait to display seasonal decor and photos on this piece!
So excited, you guys.  So excited!

I did buy a sign from the sale, as well, which I intend to display in our guest room.  I’ll have to get a picture of it and share it with all of you.  In the meantime, I’m going to be dreaming and researching more about paint colors for this pretty piece of furniture.  Also, I’ll be wrapping presents.  That’s a major goal of mine for the day.  Enjoy your Monday, friends!
Linking up with BLovedBoston for Weekending.

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