Damn, should have taken a photo of the road going into town - white, like the ground and the trees. Now it's slate-grey again, after the snowplow and the sand and the salt.
I went to town to a community Christmas noon meal put on by the community in general - food, presents, entertainment, cooking and serving all provided by various businesses and individuals. It's free, but donations welcomed from those who can (I can and did).
I went with my friend Frank, handyman and sled-dog wrangler.
My friend's hand at right-bottom, making off with cheese
This picture accidentally caught someone I haven't seen for ages (for good reason).
My table. (I'm not there - I'm taking the pic.)
The location is the top floor of what once was a felt mill, back in the days when actual things were made in these parts. (And people used felt - for hats??)
View of timbered ceiling.
Downstairs is a shoppe of garden and decor stuff, a coffee shop, art gallery, hairdresser, lawyers, etc...
Cozy fireplace and Christmas tree.
Cold parking lot outside, plus backsides of some of the solid, rather grim granite buildings the early Scots settlers were so fond of.
Santa was in attendance, of course
And some of his helpers. (Frank had his dishes cleared by his doctor!)
There were a number of *Christmas Sweaters*, which I understand are a joke fad these days. I think the ones at this event, and their accessories, were worn unironically.
The event was blessed by some kind of holy man
Entertainment. The trio alternated with a pianist and singer leading Christmas carols.
Vegetables were very good. Chopped coleslaw with purple & green cabbage with apple (that pinkish stuff at the close end) was nice, and steamed beans & peppers, sweet potato, mashed potato, stuffing...and the usual rather tasteless turkey.
That may look like a non-WASPish hot red pepper, but it's just a piece of regular red - optical illusion. Come to think of it, the green bean beside it looks like one of those lethal li'l green peppers. No such luck. Good tho.
Desserts waiting for after we eat our veggies.
My friend saved some skin and scraps for his dog.
I took home my pie-crust for mine.
There were door prizes. My friend won a $25 certificate from a grocery, to his delight. I (sniff) didn't win anything. At the end we checked the bottom of our chairs - if you had a sticker, you could take home the centre-piece. Neither the winner nor anyone else at our table wanted it, so Frank (he'll take anything - I gotta do a post on his place one of these days) took it.
Some cedar, of which he has no shortage, some fake ivy, some cranberries and a bunch of bath beads.
I ate lightly because I was figuring to do it all again in the evening in another town with my daughter - who couldn't face a big meal at noon. Too bad - cuz when I got back home and checked with the evening place, it wasn't doin' it this year. AND later on this evening I heard it was snowing pretty hard and the driving had deteriorated. So just as well.
P.S. - Two of the three people I saw there who occasionally attend my full-moon circles are pictured, plus another Pagan. We're everywhere! Infiltrating your Christian events! Reclaiming our trees and feasts (and nice woolly sweaters)!
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Comments
Me'n Tink'll remember that......(*sniff, sniff*)
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Thanks for posting memories for me.
HUGGGGGGGGGG
And thank goodness you are. This was one of the most delightful things I've read in a long time. I wish I had been there and I'd have taken the centerpiece if Frank didn't want it.
Can't wait until you do a post on his place.
Pie crust in a doggie bag for the dog. Ha !
Linda - Lanark County says "pie"? Actually, there's a bakeshop in Balderson that produces truly wonderful (homemade) pie. Since I have to drive by there a lot, I am frequently tempted...
Zanelle - yup! (gotta make the most of winter when it's inevitable...)
Margaret - I got pix for the ultimate Frank post. A cold-weather project.
Joan H - haha.
Jonathan - thanx
Phyllis - there's still a fair amount of small-town feeling around here. You might note from the photos that it's old-timers mostly. In due time the custom might fade. Already the second one I was headed for has stopped - it's in a cutesy tourist town with fewer old people.
Linnnn - it's a mystery. (Seriously, it may come from cooking long before and just heating up for the occasion.)
Michael - hah, I like the contrast between weird ayahuasca ceremony couple nights ago and this wonderfully wholesome event.
yeah, Mary - they feed lots of people who can't afford it, deliver to housebound, ferry can-hardly-walk types to the place. Nice Christmas day for folks. (Can't eat a sermon.)
AKA - soggy crust, unwanted carbs: dog appreciates. If it had been a pie from shop in comment to Linda, he'd be lucky to get crumbs...
Good times!
Lezlie