Scattered Thoughts . . .

After the cider mill early in the morning, then the train show late in the morning (my previous blog entry), and then lunch at The Olive Garden, we brought the kids to one of their favorite places... The Christmas Loft! There isn't much to explain when it comes to why the kids enjoy visiting The Christmas Loft... it is a place where it is Christmas all year long and they are kids... it really is a no-brainer! Of course, I don't mind visiting this store either since the Christmas season is my favorite time of year as well. We seem to visit this store a few times each year and we purchase a few things each time we visit.  The kids excitedly walk through every room of this sprawling store but, worth mentioning, is the mini Dickens-like village at the core of this large store. The kids are always fascinated with this kid-sized village and they always seem to find something new in this village with each subsequent visit.  It is safe to say that everyone enjoyed this visit

The weather was rather miserable on Saturday this past weekend so we had to change plans.  We had planned to take the grandchildren on a cruise on the Spirit of Ethan Allen but not in this miserable weather we were experiencing on this day. The cruise would have to wait for another day... preferably a beautiful day of sunshine. Instead, we surprised the kids with a last minute change of plans and brought them to The Christmas Loft.  We visited The Christmas Loft with the kids last September and they loved it. Sheila and I knew we wanted to return before this Christmas too and the weather helped us choose to visit again this past Saturday. You can't sneak him past any trains... this particular one is hard to miss though... Kenzie is always drawn to anything pink... This airplane's prop spins and "Merry Christmas" is projected on the prop blades as the prop spins... Little Rodney Dangerfield... More trains

After a few hours at 'Shelburne Farms' the other day, we were all quite hungry so we headed to 'The Olive Garden' for lunch. After filling ourselves with chain-restaurant pasta, we surprised the kids by bringing them to one of our favorite stores, 'The Christmas Loft'. On this very hot September day, Christmas may very well have been the day farthest from their minds but, as we entered the darkened barn-like building, they were excited to be suddenly immersed in Christmas and a Christmas village. The center of this large store is a Christmas village... a church... shops... homes... a bridge... snowbanks... snowmen... sledding... snowflakes... snow... lamp posts and lanterns... animated figures... and the sounds of a Christmas village on Christmas night. I think Kenzie would have been happy to just sit on the bench in the middle of this village and just sit quietly in wonder! Surrounding this village is room after room of Christmas decorations. Each r