village shopping

this afternoon, a friend and i meandered into a charming but unfamiliar community, a remote village filled with old new england houses and old country stores yet bustling with holiday merriment and christmas cheer. we shopped craft fair booths set up in small spaces and bought homemade soaps and jellies, handmade beaded items, unusual toys and books, and christmas paperwhites and amarylis from local garden club members who offered their methods to force them into christmas bloom. in the basement of the methodist church, at long tables set in red and green, we had a lunch of seafood corn chowder, a warm roll, and spicy gingerbread, all made by the women's club for a price of under five dollars. there were smiles and greetings as folks passed us on the road and there was just enough snow on the ground to make it feel festive. it was the perfect pre-christmas experience - and it was way better than the mall.