Happy Monday all! I hope you had a great weekend and maybe got some of that holiday shopping done if you're not an early bird.
Last year was the first year we cut off a few of our Christmas traditions and I'm talking ones we'd been doing for either quite a few years or decades. One place we both went to as kids have a candlelight ceremony and it used to be an old-fashioned village with plenty of charm and their show had local foreign exchange students share their Christmas traditions. Over the past five years, we kept saying "that may be our last one" but could never bear to pull the plug because...tradition. Two years ago when Santa showed up drunk and the village had made its transformation to modern... we were done. Another tradition was a light show we'd only been going to for about five years but their program never changed and parents continuing not to parent made sticking around for it a take it or leave it affair so last year we left it. I was researching what was within road tripping distance for us for a long weekend and found Holiday Nights in Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. It looked just like the old-fashioned village we used to love but way better. I knew there would be crowds but I wanted to do something different and homey and since Vermont was out this year, I asked the Mr if he was down and he was as well. I was excited to see not too far away was Kerrytown where a few of our favorite Traverse City stops like Cherry Republic and Spice Merchants had locations. Spice Merchants tea is friggin' AMAZING and if you like caramel type teas, get their Creme Brulee, the Mr's favorite. Mine is their Earl Grey so far but I still have a few to plow through. Their shipping is super reasonable too so give them a peep!
We went out for pizza and grabbed some breakfast (donuts okay, we got donuts) so we needed milk because I wasn't paying $5 for a glass of milk from the hotel. We went to Walmart and decided to grab some toys for Toys for Tots. We passed a box in the lobby on our way out and had fun picking stuff out.
We dropped them off and I got right to my PT. You know you're a gimp when you travel with your own therapy office.
The next day I wanted to explore Detroit before our night at Greenfield so we saw the downtown and some of the sights from the opening of one of my old faves, Hung. (Affiliate link) Do yourself a favor when you get home and look up Hung Opening Credits on YouTube and thank me later. (NSFW) One of the shots was Ray starting to undress by this fountain.
Hart Plaza was actually quite beautiful. I'll tell you more about it in another post. My legs started waving the white flag big time. I knew if I didn't stop I wasn't going to be able to do the whole reason we came so we went back to the hotel. We watched Santa Clause 2 (affiliate link) and I did some treatments and rolling on my leg. I knew it was gonna be ugly though. Then we took a nap, the Mr massaged some knots out of my legs and we got ready to roll.
It opened at 6:30pm and we were serenaded by carolers in old-timey garb.
It was SOOO crowded and everyone was making a beeline to the different areas. We just kind of went where there were fewer people and enjoyed saying Merry Christmas to the Victorian dressed 'town folk' which sadly these days are the only people that will say it to you unprovoked or not hiss at you that not everyone celebrates it so you should be tarred and feathered in public. I digress.
Horse carriages are my favorite and we reminisced about how they have always been a part of our life. We rode in one in Chicago our first time there and was nothing like hearing the clip-clop as we rode along. Then he proposed to me in one. We rode them in Chicago again, Memphis, New York City, and of course, Vermont last year for our first sleigh ride. So it was no surprise we sat to admire their horsies.
The 4 miles we walked definitely took their toll and we closed the place down.
We got back yesterday about 5pm and then it was straight downstairs with me to do my workout and some rolling and stretching whilst the Mr caught up on the DVR. Then straight into the kitchen for like 3 hours to bake and package his mom's cookies for our day date today. By the end of the night, I was basically crippled so walking today should be interesting.
I'll report more details when I'm not a zombie. I'm a pooped arse pup!
What did y'all do this weekend?
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Sounds like a great romantic getaway!
ReplyDeleteMy friend and I had our annual Christmas dinner at a yummy restaurant. I just Love that tradition. After years of exchanging wine and candles, she suggested a great dinner instead and we've been doing it ever since. I'm sure the waitress was tapping her foot during our 2 hour gabfest! We had our annual girls Christmas party and gift exchange. It's one of those that you play a game and steal gifts. We both made out good Ma and I for once. Yesterday I got my tree and got the lights on. I took my "little" to a Christmas parade and had her over to decorate stockings. Fast weekend. This unseasonably warm weather is preventing me from getting in holiday mode! Oh I must get clicking on shopping!
Have a great week!
Now that sounds like an awesome weekend as well! What fun traditions! I know what you mean about the weather. They claim it's going to turn soon but I'll believe it when I see it.
DeleteYour weekend sounds great and cozy! (except for your leg giving you problems). We went to "Christmas at Joanna Furnace"--an old iron furnace here in south central Pennsylvania. Huge bonfire, Victorian dancers, old-timey decor, lots of delicious food, live nativity, animals, wagon rides and even the Belsnickle made an appearance! (A sort of PA Dutch Santa Claus--but kind of not always as jolly--back "in the day" he handed out candy to good children, but the naughty children got the switch (which he carries on his back). I think mostly kids (back then) were terrified of him (even if they were good). But the furnace's Belsnickle was, of course, very nice. It was very quaint and lovely.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like lots of fun. I missed out on a really cool old timey event this weekend here because I didn't know about it until after. D'oh. Serves me right not reading the local paper when it's delivered, sometimes there are important things there. Oh well, I will put it on my calendar to start checking on mid-November next year.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise... my folks were here, I got a lot done around the house while they had some grandparent time w/ my son, got my tree up and strung some lights in my kitchen. I like those so well I might just leave them up all year. (or will I just be too lazy to take them down?) I went with a tiny (3 feet tall maybe) real tree this year instead of my 6' artificial one and I am really happy with my choice.
I did have to laugh about "Christmas shopping for those of you that aren't early birds". Yeah, I have barely started. I need to get clicking, or decide to take a day off work in the next 3 weeks and go shopping. I wish people would be really really specific for me in telling me what they want. I kind of wish you could register for Christmas/birthdays the way you do for weddings and baby showers.
I had a great weekend with you, as always. It was neat just seeing people ride around in model T's, Santa calling out kids names for making the nice list and drinking hot cocoa and people watching. It was sad that the only people who would spread the holiday cheer were the ones paid and/or volunteering to do so, but I still saw nothing but happy faces - especially yours while petting the horses, so it was worth the trip indeed!
ReplyDeleteI'm fighting the everlasting crud so I have accomplished very little holiday related tasks. My trees are up and partially decorated and that's about it. Your weekend looks much more fun!
ReplyDeleteWhere are all these anti Merry Christmas folks I keep hearing about. I've never run into one. In the PC 90s there was some preaching about it but a bunch of Rabis and Imans said they have no objection to having folks wish them a merry Xmas. Stores switched to Happy Holidays to be inclusive but when they start in October and go through January, Happy Holidays is more appropriate. Heck, they way they run sales these days with Labor Day running to Halloween running to Veterans Day, etc, stores should just greet people all year long with "Happy Holidays!"
And thus ends MY rant ;)
What a lovely weekend you had! The pics are so pretty and it looks like you had perfect weather, too! So glad you got away and enjoyed yourselves!
ReplyDeleteMy weekend was getting my hair done, going on some drives in the warm weather, and tackling some house stuff. No decorating. Today I was on the go for four hours (my to-do list had 26 items) so it is now mid-afternoon and I'm just logging on. LOL It's in the 60's today and will drop to the 20's by tonight. And snow later this week....