Christmas Cheer from the Pen of Santa Claude...

THE CHRISTENSEN FAMILY CHRONICLES

Circa 2012

On the upside, if the world ends on December 21, as scheduled, this is your last one of these approximately true newsletters.

Eagle Bend Achers - Crop Report 2012:  next topic…

 

Things That Are The Same: Uh, our names?

 

Things That Are New: Social Security Checks, the air conditioner (again), his suit, the technology used to produce this letter…

 

The Seniors – The year began as all good years do around here with the annual “Lord of the Rings” marathon on New Year’s Eve and morning.  For those who missed it last year, it’s a back-to-back big screen video Dolby stereo surround sound and food extravaganza not for the faint of heart and/or stomach.  The theory is if we can survive this everything from there on will be aces.  We have noted it’s taking a little longer to recover than it used to but once recovered we can officially begin the new year goofing-off adventures with confidence. These activities began in earnest on January 21st with our departure from these here parts to the Eastern Caribbean aka the Virgin Islands, with before and after stops in Puerto Rico. We jetted, jetted I tell you, down to San Juan to stroll the beach and walk the streets for a day or two prior to getting on the big white boat. Once settled aboard the good ship big bucks, we set sail for and visited such exotic places as St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, St. Maarten, and Old San Juan for another day or two after the cruise. Ate a lot of stuff we can't pronounce.

 

In February we celebrated, celebrated I tell you, our 42nd anniversary of not being single, can't remember what we did but I'm sure it was fun. In April one of us competed in the first annual Scott County beans and cornbread cook-off wherein all the Mayors and the County Judge Executive brought their best game (beans and cornbread) and vied by the coveted title of "best beaner". Not being one to drop names or "toot" my own horn but there is an engraved bean pot on my desk at City Hall that nobody else in the county has...April also saw us out at keenland with the Toyota folks to watch the Bluegrass Stakes races. No my horse did not win but thank you for asking, would you like to pour a little lemon juice in my paper cut?

 

May began as all Mays in Kentucky do, with the Kentucky Derby.  This year we booked tickets on the Belle of Cincinnati, one of the three participants in this year’s Great Steamboat Race.  We took my mom and her Dad along for entertainment.  Our boat lost the race but the Belle of Louisville cheated – standard practice I’m told at this race.  May also saw the first of several trips to count kids in Michigan, this one over Mother’s Day.  A good time was had and much food was consumed.  Part of us traveled with Chief Grandmonster KT to Utah in August, mostly for the fair and rodeo but also to tour the new Brigham City Temple, and yes, we checked on Grandma Bonnie and ate at the Oaks.

 

We celebrated Sandi’s big day this year by attending the “Pompeii” exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History.  A really interesting experience.  Additional cultural adventures this year include attending Glen Campbell’s farewell tour and seeing “Jersey Boys” in Louisville, not to mention multiple trips to Buckner Elementary to observe the two most talented kids in the school.  Also, Sandi is the new Queen Bee in the local Homemaker’s Club and is teaching religion to college kids every Thursday night.  Pa continues to lead Sadieville into the 19th century and serve on pretty much every board and committe in the county.  Through no fault of his own, December saw him elected as VP of Governmental Affairs and President-Elect of the County Chamber of Commerce – who knew…  Had a great birthday trip this year as well.  Sandi lined up a sleepover at the historic Boone Tavern in Berea, Ky.  We had a great down-home kind of meal and the discovered a place called Tater Knob Pottery WAY, and I do mean WAY (remember the movie Deliverance?) out in the country.  It took some hunting and exploring, but we finally found our way there.  Did I mention it’s out of the way? An understatement but it was more than a little interesting and capped off a great weekend.

 

Tyler & Thompson Inc… In what is for us a quick turn-around, we returned to Michigan for a trip in late June and early July where-in the Toddster and Nissa, two of our favorite offspring, took us on a guided tour of some of the best scenery to be had on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.  Ate smoked whitefish and salmon, took a boat out to see the Painted Cliffs, had sticky buns at a monastery, and generally did our best to leave the local economy in better shape than we found it.  While we did have to cut the trip a bit short, I’M JUST SURE THAT IF WE CAME BACK UP THERE THEY WOULD LOAD US UP AND HELP US FINISH THE TRIP…  The Michigan younglings are all doing good and making their respective ways toward adulthood.  Paul is wrestling (on purpose this time) at school and running track and the Aubster is delving into the performing arts.  I’m told both attend class from time to time as well.  KT is finishing up at the local college and is everybody’s favorite associate at Office Max.

 

Marx & Co.  – Lost count of the trips to LaGrange to protect our kids from their kids.  No regrets though, as each visit was filled with adventure and either BBQ or pizza.  All is well there in the land northward (from Louisville).  While their parents are aging at a much faster rate than are their kids life seems good.  In November, Pilot PA took Hayden up with him on his most recent flying escapade.  The boy did well and enjoyed giving instructions to the tower through his headset and observing all of the “little houses and cars” out of the window as we buzzed over Louisville and a little bit of Indiana (probably going to have to do that again).  Princess Bailey loves her new school and seems to have her classmates pretty much in line with her way of thinking.  She and the little professor seem to like going to school, just not the getting up to go part.  Mom is overactive in local schoolish and baking activities, and is even substitute teaching some these days.  Dad continues to be the cutest soccer ref in the southeastern region soccer circuit when not otherwise Inn-keeping at the Hyatt.

 

Jacob Ltd. – The “J-man” enjoyed some professional progress this year.  His employer realized what a slice of heaven it is having him work there and bumped him up a notch or two in the food chain.  He continues to write, read, and blog, attend the various theatrical productions in the area, check in with the home team from time to time, and explore the out-of-doors assets in central Michigan.  He escorted his aging parents to a production of “Ebenezer”, written by a friend of his, in Williamston, Michigan, in December, scoring “present of the year” honors this year, at least so far.  He even managed to sneak in a vacation and a camping trip or two, not to mention scoring a VIP trip to the NASA flight center.

 

Okey Dokey, two pages and WE’RE OUTTA HERE!  Thanks for hanging in there; it speaks well for your ability to concentrate.  We hope you had the kind of year you wanted.  Now, please go overindulge on something and enjoy the Holiday Season.  Don’t worry about us, we have a plan…

The Christensen’s !!!

A 'Monumental' Task...

My mom passed away July 6th. We went to the cemetery Saturday, July 7th to sign papers allowing them to open the grave for her funeral on July 10th. While at the cemetery on the 7th, we were told that, since my parents already paid for their marker, it was in storage and would be set and ready within a few weeks. 

The marker did not appear.

After a phone call, the next time we went to visit mom grave, we found a temporary marker with a white labeling strip on it with a man's name. We had no idea who the man was and I was not at all happy his name labeled my mother's grave.

I called and complained and asked when my mother's marker would be in place. A man told me some line about the bronze needing to be polished or rebronzed or something and that could take a month. I waited a month and called again as the temporary marker was still on there with a man' s name on it.

I told Ginny at the cemetary this temporary marker with another person's name on it was in bad taste and just plain tacky. I told her my mother's name should be on her grave, even it was a temporary marker. Ginny then began to actually research to find out what the problem was.

It turns out there was a piece paper the marker company needed a signature on when the marker was first paid for and ordered. That paper was never returned to the marker company so they assumed the marker order was canceled. The cemetery never followed up and, in reality, no marker was ever made, never in storage, never sent to be re-bronzed, it was not even in process. I was not a happy camper.

Ginny then got me a proof of what the marker should look like. I reviewed it and my father's name was misspelled. I called Ginny and told her that proof would not work and why. She assured me she would get me another proof. One week later I still had no other proof.

I called Ginny, complained and received a new proof which I was able to approve. I asked Ginny when the marker would be in place. She said it would take no longer than two months. I noted the date as December 8th which was a Saturday. To give the benefit of the doubt, I put Monday, December 10th as the next day to call Ginny in my Blackberry.

Somewhere in all these phone calls I did manage to impress enough on Ginny the need to get my mother's name on that temporary marker so that she actually went out to the grave, scraped off the man's name and added a new white labeling strip with my mother's name. In my opinon the white labeling tape is still a tacky, tacky, tacky way to do business but at least mom's grave was identified with her name.  

Friday, December 7th, Claude and I stopped at the cemetery on our way to La Grange. No marker.  My blood pressure was through the roof.

Monday, December 10th, I called and asked to speak with Ginny. She was not there. They connected me with her cell phone. I expressed my frustration at their lack of ability to get the marker on my mother's grave. Ginny assured me she would check on the situation and then call me back that afternoon. At 3:47 that afternoon I still had not heard from Ginny. I called her. She explained that she was not in the office and would check on it and call me back as soon as she knew something on Tuesday.

Tuesday, December 11th I was out most of the day. I had given Ginny my cell phone number again so she could call at anytime. I never received a call. I headed to Frankfort to the cemetery at the end of my day. I went first to the gravesite and noted for sure there was still no marker. Then I made a beeline for the office. That poor receptionist. I never raised my voice but he could tell it was controlled anger facing him. I stated I wanted to speak with Ginny. She was not in. She had been in the morning but was not there now. I explained she was to call me and I had received no call that day. He got Ginny on the phone and told her I was standing in the office. She gave him instructions as to what to tell me. The men were digging graves that day and had not had time to check the warehouse for my mother's marker. Not acceptable to me. She told him to assure me she would address the situation Wednesday and call me back. REALLY!?!?

After Ginny got off the phone I asked the receptionist who her supervisor was. He told me it was Tom DeLuca and he was the manager of the cemetery. I gave the receptionist my name and all my phone numbers and told him I wanted to speak with Mr. DeLuca Wednesday morning since the receptionist has assured me he was in some kind of training meetings off site that day. I only barely believe that.

Then I concluded by telling the receptionist that I planned to go home and contact Ryan Quarles and Damon Thayer my state congressman and senator to find the right person with whom to file a complaint. I told the receptionist he should tell this to Ginny and Mr. DeLuca. Then I assured the receptionist that I was using every fibre of my being to remain calm and try to be nice about this but it was ridiculous that a marker was paid for in September 2008 in total and after a July 10th burial there should be a marker on my mother's grave before December the 11th. There was no excuse for this process being so very messed up. He agreed. I left fuming.

I did come home and sent messages to Ryan and Damon.

This morning (Wednesday) I received a call from Ginny. The marker was there and would be set in place this afternoon. I told Ginny this was a good thing and that I would be there this afternoon to see the new marker. With a lot of surprise in her voice, Ginny said she wasn't sure what time in the afternoon. I told her I would be there and be sure it was set and right in the afternoon.

I called Papa and invited him to come with me after we went to the nursing home for our Wednesday afternoon program. We would go check the marker and then have a nice dinner together. He was very happy with this idea. I found myself worrying the entire way over that we would get there, it wouldn't be set and I would explode in front of him. My joy after arriving at mom's grave and finding the right marker, with everything spelled correctly and her flowers moved from the temporary marker to the permanent one was overflowing.  Papa looked at it and was so very happy. He did not remembered picking out the little piece that said 'Together Forever'. I assured him he did that in 2008 when we went and picked out the plots and the markers. He was very content to see the grave with a proper marker.

I stayed with Papa as long as he wanted to stay. It was getting cold and we were feeling it a bit when we left.

We were headed to Zaxby's for dinner in Frankfort. When we pulled in and got out of my car, I noticed two young men in black suits with white shirts. Hmmmm...me thinks they might be missionaries. We hurried in and, sure enough, they were missionaires. I quickly asked if I could purchase their dinner. They were happy about that. Then they joined us to eat and chat. It was an added blessing for Papa to have young men to talk with.

We ended up have a wonderful afternoon and evening. The 'monumental' task is complete. At least until I have to get them to put the plate on with Papa's death date. Maybe that will go smoother.

Our Halls Are Decked...

We finally have all the decorations complete for this year's Christmas.

I did the inside, as usual. My problem is the tree is full of lights and they overheat and cut off. I have a plan to fix that but for now the lights are off. I even purchased the candy this week and have filled the candy tree dish with peanut M&M's, stuck the gum drops on the gum drop tree, filled the nut basket with peanuts to shell and I have Tootsie Rolls to put on the advent calendar.  We save that for the grandmonsters to eat so it is not necessary to have it ready on December first.

Claude managed to get the lights up outside. The first day he had to work on them he found all his strings of white icicle lights for the front of the house, except for a couple of stands, would not work. He had to stop at Walmart on the way home from his meeting that night to purchase more. He managed to get them on the front of the house, the wreaths on the front of the house, the icicle lights, snow people and train on the back of the house. Then he had to quit and was not able to complete the front until this week.

Monday it rained all day so no decorating could take place then. 

Monday night I ended up in the guest bedroom during the night when I couldn't sleep. When I woke up Tuesday morning, I found my book I'm reading and curled up in bed to read quietly so Claude could sleep a little later. I never heard him get up at all.

I was curled up on the guest bedroom bed reading and heard a scratching noise. It sounded a lot like having the squirrels in the attic part of our townhome in Maryland years ago. Not a pleasant sound. I paused my reading then looked out the window and saw nothing. The noise stopped. This happened a couple of times.  It appeared when I moved my book to my lap and looked up the noise would stop. Could there really be a critter in my walls that could see my movement? I started to read again and then the noise was louder. I looked up and the tree with white lights in the flower bed under the guest bedroom windows was moving a little. Now...I should have remembered that Claude had not been able to do that part of the outside decoration...but I didn't. I just looked at the little movement on that tree and though something looked odd. Then I realized not one of the trees in my neighbors yards were moving. That was odd. I left my book in my lap and watched for a bit and that tree began to really move around and lean to the side. The noise was louder now. I then determined something must be in the flower bed taking down our tree. I got up from the bed and went to the window to scare off whatever was messing with our decorations. When, what to my wondering eyes should appear but...Santa Claude!! He was outside putting up the rest of the front yard decorations which included that tree. Silly Moi!!

I quickly got dressed and went outside to help Claude complete his project. Many hands make the work go faster.

This year the front of house will again only have white lights that include the two little deer, a tree, 5 snowflakes and 5 little fir trees and lights in the ivy over the water meter. And, to my absolute delight, a nativity scene. I found one in a catalog and ordered all the pieces available. Claude set up a flood light to shine on it. The front our home is beautiful. (These pictures were taken during the day.)

The back of the house is full of colored lights.

There was one thing bothering Claude about the front. He really wanted something in the corner between the garage and the back of the front porch. I was not sure about adding more. This morning Claude made a confession. He purchased something and made a unilateral decision to add it to our decorations. They are actually wall hangings like wreaths but in a cluster formation with greens and red ribbon. He has attached them to the lights on either side of the garage door and they are beautiful and tasteful and something I would have chosen myself. Yeah Claude! As I left home this morning, I was touched by my tough cowboy hubby and his sentiment about his Christmas decorations. As much as he complains about it, he really wants it to look just right too. Neat!

Now the other item in our decorations can be attributed to Andie. She purchased this for herself and Claude was smitten with the idea for him. He mentioned it to Andie last year and never got the items for himself. This year he voiced interest again, Andie listened and noted his interest and found and purchased it for him. Here 'tis...

Yep, folks we have Rudolph the Red Nosed Jeep. Claude is now pondering how to give it a smile. It is grand to be old and foolish when no one can do anything about it. He had his payoff Sunday when he took the Jeep to Owingsville. A little kid noticed it and was over joyed at it. Claude was happy.

On a cute side note: Our next door neighbor has a yard laden with bright lights and Christmas stuff. Their front porch is full of a tree, a snow monster and lots of other things. My goodness they even have Yoda complete with Santa hat and light sabre all lit up. All of these lights and she posted on Facebook  "Spike just went crazy barking his head off. My next door neighbor put up lighted deer. I guess they caught Spike off guard. LOL" Cracked me up. All their lights and our little deer caught Spike off guard. More Christmas silliness in the neighborhood.

So our halls are decked and all will be in working order when I fix the Christmas tree lights tomorrow. Bring on Christmas!!  

A 'Mini' Vacation...

Thursday, December 6th was the final Institute class for the fall semester. What to do, what to do, now that I don't have to prepare a lesson for a few weeks...hmmmm...I know! We'll take a Mini vacation!! That's right folks, when you are so worn out you need a break you should volunteer to watch the two youngest grandmonsters overnight. That is just guaranteed to put all things back in perspective.

Friday morning Claude had a meeting in Georgetown. I had some errands in Georgetown. We packed our gear and I drove him into Georgetown in my car and dropped my Big Guy off at the curb. Then I headed to K-Mart. I found many things I'm sure I needed on some level. Then it was off to Papa's to drop off some thing. I can't even remember what but I'm sure that was important as well. Then I stopped in the Family Dollar store just to see what they had and picked up a couple of items to entertain the Mini's. Then it was off to find a parking space on Main Street in Georgetown and await the arrival of my honey. United Bank had just the spot.

As I sat in this spot and pondered which of the many things I brought to entertain myself if Claude's meeting ran long (which it did), I realized I was sitting right in front of The Country Peddler. One of the items I was looking for was something Christmasy to hang on my bird house chain on the front porch. I wandered this quaint little store and finally found the perfect thing, a big deep red bell. Now I could go to my car and peacefully work on a project I brought to entertain myself.

Claude's meeting ran a bit longer and I enjoyed my quiet time in my car on Main Street.  When he arrived we headed to Frankfort for lunch. Then off to LaGrange to be there before the Mini's school bus arrived.

It was a rainy day so Claude drove me to the corner of the kids street to meet the bus. We loaded the Mini's in the car and drive back to the Marx garage.

The Mini's were allowed to each watch a show and have an after school snack. Then we settled down for a serious game of 'Trouble'. This was a little game I picked up at K-Mart and it was simple enough Bailey could play on her own. Andie was able to stay out and finish her shopping before coming home to get ready for her Mom's Club Christmas party.

Bailey entertained herself playing with my camera. I just love this self-portrait. I really think it looks like a hippie from the 60's.

I crocheted the beginning to a bunch of the granny squares I need for a new baby blanket. Since the yarn changes colors on each row, there were a lot of ends to be tied in before I start the next rows. Bailey took this picture of my hands at work. Then she took the pieces I finished and made an octopus out of them.

The Mini's DVR's the new movie about Sofia, the newest Disney princess. Claude got us pizza for dinner. Andie returned and began preparing her items to contribute as food for the Mom's Club party.

I purchased little workbooks for each of the kids at the Family Dollar Store. We spent some time playing in those. I also purchased some Christmas ornaments to paint. Bailey painted her four and left two for Hayden.

We ended our day with the movie about Santa and his father and two sons and the change in transportation from the sleigh to the space ship. I believe it had the name Arthur in it. It was a cute movie.  The Mini's were quite worn out and gave us absolutely no issues with getting them tucked into bed.

Saturday morning the Mini's actually waited a while before they knocked on the wall for me to get up and come play. So cute. I really wanted to get up as soon as I heard them but I know that their ability to entertain themselves on a Saturday morning can be important for a mom and dad so I didn't want to stop the Mini's skills in this area.

I joined them and we quietly tiptoed downstairs so Claude and Andie could sleep a little longer.

The Mini's wanted to watch their Princess Sofia movie and, in the interest of keeping the house quiet, I said that was a great idea. I worked on my crocheted squares and they watched the movie at my sides.

One thing that had to be done in the morning was find this year's 'Elf on the Shelf'. Last year he was named Chippy. This year he is named Harry George. How did he get such a name?  Hayden chose Harry for Harry Potter. Bailey chose George from George of the Jungle. Hence, this years elf is Harry George. He was found in the toy room playing a game with Spiderman.

Andie came downstairs later and made a nice breakfast for everyone. Then it was time to play again.  Pa (Claude) entertain the Mini's with wrestling. This was much appreciated since Michael is usually the provider of all wrestling matches and he was out-of-town. Please note the look on Hayden's face versus the look on Claude's face in this picture. Priceless!!

Bailey was super happy that I let her cut herself a length of my yarn for her necklace. We tied all her painted Christmas ornaments  with the yarn and she had a grand necklace to wear.

Andie is a mom full of projects. She had two for her children Saturday morning. The first was to find that box of candy canes left over from last year. Candy canes located, she turned the oven on to a very low temperature, lined a cookie sheet with parchment paper and placed the candy canes on it. The fun was unwrapping these aged candy canes. After they heated a bit they became soft and bendable. Hayden and Andie made letters and the kids enjoyed a bit of a sugar high.

Bailey determined she needed to be wrapped with ribbon like a package, carried through the house, and delivered to me as a gift. The person to perform this service for her was her Pa. It was so amusing to observe. Bailey was dressed in her dragon costume. Mind you they started this project with Pa laying on the loveseat and Bailey standing beside. Then they moved Pa to the floor with Bailey standing beside giving specific instructions on the process. The ribbon fell off and they had to make her a package again. Then Claude had to get up and carry Bailey around the mail level and deposit her with me. Such a production and so much movement for Pa. Can you say, "wrapped around her little finger"?? 

Andie's second project for the morning was taking pipe cleaners, cutting them into 3 pieces each, letting the kids twist them together into a star-like shape and then suspending them in a heated Borax solution. They were then placed on the window sill to be very still for 24 hours. By then the crystals should form around the pipe cleaners and made beautiful snowflakes, which the Marx's will put in their back windows. That Borax solution was also colored with different colors of food coloring the Mini's chose.

 At some point in the afternoon, I determined I should probably get dressed. I headed upstairs, made our bed and changed clothes. When I peeked in Bailey's bedroom I found her Daisy Girl Scout vest on her horse. 

We had a late lunch with the Mini's and Andie followed by Claude trying to take a brief nap before our drive back to Sadieville. Bailey determined she needed to be there as well. She scrunched into her end of the sofa and made herself comfortable and told Claude he needed to move up a little on his end so she had more room. Goodness. Such a girl. 

We finished our visit with a game of Apples to Apples.  We had a great 'Mini' vacation.

A Pleasant Day at Pleasant Hill...

Outside of Harrodsburg, Kentucky is the community of Pleasant Hill where Shaker Village is located. The Shakers were a religious community that lived in families in this beautiful piece of countryside. They did not believe in marriage but men and women made up their families. They would have a men's side of the house and a women's side of the house. The same with the meeting house (church). They are the group from which we get the lovely piece of music "Simple Gifts". There are no Shakers living there now. However, the community has been restored and it is a fascinating place to visit.

Each year our Countryside Homemaker's Club goes somewhere very nice for lunch and we try to include a shopping or sight-seeing adventure with this lunch date. This year, as the president of our club, I suggested we go to Shaker Village for lunch. The ladies all agreed that would be a great outing. It is only about an hour from our home. So we had the added bonus of a nice ride in the Kentucky countryside.

December 5th we met at my home and collected the canned goods each lady brought for the Soup Kitchen in Georgetown. In the past we have exchanged ornaments. This year, instead of exchanging ornaments, we determined we would all donated to the Soup Kitchen. I gave each lady a Christmas treat and Charlotte Archer, our vice president, made each of us a crocheted scarf. There were only eight that ended up being able to go so we divided us between Charlotte's car and mine and we headed out to Pleasant Hill with Charlotte in the lead.

Janet and I got to talking and I completely missed my turn into Lexington. My car was on automatic pilot to go and teach Institute. We made a U-turn and went back to the correct exit off I-64 and we were on our way again. 

Janet and I got talking again. As we approached Versailles Road I remembered the instructions saying something about the Martha Layne Collins Parkway. I took Versailles Road just in case as Janet quickly tried to read the directions. We should have gone down one more exit to Harrodsburg Road off New Circle. Goodness. Well, I determined we would go on down and take Man-O'War across to Harrodsburg Road instead of turning around again. That worked out fine and soon we were headed the right direction on Harrodsburg Road. 

By this time we had completely lost Charlotte and her car of ladies but I knew we would all meet up at Shaker Village so I was not worried about that in the least.

As you near Shaker Village there is place where Hwy. 68 veers to the right. Janet and I thought that was the way we should go. Elaine, Janet's mom, was riding in the back seat and really felt we should have gone straight. I made another U-turn and went back to the gas station at that fork in the road. Janet went in and they confirmed we had been going to correct way. Back onto Hwy. 68 we headed and on to Shaker Village.

Unbeknownst to me Charlotte's car full of ladies had grown concerned about not seeing my car full of ladies. They had pulled over to the side of the road somewhere to wait for us. They actually called City Hall to get my cell phone number for Cindy, our city clerk. Claude was at City Hall with Cindy and knew about the call when Cindy asked him my cell phone number. The ladies were trying not to worry Claude by calling Cindy instead of Claude. That plan didn't work for them but I truly don't think Claude worried about me a bit. He knows I can pretty much find my way around and have done so many trips across country by myself. The ladies saw us zip past them on Hwy. 68 somewhere and knew we were okay.

My car made it to Shaker Village. We found a white SUV with UK stickers and license plate on it and we assumed that was Charlotte. So I pulled in beside her only to have Charlotte's SUV pull in after us and park behind us. Geez!!  We all had a laugh about our adventure getting to Shaker Village.

Lunch would be at the Trustee's Office Dining Room.

It was a beautiful buffet lunch with so many good home cooking foods. We all ate till we were full and then asked one of the servers to take our picture beside one of their Christmas trees.

Our next stop was at the craft shop just outside the Trustee's Office Dining Room. Our ticket for lunch included 10% off at the gift shops. We also enjoyed a ride on the Jingle Bell Sleigh down the main street of the village.

 

We headed to our cars and determined we were going to the main entrance and see if the big gift shop at the main entrance was open. It was and more purchases were made.

 

Then we all headed back to Sadieville. It was a lovely afternoon with delightful ladies and good food and fun.