Fa La La La La -- My Kind of Shopping

 

Unless you love Walmart, shopping can be limited in a small town these days. So, holidays present an opportunity for the local churches to get in on the Christmas tradition of good cheer and spending money. I love to shop at these. They have unique gifts, support the local economy, and there is a sweet spirit there that is nothing at all like Black Friday shopping in the chain stores.

They have all sorts of names. "Bazaar" is kind of an old-fashioned one, but still popular in the older churches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of the traditional items are made by the older ladies of the church. They get together all year long to stitch and sew, share news and "have coffee." (Having coffee always involves baked goods.)

My mom is one of these ladies.

 

 

She helps with quilts like these.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I liked this one a lot, and I think my grandsons would, too. They do love quilts. Fortunately (because they cost a lot of money) there were only two and I have four grandsons, so they stayed on the rack for someone else to take home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are always some Minnesota items, for sending to those poor unfortunates who have moved elsewhere, or gone South for the winter. Poor things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I bought a zebra puppet for a certain tiny boy. There were about 10 choices when I started making my decision but they were being snatched up so fast, I just grabbed the zebra before they were all gone. He'll love it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I bought some of these for myself, including several kinds of milkweed for the Monarch butterflies.

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of men hanging out here. They succumbed to the smell of coffee and cinnamon. That and shopping fatigue, I think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And in case you have any money left, you can't get out the door without passing all this! It included all the Norwegian Christmas traditions like rosettes and krumkake, and everyone leaving seemed to have a plate of something in one hand.

 

 

 

 

 

I actually bought several more things, but family and friends read my blog and I don't want to give away any of Santa's surprises. Wink, wink.

 

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