Sunday, November 23, 2014

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.

 

15 comments:

  1. Cynthia your shopping is lovely. At my place there is only possibility big shoping malls,.What a pity we don't have traditions in big cities homemade items by the old ladies.I believe in small town it is possible but not here.. Norwegian food loks delicious like Polish one..

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  2. And you didn't forget about your garden. But what about your cat Rosie? Does she usually get something unique for Christmas?

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    1. Rosie is a minimalist cat. She wants her kibble and my lap and nothing else interests her much!

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  3. A much better way to shop than going in the large stores. I am in Manchester at the moment and will be taking my Mother to do her Xmas shopping tomorrow. Wish me luck!

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  4. Oh I would love to have been there! I used to sell my bonnets and aprons and dolls at a local church when they had their craft fair. Handmade items are so pretty and so different.

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  5. It looks like a traditional Minnesota Christmas Bazaar! Love those embroidered dish towels...those are real keepers! :)

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  6. That is great that you have a place like that to shop in. All things look good. The ladies do a wonderful job.

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  7. Many unique gifts there - hope you got most of your list covered. Those baked treats would have been my downfall. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your Family.

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  8. It's great to go to an old fashioned bazaar. I always like to eat and buy the home made goods. Have fun wrapping :-)

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  9. So nice to see, thank you for sharing that. No wonder those puppets were being snapped up!

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  10. Nice post, love those markets with self-made presents. Much nicer than all plastic itmens. That last photo looks very nice, I am curious to taste the products.

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  11. YES - I love Christmas shopping in the small hometown shops and stores :) the way it was meant to be.

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  12. Christmas is in the air. I love seeing the amount of Christmas items in every shop. I also like shopping goods with "personal touch" , something which didn't just come out from some factory machine. Those quilts are lovely but I guess I would keep bigger amount of my money for the delicacies shown in the end. I love these kind of goodies. Great for small presents and greater for self treat :)

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  13. I love fairs (or bazaars) like these. Those seed packets are something else, so nostalgic looking. Enjoy the rest of your Christmas shopping x

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