Snowy Weekend

I have a long weekend off from work. I was supposed to be off Friday and Monday but Friday I did do some emailing and returning of phone calls. I met my friend Kim for coffee then did some work. Then met my sister for lunch, a little shopping and work and then Kim invited me for dinner at her house. Wow, it's sounds like all I do is eat!

I took a picture of Kim's home's snowy front entrance. At Kim's we feasted on baked ham with fruit compote, scalloped potatoes, green beans, and brownies for dessert. It was warm inside as we watched the snow fall. She has a very cozy home with good smells of cooking, wonderful family, and great pets. The conversation was easy and it was great to spend a relaxing evening with them. Since they live only a few streets over from me I didn't worry about going home in the storm
Today is Saturday and everyone is cleaning up after the storm. By the afternoon, I was ready to do a little shopping. I have certain places I have to visit at Christmas time. I guess you could call them rituals. One of them is a trip to Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I love to visit the cool shops and see the interesting mix of people. There's always a lot of students walking around as the university is right there. MIT is not too far away either.

I took some photos of snowy Cambridge. Brrr, it was cold, I saw on one girl's Iphone that it was 20 degrees. It was windy too. Harvard Square is best enjoyed on foot. On a good day there is limited parking so today with all the snow it was quite the challenge. And when I did find a space, I had to climb the snowbank to put money in the meter. Oh I love Winter!

But it is beautiful! The red doors against all the white drew me to this church. Quintessential New England to my eyes.

Next to the church, there were Christmas trees for sale.

No trip to Harvard Square is complete without walking by Harvard University or Hahvid as we Bostonians call it. As you know we don't pronounce our R's.

As I mentioned, the shops are really cool in this area. This is the outside of a sock store. I heard a woman say they had the best cashmere socks in this store so I had to check it out. I am a cashmere addict. I have at least a dozen cashmere sweaters. I also have cashmere gloves and cashmere sheets. It's one of my indulgences.

I also went to a Holiday craft fair in an old church. Phenomenal stuff! Oh I could have gone crazy but I didn't. I got a funny card for my friend Don for his birthday, a pin for my friend LoriLee and of course, I didn't forget me. I bought myself a clock. The vendor makes clocks out of all sorts of old things like colanders. muffin tins, teapots. I bought one that looks like brass and is made from a mirror. The kind like the women of olden days had, a hand mirror they put on their dressers. It's so cool.

All this shopping made me tired so I decided to take a break and stop at Burdick's chocolates for some hot chocolate.

As you can see this is no ordinary hot chocolate. You can order it in dark, milk, or white chocolate. It's thick like a European drinking chocolate. I ordered 4 luxembourgers with it.

Two were to take home for later. I think they are sort of a meringue cookie. I got two cinnamon and two coffee. Delicious!

I bought a couple of gifts here. This shop is visually beautiful. I am sure I will be back soon.

That's it for today. I had a wonderful time all by myself. I am so happy I made it to Harvard Square at Christmas time because I said it was one of my rituals at Christmas. Just a few more days left until Christmas. I am almost done my shopping. But I'm not worried I still have Monday off. Of course more snow is predicted for Sunday, so I hope we don't get snowed in. Oh well. on the bright side, we are virtually assured of a white Christmas.

Until next time...