Thursday, January 1, 2009

Christmas in Occoquan

My friend MJ and I decided to go out for a day after Christmas and see some arts & crafts at a center near Occoquan. Unfortunately, the center was closed so we decided to visit the small town and walk around instead. I'd spent a lovely Christmas Eve with MJ and Martin with fabulous food and company and we both wanted to walk off some of the calories we'd consumed over the two festive days.
The decorations in the town were beautiful and this little park looked like we'd stepped back in time with its tree and old fashioned lanterns.

These townhomes were not built the last time we were here, so we decided to have a nose around the model home. They were very nice and well finished but only had two bedrooms with a possible third and little privacy from the neighbors across the way. I don't think I'd be willing to pay the $900K that they were asking!

This window of a contemporary gift shop won second prize in the best dressed window competition. It failed to get first prize because the ruling was that the windows should be dressed in a period Christmas theme in keeping with the town, but I had to agree with the owner that a period look would not have suited her shop's merchandise. I thought she had done a splendid job and wasted no time in telling her so. The window itself incidentally is nearly a hundred years old and came from an old ship. We later saw the first prize recipient which I actually walked past until MJ alerted me to the ribbon in the doorway. Say no more...

The store above amazed me as it was an Aladdin's cave of furniture, paintings and home furnishings which spilled out on to the balcony at the front of the store. Apparently, this merchandise is left outside at all times and subject to the elements, so I had little interest in purchasing anything from there.

The store above is my favoritist shop in the town and I could quite happily just move a bed and tea kettle inside and take up residence. I never bore of walking around this store and would love to have a home decorated as abundantly as this. Not sure about the dusting, though. But whatever the season or holiday, this shop never fails to capture the atmosphere or drag a few dollars from my purse.

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