Yesterday was devoted to must do's, today was supposed to be for "wanna do's." But first breakfast, a walk around the neighborhood with Tucker, and I had to finish cleaning up the spare bedroom, which looked like the aftermath of Black Friday gift wrapping. I had it tidied up except for vacuuming the carpet, and then went off for my usual Christmas tour of downtown Marietta.

I got a prime parking spot in front of the Local Exchange, which I wanted to stop at last, so first I went to look around inside Atlanta Antiques. In the back they have sound equipment, but in front there are all sorts of delightful things from the past, including two big cases of old cameras from the 1920s all the way through the 70s. I looked at a stereopticon that had slides of the life of Jesus, old postcards and Christmas cards, and old military, sports, and medical equipment. Luke the poodle wasn't there today.

Next I crossed the park to check out the ice rink and Santa's spot and the big Christmas tree, along with local school Festival of Tree winners and some romping reindeer sculptures (one wearing a tutu). I walked up to the Christmas store, but they weren't opening until noon. The Keeping Room wouldn't be open until 12:30, so I just walked on to DuPre's to spy the Christmas decorations among the antiques. I thought they weren't quite as festive as in past years, but had a happy time wandering through Depression glass, old furniture, vintage textbooks, glittering costume jewelry, teacups, lots of tchotchkes, and other neat stuff. I bought a book from 1956 called Merry Christmas, Mr. Baxter, written by Edward Streeter, who also wrote Father of the Bride. It looks like a wry comedy of manners set in New York City at Christmastime.

As my time was getting short (parking is free only for two hours), I went on to The Corner Shop (the British store), bought a Doctor Who calendar, and chatted with the lovely older lady who runs the shop with her daughter. We were mostly talking about how salty and sugary foods are today.

There is a candy store next door to The Corner Shop, so I popped in to see if they had anything sugar free. They had some taffy, so I tried getting some for James. And then I was back at the Local Exchange to get the Best Pretzels in the World, Knotty Pretzels in Zesty Italian flavor. Yum.

I was feeling a call of nature, so drove on to the main library to use their facilities. Of course I checked the stacks, and then the "for sale" books. Found a nice one called Swedish Christmas, which I actually finished today.

From the library it was only a short way to the antique market. This is another place I visit before Christmas, where choice placement of garlands, ornaments, sparkly trees, bead roping, and Christmas lights gives all the antiquities a festive air. I saw an antique cane I was kinda interested in. I'll need one eventually, and would like a unique one. But it was $90. Also saw one James might be interested in. Admired all the cool old furniture, wandered into an alcove full of nothing but old china, checked out framed antique sports programs, drooled over the furniture (they had a lovely whatnot, very sturdy and not scuffed at all), and finally found the vendor with the books and checked out their small supply of Happy Hollisters novels. One booth had Jim Shore figures for sale, and I found a darling owl wearing a "Pilgrim hat" standing next to a pumpkin. He will go perfectly with my Jim Shore turkey.

It was 2:15 and I was starving, so I quickly did a Tin Drum survey and then drove down to Cumberland Mall to get my discounted meal and read Swedish Christmas. Lastly I stopped at Barnes & Noble with one more coupon they sent through e-mail and bought A Very Vintage Christmas, which we'd seen over the weekend.

Came home to walk Tucker and then finish the vacuuming and listen to Christmas carols on TuneIn radio. James made pork chops for supper and later I put on two Christmas episodes of M*A*S*H and the two For Better or For Worse Christmas specials, The Bestest Present and A Christmas Angel.i

Labels: antiques, books, Christmas, food, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:51:00 PM

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