Tuesday Chatter and In Other Words

First the chatter.  Saturday I was Christmas shopping in the small shopping and entertainment village down the hill from where I live. It a wonderful place of small independent shops, restaurants, and bars.  There are two senior/retirement apartment buildings, a park, and some apartments that have mostly college age young adults living in them. Also, within walking distance are some lovely private homes and of course the University and State Capitol. It is quite a mix of people. During the day it is a place for shopping and eating. At night eating and drinking and partying is what happens.

Anyway back to my shopping. I did the last of the little Christmas shopping I do and just spent some time wandering around in the shops and stopping for a snack. It was a lovely day to be out and about. People didn’t seem stressed. There were lots of smiles and laughter with the very young and very old interacting and just enjoying the day and each other. Malls, big box stores, and large shopping centers have their place and are nice but there is nothing like a neighborhood village to slow people down and get them talking to one another if only for a few minutes. Like I said it was a lovely day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 In Other Words
anticipation

 After weeks of working, the elves were finished today
Santa was ready to fly through the night
Reindeer and sleigh all shiny and bright
With gifts galore packed in tight
All anticipation soon to be blown away