Saturday was girl’s day out!!!
One of my favorite winter events is Christmas in the Country. It is an open house tour where various rural artisans open up their houses to sell their wares. It comes with a map that is so not to scale that it is laughable.
The houses are all decorated for Christmas and inviting. We had a dusting of snow overnight, so it felt super Christmasy.
I have house envy of this place. Here is a view outside from the living room. All of these items in the photo were for sale, too.
There are all kinds of artists on the tour and farms. Anything from country primitive items, tole painting, pottery (yay!!) , wine and cheese, baked goods, jewelry, iron sculptures, furniture, herbs and jams, knitted items and such. It’s pretty neat. I got some good Christmas shopping done, too. Plus they serve refreshments!
There are 15 houses on the tour, but it is hard to make it to all 15 in one day. I think we did about half.
I loved this farmhouse living room. They were selling kitted items, food items, wooden bowls and cutting boards (which you can see in the chair), plus Petie the Elf dolls.
Shelley – you would have loved the hand spun wool yarn from this guy!
He was itching his back on this hay chute – so cute 😀
We stopped by a farm that made all their own cheeses. Here was one of the babies that was very interested in my sister’s hand.
I got some herbed feta at this place that I can’t wait to try in an omelet!!
A festive feeling day.
I can’t show everything I got because some people who are being gifted might be reading, but here were a couple things.
Pottery ramekin for snacking!
I love putting my snacks in a ramekin so that I don’t eat out of a bag or box.
I also couldn’t resist getting a present for Pixie at Northeast Corner Herbs (love this place). They grow premium catnip there and Pixie goes berserk for it (Billy is rather ‘meh’ about the catnip). She actually smelled the bag when I walking in the house and was meowing and going crazy. I got her a kitty toy that is stuffed with the nip.
Pixie doesn’t have front claws, but she does have the back ones still. She is kicking the dickens out of the toy here. I wonder how long this toy will last…
What a nice day to spend with the family, too.
This is the first post for the month of December, so here is one of my tree ornaments:
Joe to the World, indeed! This ornament is so me 
Tomorrow I will do my December goal post since I wrapped up last month. Gotta get a good eating plan going. Are you in the holiday spirit yet?
Love love love that tree ornament! What a fabulous home tour, you guys had so much fun. I’ll be decking the halls this week, can’t wait to revisit all my favorite ornaments.
I love this ornament, too. My family knows me well 😀
This tour looks like so much fun. I’d enjoy gawking at the homes so much, I’d forget to look at their items for sale. Sometimes its cool to do things like this just to get to follow the map and see some countryside you might not be so familiar with. Cool that it had snowed.
Yeah, there are some houses I just like to go to because I like that house, not necessarily what they are selling!
That looks like a great day, and the dusting of snow is perfect. I think Shelley should start raising sheep and spin some yarn;)
Loved the wool place with the sheep. It looked a little like my living room with the spinning wheel right there!
What a wonderful way to spend the day with your family. I love that the farms are real places, and not just fixed up to sell stuff.
LOL at Pixie and her ‘drug of choice.’
That shopping tour looks like so much fun! Plus with the snow – what a great Christmas mood setter. Our local Christmas parade was today, in 84 degree weather. That’s beyond ridiculous!
How cool to see the origin of the yarn – talk about local!!! What a special piece that would be to knit. 🙂
P.S. I see Kim’s comment up there…if I raised the sheep and spun the yarn, I’d have no time for knitting! 😉
Oh.. my.. goodness. I would DIE just to be able to do something like this! Old fashioned and old timey country Christmas stuff is JUST the type of thing I live for! This would have been so incredibly fun for me, not just shopping and seeing the hand crafted artsy country items but the scenery of the houses, wow! I’m jealous! I am in a more country town this year than I had been living but it’s not quite as much as in those photos. I love that stuff!!
By the way, can you tell me where this is? I tried to read your About Me but didn’t see anything about where you live. If this was something not too horribly far away I might could even make a trip to see this! Please email me!
I am all caught up. Lots to read and see. Billy is so cute. I think his design looks like an elephant walking towards me. LOL!
Fun times with family is lovely. The game sounds like fun!
Pretty Pixie!
I see a familial resemblance. 🙂
Great holiday photos! What a fun day trip. I wonder if there’s anything like that near me…
What a wonderful day, and the snow was the perfect touch for it!
I use ramekins for snacking, too. I’ll have to look out for a stoneware “special” snacking cup.
Well I wasn’t but seeing all the photos it’s coming. We still haven’t got a Christmas tree, this weekend we’re buying one. Once that is up, the spirit of Christmas gets more real.
I love this day, wish we had something like this but we don’t.
That tree ornament was super! 🙂
I’m feeling Christmassy at las. We got a winter storm on Friday and now we have plenty of snow.
that ornament is SO ME, TOO 🙂
What a wonderful day for the gals in Christmas Country. Looks like fun 🙂
Love that ornament. Maybe getting a new tree ornament for this year will motivate me. I’m still a little “bah hum bug”.
“Joe to the World” – LOVE it.
What a fun day you had too. I can’t imagine where those people store all their goods for sale and it’s amazing how crafty people are. If only I had the time. 🙂
OMG, I would love going on a Christmas tour like that – what better way to put you in the Christmas spirit! I still have a good week and a half before I can decorate – bah humbug to my husband!!
And that ornament was made for you!
Oh Lori, I love everything about this post. What a great tour!!! The ornament SCREAMS Lori, Pixie is lucky and so funny with her “jackrabbit kicks” of the nip pillow, love the little snack dish, and I aww’d at the sheep. I’m getting into the holiday hoopla myself. I’m one of those folks who love the decorations, music and fun events of the season. (my brother on the other hand, HATES it with a passion, grumbles his way through December and comes out the other side in the New Year. So strange given the fact we were brought up with the same traditions) Thanks for sharing your lovely holiday tour with us!
What a lot of fun that looks like!
And what a great way to let artists show their goods.
What a fun place to visit!! I love the joe ornament as well. 🙂
LOVE the coffee pot ornament!