Christmas Time in the Brainerd Area!

It was a great weekend of Christmas time fun and activities here. Saturday morning, feeling like an elf, I went and did some shopping... Ho Ho Ho!

We had been hungry for Scottish Oatmeal Cakes, so I whipped up a batch... I'm spoiled for life! The recipe is the one from the package of Scottish Oats by Bob's Red Mill, and they are nothing short of fantastic. I made honey-butter topping and we had a touch of maple syrup too. The best hearty but light and tasty pancakes we've ever
had.

We bundled up and drove east of town to Paul Bunyan Land. They decorate for Christmas, and open up many of the display shops and museum type buildings for this popular event. A real family atmosphere, music playing, bonfires for warming, and lots of cheer.

Peggy had to score some points with Kris Kringle and have her picture taken with the old doll. Lots of antiques are in the buildings, and with the holiday lights, it brought back a lot of good memories.






An old small log cabin house was opened up and we peaked in to see what was going on in it. Cookie baking was displayed and old decorations.
Hard to believe that families used to live in such small quarters, there was an upstairs loft, but it is a very small house.








The Mercantile was open, and lots of old merchandise was displayed. We were amused by the barrel of old tool handles. We've got one just like it in our garden shed... Peggy's Dad used to re-handle tools as a sideline.

Recognizing and remembering lots of the other stuff on the shelves, we wondered if this was a sign that we are getting old?..... not!










Huge inflated penguins and yard decorations were on all the paths. Peggy posed with the penguins, say that fast 3 times.
Lots of children and families were out in the mild weather, especially compared with the brutal cold we had a couple weeks ago.













We caught Santa taking a bath in an old camera shop... shelves lined with old photo equipment and other memorabilia was very cool. The Santa moved around and talked some too.











Babe, Paul's blue ox came over and wanted to snuggle with me, lucky Peggy had the camera ready, she wanted to visit with everyone there, and soon trotted off.

After church we just kicked back for a while before starting a roast chicken dinner. Delicious! We soon lost interest in the Vikings lack-luster game, and figured we could wait until this morning to find out how badly we got beat. sigh.

Christmas week, some work, some baking and fun, shopping and relaxing inside with the Spirit, this will be a good one! Looking forward to Christmas Eve services, company and good times remembering "the reason for the season".

Peace!