My dad, friend R.and I went to that abbey I mentioned earlier. It's in Bethlehem, Connecticut, a small and rural town where many people like to mail their Christmas cards from, so the postal stamp says "Bethlehem" on the envelope.

It was the last day of their Xmas sale, so they had already sold out of the things I was most interested in, breads, cheeses and jams.

Here are some pictures of the creche in an adjacent barn, along with a bit of history about it.










This is their chapel.

On the way home, we stopped at the Curtiss House, the oldest restaurant/inn in Connecticut, for some mulled hot cider and tea. the restaurant was built prior to the Revolutionary War, so that's pretty old. Dad and I decided we need to return for dinner sometime.

Other than this, I was running around like a crazy woman doing the usual catch-up chores, not even Xmas stuff.

I am going down to see my cousin for Xmas day, but just for a few hours, and I'll be back home here in CT by dark. Suddenly, I had to think about bringing a small gift for her, so I did order 3 pairs of cute cat socks for her, and I may give her one of my mother's many handwoven scarves she made for sale. She was friends with my mother, so that will be meaningful for her. She has animals and likes to feed the birds, as I do, so I'm tempted to maybe get some treats for both. As for the scarves, I have so many from my mother....probably about 40 of them, and I doubt I will ever get a chance to wear them all.

Since I now know I have off from Friday through Tuesday of next week, I can also do some local Xmas shopping; I have 3 shops in mind. Otherwise, I have scheduled for my electrician to come over on Tuesday to do some small jobs here. I also bought a new ceiling light on Amazon for the front entry which I really rather like. All of my ceiling light fixtures are icky old, tacky fake brass look and very dated. I'm ready for something much more modern.



It will arrive just before Xmas.

I'm a little nervous about it, and hope it will go in this place. I can't say you can discern any particular style here, although I really used to like a very "rustic" decor. I'm really drawn to modern now but after spending hours browsing on Amazon and Lights Plus, it was hard for me to find any other ceiling fixtures I liked. One challenge is that my ceilings are not that high, so the upstairs hallway lights, for instance, need to not be hanging, but close to the ceiling.