Tis the Season of Christmas Open Houses

Tis the season, for sure! And I love it!

This past Saturday I traveled to The Shoppes of Mauzy (pronounced Mo-zee) Christmas Open House in Broadway. It's one of my favorite stops this time of year.

This building is one of the out-buildings beside the main house and is where the hot apple cider, cookies, and frog jam is located. I found out frog jam = fig, raspberry, orange, and ginger jam. This combination = very tasty!Big wooden bins of apples were for sale on the porch in back of the General Store. I didn't get any because we're going to Fitzgerald's Orchard in Tyro today to pick up some Pink Ladies for Sarah's Caramel Apples for market.Then I walked to the main house adjacent to this building. You can see the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance. The open house brought in lots of visitors: Here's the primitive country-style decorated Christmas door that greeted me as I arrived at the shop:The rooms were chock full of items, but my favorite was this Hoosier cabinet....Love it and everything about it, except that broken drawer handle. And if Granny had been with me, I'm pretty sure she would have snapped up a potato masher I found in the top drawer:Here's the old kitchen on the property that was full of antique kitchen items: I can't mention what came home with me from this building because someone that reads this post might be opening that gift. Another item I liked in this building was this antique cabinet below.

I took a photo on my phone to send to Tom to get his opinion but couldn't figure out how to email it! The idea has been nixed anyway--there's no place to put it!All in all, it was a very enjoyable Saturday morning outing!

I arrived back home after the girls returned from Farmers' Market, and Sarah and I jumped back in the car and headed out to Cross-Stitch Station, our local cross-stitch shop, for their fun annual Christmas Open House.

(forgot my camera, so the photo is an old one from the archives)

The tree just inside the shop was loaded with all cross-stitched ornaments, and it's my favorite thing about the open house (well, except for the hot apple cider)...it really inspires me to drag out my Aida and DMC again!

And this weekend...another open house at Country Treasures--sounds right up my alley. I always enjoy browsing there!

Hope your weekend is loaded with fun, too! Any Christmas Open Houses on your docket?

~Deb

Comments

[Toni]

What a quaint place to shop! I love old houses and I really love it when they are turned into places to browse and buy gifts. :)

[Dorothy Horton]

Wow! I would have gone with you to all of them! Sounds like so much fun! Just love the pictures! :-)

[Bobbi]

You go to the neatest places! I've seen this place advertised in the County Register (the free paper that you can get at all of the craft/antique shops). I'll have to put this one on my list of places to visit. I thought about Granny last week. We went to Culpeper to the Minute Man Mini Mall and they had lots of potato mashers. Then we went to the Country Shoppes of Culpeper and then to my favorite place, Yoders. We had a great time. Blessings to all of you!

[Chris]

Sounds like a really fun day!! I bet there were ALL kinds of treasures that you would have loved to find a good home for! :) That cabinet is really cute...I would have loved to bring it home as well, but I think Fred would have had the same thoughts...NO ROOM! My grandmother had an old Hoosier cabinet that I always remember in her kitchen. She really did use it for flour and baking. Sadly it burned up with the house fire she had. :(

[Lisa Spivey]

How fun! What a nice way to start the Christmas season. You always find the neatest shops!

[Joyce]

Ooh my, what fun you had! I love Hoosiers and I would be wanting that cabinet as well (and not having room for it either). I haven't cross-stitched in a while. I enjoy it. Keeping the stuff for when I retire - ha! I spent my weekend getting blog posts done ahead so that I can have fun when the kids come for Christmas :) You have sparked my 'appetite' for holiday open houses though. Oh, and the frog jam is interesting. It does sound good. Thanks for the excursion!