Our Annual Christmas Field Trip

 The day was perfect, no rain, no wind, so glaring low winter sun, just a calm, cool gray day for being out and about in Seattle. 

Our friend Jan joined us, of course, as we began our fun day in Ballard at the Scandinavian Specialty Shop. Just walking in and seeing all of the trolls and Nordic decorations made me smile. 

Jan found some treasures to give to others as gifts. Tom and I were fairly restrained, mostly enjoying the looking. I did borrow someone's grandchild for this photo. I studied the ornaments too. :-)

Then on to Larson's Danish Bakery!

Oh my, did we indulge! Their almond croissants are amazingly delicious, with coffee, of course.  

We did buy a few things to take home or give away. Then we moved on from Ballard,  a little farther north, to Swanson's Nursery. Can you tell this is the Scandinavian capital of Seattle?

Swanson's is a large, well stocked nursery, always with beautiful displays. This time of year the emphasis is on the evergreens. 

There was a treasure hunt, find the characters, for the kids and young at heart. We needed a kid to tell us who most of these animated movie characters were. We did know a few from movies of long ago. 

The Koi pond in the gift shop/cafe. 

And of course, poinsettias!

Now it was getting on to 2:00, we had walked of our bakery treats, and it was time to find food, which we did at a Panera close to our next and final stop.

Sky Nursery in Northwest Seattle is a huge plant palace, but at Christmas time they also have a wonderful Christmas shop.

We had fun looking for ornaments we hadn't seen before, especially the food ornaments. You can even get avocado toast ornaments now. :-)

We resisted though. Our trees are full.

This is a nursery after all, so they did have plants, including this beautiful display.

It was dark when we finally got home. That happens early now that we are nearing the Winter Solstice. We had a light lunch for supper and then settled in, very content with our Christmas field trip. 

That was Wednesday. Now Thursday is coming to a close and it has been dark and rainy all day. We did some shopping and more decorating and online order packages are arriving. It's a busy time. I will try to carry the good cheer of yesterday with me and not get too bogged down in busyness.