Decked in Holiday Style

Our community has a picturesque downtown.  Everything is situated around a stately courthouse in the town square: a wide variety of retail establishments, banks and law offices, coffee shops and restaurants, a florist, two bookstores, a magnificent theater, churches and more.  There is vintage lighting, a cannon on the courthouse lawn and a pocket park for the children.  Our downtown is beautiful at any time of the year but it is particularly enchanting at Christmas.  Swags of evergreens with deep red bows hang from the exteriors of the well-kept old buildings while evergreen roping twines around every vintage light pole throughout the retail district.  Twinkling holiday lights are everywhere.  You don't have to go to the big city to enjoy artfully crafted Christmas window displays.  A stroll in our fine community's vibrant downtown is a treat, with nearly every store window decked in holiday style.  One sees charming and elaborate displays of antiques, the latest in children's toys and games, mannequins attired in stunning royal purple evening gowns, shimmering silver, old and new books, and colorful kitchen gadgets and cookware.  A couple of the surrounding communities offer weekends of historic living windows in their downtowns, where shop windows are decorated with vignettes depicting holiday seasons of old.  Small-town life is a gift and at Christmas time, it seems to be wrapped up beautifully with a bow.