Good Morning,
Last night the Hubs and I took in the sights and sounds of the Holiday happenings of historic Saint Charles. The weather was lovely and in the low 50's high 40's. The warm temperatures brought folks out in droves. Here is a link if you want to check it out. http://stcharleschristmas.com/

They have been doing this Holiday festival for years and it gets bigger and better every year. Here is a picture of the Civil War Santa- from their website- and one of the first Santas we saw this year.Oh and yes, we saw Julinesse again, as well as Frontier Santa, Pere Noel, Jack Frost, (he always is so cranky and argues with everyone. It's funny and the kids and teens love it). Ah lets see... we also saw Clara from the nutcracker, the town crier, an Angel and of course the Sugar Plum faerie.

As I wrote about in my book, Seasons of Witchery, taking a walk along the cobblestones of Main Street and enjoying the lights (I think there were even more lights this year- it was gorgeous) and seeing all of the characters always help to put me in a Holiday mood. So the Hubs and I walked around for a couple of hours, grabbed a hot chocolate and a cookie from "Grandmas Cookies", listened to the Drum and Fife Corp and of course I ended up stopping at Main Street Books, to order a few things. Here is a link to the store- check it out! mainstreetbooks.net
I did an author event for Seasons of Witchery and Witches Tarot, there this fall, and I always support my local independent book store! That and hello, a writer shopping in a book store? What are the odds?

Since the weather is so warm this weekend the holiday lights are going up on the house- today. No more excuses from the Hubs... I mean jeez, we have orange lights all over the house for Samhain/ Halloween, it feels funny to be one of the last folks in the neighborhood to put up their winter holiday lights. I know its only the first of December but, wow. I feel like a slacker. There is one house in our neighborhood a block over that is really something, and holy crap you could signal passing planes with the light display. Its a little tiny ranch style house, but I would imagine he has an extra breaker box. That's a LOT of lights, its a toss up between over the top obnoxious and jaw droppingly cute.

I really wanted to switch over to outdoor LED lights this year, but after dropping several hundred dollars on computer repair and sewer line clean outs the week of Thanksgiving, our white icicle lights will have to do. Besides we could not agree on new LED lights anyway. He wanted the old 1950's vintage looking big colored bulbs and I preferred the faceted looking large bulbs in the nifty new colors.

When we drove home from Main Street last night he even pointed out to me all of the houses that have those old school types of lights. Yeah they did look nice, when they wrapped them in a garland. So we agree to disagree and are putting back up the icicle lights along the roof line of the house. Half of them are only 1 year old anyway, We had to replace them last year as they blew out while we were hanging them up!

A week from today is the first Witches Discussion Group. My friend Charlynn and I will be hosting this. Here is all of the information for that- I hope to see many of the St. Louis area Witches there! It is FREE, and it is a fun way to get out and meet and greet with other magickal minded folks. Topic for December: Yule - A Witch;'s Guide to Surviving the Holidays.

Witches Discussion Group
Hosted by Ellen Dugan and Charlynn Walls
Date: December 8th 2012
Time: 2:00- 3:30 pm.
Place: Kathryn Linnemann Library (Meeting Room)
2323 Elm Street
Saint Charles, MO. 63301
Library Phone Number 636-346-6294
Ages 18 and up are welcome.
FREE!

A new discussion group for the Witches, Wiccans and Pagans of the St. Louis area.
Topic for December: Yule- A Witch's Guide to Surviving the Holidays
We will be meeting monthly to discuss magickal topics of interest. This will be a friendly exchange of ideas, magick and the discussion group will allow for attendees to have the chance to network and meet other magickal folks from the area. Ages 18 and up are welcome. The discussion group is free.

Please note: Due to work on the Blanchette Bridge, please consider taking 370 or the Page Extension to come to Saint Charles. We look forward to seeing you there!

Blessed be, Ellen