Week 11: Christmas in Dike, IA
For Christmas and Thanksgiving each year we trade off whose family we are with. This year we spent Christmas with Jeff’s family, so my family’s Christmas was early. We usually spend some time with my parents eating boatloads of food, playing games, and watching Christmas movies. This year we made it to Dike early enough to spend some time at my favorite shop in the area before it closed for the season. It’s in an old barn. The downstairs is refurbished to be a restaurant, which serves soups in old teacups and sandwiches and quiches on old metal trays. All around the eating area goods are being sold by local makers. There are tables and shelves stacked with washcloths, signs, treats, clothes, books, toys, and kitchenware. I always stock up on grill seasoning, my favorite lotions, and locally roasted coffee. Ben and I, however, go because of what is upstairs. It is clear when you step off the metal stairs, you are in a barn. It’s drafty and you can sometimes see birds’ nests in the rafters. This barn holds a glorious collection of antiques. We could spend an entire day freezing and sifting through old hand tools, kitschy ham tin lamps and paintings of the last supper on everything, glassware, and still-sturdy wooden furniture. I’m still on a hunt for a wooden drying rack. They’re not giving theirs up. I once bought a log plant stand there and saw a similar one online for no-joke, ten times as much. My soon-to-be kitchen pantry was a steal and all it needs is a coat of paint. This time I found a mid-century coffee carafe which can be kept warm on the stove, some gifts for friends, and something I’ve been searching for for years, a runner sled. It was like the Red Ryder of finds for Christmas. – Side note: it held Ben and I down a hill last weekend – I’m so glad we carved out some time to spend there.
The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and spending time with family. We went for a walk. Dike is a great place for walking/running. They have sidewalks around town, which lead past a diversity of neighborhoods, through parks, playgrounds, and the school (and sometimes past the giant Christmas tree in the middle of the street.) There is also a path out to and around the lake. It’s a beautiful walk especially during the summer. My mom saw a part of her town she’d not been to before on our walk. We checked out a new restaurant. We spent some time with my grandpa. We went to my parents’ church which always amazes me how much talent they get there and how many people ended up there from different parts of my life. We opened gifts (my brother got me roller-skates for Christmas – you can bet I’ve been out on those already!!) And our family made some more memories from the traditions we keep.
