Small Business Saturday

Shop local! Shop handmade! Shop small businesses!

That was the theme yesterday!

Earlier this week, Elliott's First Christmas ornament arrived in the mail. I ordered it from Amy Miller Designs on Etsy- not local, but handmade, and a small business. I couldn't be more delighted. I feel like it commemorates both his first Christmas (on the 25th) and his first birthday (on the 26th).

Yesterday was the big adventure. We hopped on the Holiday Shopper's Train, thanks to tickets I won recently. Elliott's first train ride! He LOVED it! Mostly, I think he liked looking out the window without being in a car seat. He squealed most the way there. The short train ride went from one nearby town to the courthouse square of our own town.

We got to the Noblesville square and made a beeline for a restaurant we like- Courtney's Kitchen- conveniently right next to where the train dropped us off. After breakfast, we just meandered in and out of shops with craft and antiques, mostly. Elliott's favorite store was The Wild, a children's book and toy store. Amazing. He played with the train table in the back (spoiler: he's getting trains for Christmas) while I looked at everything and resisted buying the entire store.

The local visitor's organization had free hot chocolate & visits with Santa going on in their office. Though the hot chocolate was unnecessary- it was as beautiful & warm a day we could hope for at the end of November- we stopped by. I wanted to try to get a Santa picture. Turns out, we got the classic baby-and-Santa picture. By "classic", I mean, he was terrified of the large, strange man. I'll admit, I laughed.

We ended the jaunt with a trip to Alexander's for ice cream and a train ride back to our car. Such a nice day!

See all my Small Business Saturday adventure pictures.