It Snows in the Strangest Places

The shopping days leading up to the first Christmas at The Barn were relatively quiet.  After all, this was a new shopping venue and we needed some time to get established.  However, I would tell you that Christmas Eve was a uniquely beautiful, humorous and busy day of shopping at The Barn.

We had had a snow storm come through Castle Rock a few days prior…a fairly good sized snow storm.  It was a winter wonderland and Castle Rock was busy with last minute shoppers at the grocery store and the hardware store.  Fresh trees were strapped to car roofs and the local bars were full of holiday cheerers.

We had decorated The Barn with a small live tree, some ornaments and put Holiday lights in the front window.  The Barn looked very festive and surprisingly, we had a steady stream of shoppers throughout the day.

Around 4:00pm, the sun was starting to set and we figured that it was a good time to close for the next couple of days.  Just as I was locking the front door, several cars pulled up in front of the Barn and about twenty fairly inebriated women climbed out and insisted that they had some last minute shopping to take care of.  I hesitated at first because I had my two boys to get home to and start our holiday traditions, but after speaking with these charming women for a few minutes I decided to open the door and usher them in.

I turned on the stereo system and started playing some Christmas carols.  I heard a couple of the ladies call some friends while they were shopping and within ½ hour the Barn was full of laughter and off-key singing.

I heard the wind starting to come up outside and I realized that the windows way up in the roof (roughly 30 feet above me) had been blown open at some point over the prior few days.  This really didn’t concern me because the Barn, at this time, had very few sources of heat and our shoppers found the cool environment (and continue to find this) very convenient because they can shop with their coat on and not overheat.

About an hour into this little private shopping party, many of the ladies started coming downstairs to purchase their finds.  One of the women commented that the Barn was an adorable place to shop and all that was missing was a quiet snowfall to make the holiday shopping experience complete.  I laughed and told her that, in my experience, anything was possible…..even inside The Barn.

And with that (and I kid you not) it started snowing in the Barn.

At first I didn’t know what was happening and neither did my lady friends.  It almost looked like everyone had suddenly acquired a bad case of dandruff.  Then I noticed that the white stuff was everywhere….everywhere!

Almost in unison, we all looked up into the rafters and realized that the wind was blowing some of the snow from the roof into the Barn through the open windows. I stood there wondering how often this phenomenon was occurring during the night when nobody was here to witness it.

My lady friends left having had one of the most unique and magical shopping experiences they could ever remember.

I left knowing that The Barn would be a part of my life for many years to come.