Something for Sunday

A week ago, we went to Christmas Village. It's something the girls look forward to. It's a nice "kick off" to the holidays. Also, we go with our good friends--Connie and her daughter, Amanda. This year, our friend, Linda joined us. Sandy even came in for it. At the last minute, Mindy wasn't able to go with us--that's another story for another time! Anyway, back to Christmas Village.

We start out with a glass of wine. I didn't this year because I'm still "wined out" after our Sanoma/Napa trip in October. 

We have some strict rules for ourselves--no jewelry and no food! Well we did fine with the "no jewelry" part. But not so fine with the "no food" part. Every food booth offers samples. And then, you're hooked! It's all so good. We ended up buying a lot of food! Usually, that food includes a lot of dip mixes--that we end up forgetting about and then they go to waste. We didn't get any dip mixes this year. This year, it was cobblers. The cobbler sample was blueberry. It was amazing! They had a "deal." Those "deals" are too hard to pass up. If you bought 3 cobblers, you got a baking dish and whisk for free! I bought a blueberry--it was hard to only get one--a cherry and peach. They were so heavy---including that baking dish, that we knew we didn't want to carry them around. So we left them to pick up when we were ready to leave.

We all met outside. I decided to get the car as we had to park pretty far away. None of us wanted to haul that heavy stuff. Sandy and I started out. As we neared the car, it dawned on me that Stephanie had gone back to the car to change shoes. She didn't give me my key ring back! OMGosh! I called her. We met her halfway. Luckily, she left all of our stuff with Connie and Linda. 

We got the car and picked them up---I drove them to their car. Then we all went to Rafferty's for dinner. We arrived at 7:15 and it was completely full--on a Thursday night!! We waited about 15 minutes for a table. After that, it just went downhill. We waited so long to have our order taken and then so long for our food. We ended up being there for 2 hours! Rafferty's for 2 hours! We'd still be sitting there if I hadn't gotten up in search of a waitress--any waitress--anyone at all to give us our bill. There was no one in sight except the bartender behind the bar. Finally, I saw one waitress and then a second one. There were only two waitresses in the entire restaurant. I know things are bad in the service industry, but this is ridiculous! 

Once I got over feeling so frustrated about having to wait so long, I felt kind of sorry for them. They definitely earn their money. I just wonder how many people don't tip due to poor service? It's terrible everywhere. Even at our club, you have to make reservations because they do not have enough help. I don't know if or when that's going to change. It's definitely an ongoing problem.

Still, we had a fun evening and didn't let that slow end ruin it. We'll do it again next year. And probably we'll go back to Rafferty's too. We're gluttons for punishment, I guess!

PS I'll be serving that cobbler to my book club a week from tomorrow! Can't wait!