Woodstock’s Wassail Weekend, and Its Quieter Pleasures

WELCOME! I see you have found your way from HereCast.

Woodstock’s Wassail Weekend (December 13 through 15) is packed with holiday celebrations, some ticketed, many free. For sheer (albeit short) pageantry, you’ll want to be curbside for the parade (horses, costumes, Santa Claus) at 2:00 pm on Saturday. Below is a link to the entire calendar of events. 

https://www.woodstockvt.com/the-town/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-wassail-weekend-2019

I preferred a quieter visit last weekend, which began with lunch at the Soulfully Good Café (featured photo, above). The specials—a deviled egg salad wrap and homemade root vegetable soup—sounded ordinary but tasted extraordinary. The end cut of bread was huge, warm and perfect for dunking. There’s a reason the cafe describes its menu as comfort food. 

Really, my frozen face smiled and my shoulders unclenched, all because I walked through the door of the Yankee Bookshop, the oldest independent bookstore in Vermont. Books, on shelves and in nooks, a chair or two for when you need a long look (as I did with Simple, Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbook, which of course I bought). I left with two bags of books for self, husband, grandkids, and acute homesickness for every bookstore I have ever visited. 

Beautifully crafted gifts at Collective—The Art of Craft, back in business after a fire last year. Support your regional artists. 

Finally, Artistree was open and celebrating its second day in its new digs overlooking the green in the village of Woodstock. (It remains also at its original location in nearby Pomfret.) 10 by 10s are smallish original paintings that fill one gallery’s walls, for sale just in time for the holidays.