Christmas on Church Street

OK, so it's not Vienna, but Church Street (our downtown pedestrian shopping area here in Burlington) is still pretty lovely. It's easy to sometimes forget how small Burlington is - and, come on, even though it is our metropolis, it still only has something like 39,000 souls living here officially. I suppose in most states this would hardly qualify as a county seat, although I know people up in the North East Kingdom who won't come to Burlington because the traffic scares them. Strangely, I didn't really spend much time on Church Street until the last couple years. Right after my separation I essentially haunted Church Street because I was living in my office and was flat broke - and was, as I've discussed, firmly in my monastic stage. Since I had no money I couldn't buy anything - and since I was determined to be as miserable as possible I could not engage with anyone or anything - so I spent my time literally and figuratively window-shopping at life. The last couple years I've really tried to open myself up to life and have an amazing crew of friends, so I've spent a lot of time on Church Street (in a flesh and blood form, not a spectral one). Apparently, with life as with stores, you can walk in the door.