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Bit of a long story--a friend of mine has a BIL who's a priest. The priest had a bunch of books he wanted to get rid of. My friend told his BIL I have a friend (actually, it's a friend of an acquaintance but whatever) who collects books and distributes them to rural folks who don't have much and are sometimes a fair drive away from a library, and the BIL gave my friend five boxes of books to give to my acquaintance to give to her friend. Which was really nice but...the vast majority of the books were very, very religious and mostly very, very Catholic. Which is absolutely fine except the friend of the acquaintance prefers fiction or non-fiction that's not overtly political or religious. So I went through the boxes, pulled out a number of books that I felt were more spiritual than specifically Catholic (I deeply admire this priest's variety of interests; he had books on Catholicism and feminism, books on the Dalai Lama and other books less Catholic and more "mindfulness") and am going to give that to my acquaintance. Which left me with 3 boxes of very, very Catholic books. Most of them were in superb condition (a few had the wrapping still on them)...I texted my bff, who's staunchly Catholic, and asked her if she wanted them, or if anyone in her family wanted the books. She sent out a group text and a cousin responded that she didn't want them personally, but there was a Catholic bookstore in Berea that would take them and distribute them to anyone who wanted them. Coincidentally, the store is only about a mile or two away from where the light show is.

So instead of me picking up my bff and good church friend around 5:00, going to dinner and then driving through the fairgrounds to see the lights, I picked up my pals around 3:00, so we could go to the store first, as it closes at 4:00. The very nice gentleman working at the store--I believe everyone working there is a volunteer--was happy to accept the books (and move the heaviest box from my trunk into the store) and graciously invited us to hang an ornament on a tree they keep in the tiny chapel that's inside the store. He also asked us if we wanted a "gift" from the Blessed Mother but good church friend and I declined. I grew up with Catholic friends and, as mentioned, bff is Catholic, so I'm mostly comfortable with Catholicism (I've attended Mass a number of times with my bff) but this store was very, VERY Catholic. Like, the most Catholic place I've ever been in, including Catholic churches where I've attended Mass. Again, that is by no means a BAD thing...it was just a little intimidating to us two Baptists and even my staunch Catholic friend was a bit overwhelmed. She did wind up buying a St. Francis medal though.

It was still light out when we left the store (it was a gorgeous, almost blindingly sunny day), so we went down a few storefronts and bought baked goods at the appropriately named 3 Girls Cupcake Shoppe. Good church friend adores cupcakes, and bff was thrilled to see they offered mini fruitcakes (she's that weirdo who actually LIKES fruitcake <g>). I really enjoyed my eggnog cupcake. The place was voted "best bakery in Cleveland" (even though it's actually in a suburb of Cleveland) but sadly, they're closing their doors for good after the 31st of this month. It's for a good reason--the owner got her degree in child psychology and will be doing that instead of baking cupcakes for a living--but still sad to see it go.

After buying sweets, it was STILL light out, so I drove aimlessly around Berea and the neighboring Olmstead Falls until the sun finally set. Then we made our way back to the Cuyahoga County fairgrounds for the drive through light display. It was absolutely gorgeous, and there were far more displays than I was expecting. My favorites were probably the old Victorian house light sculpture and, because it made me laugh, the monster truck crushing a VW bug. Because nothing says "Happy birthday Jesus!" like a monster truck <g>. In the middle of the display, you could park and go into the "holiday village", where they had snacks, an ice skating rink and Santa Claus as well as a few inflatables and animatronics. And of course mech to purchase...we didn't buy anything but each day of the week, there's a different promo at the light display. Tuesdays are free donut day, so we all got to enjoy a free donut.

After that, we went over to Max and Erma's for dinner. I think bff and good church friend were almost more excited to be eating at M&E than to go to the light display. There used to be a M&E a couple towns over but it closed for good several years ago. It was a favorite of all of us and while I've eaten at the M&E in Middleburg Heights (the town right next to Berea) several times thanks to driving Dad over to the Fin, Feather and Fur sporting goods store (or as we call it, the Triple F), my friends hadn't eaten at M&E since the one near us closed.

What I'm grateful for is ALL my friends are genuinely good people, and I can put any combination of then together and everyone seems to get along. Bff and good church friend have met each other twice before--at my 50th birthday party and at a tearoom once where we all had lunch--and they seem to really enjoy each other's company. Or at least they fake it well <g>. At the end of the night, bff said some time in the new year, we should all go out together for another outing, maybe a paint and sip event. I hope we can make that happen...and do so with less effort than this light display trip was 😁