Sunday, November 25, 2012

Getting a little Holiday on....

For those of us in retail, this time of year is both a curse and a blessing.  I would hazard a guess that about 25% of my annual sales happen between November and December.  That being said, Christmas doesn't start in November for me. I literally start thinking about the Holiday selling season the January or February before Christmas....no kidding.  Even though my shop isn't usually open on Black Friday (see the frenzy to the left) I do have to be prepared for a giant Holiday Open House sale and two more sales at my space in Chartreuse & co....AND in my infinite wisdom and moment of genuine insanity, I added another location, The Old Lucketts Store.  The shoppers don't disappoint.  They want lots and lots of holiday merchandise.
 
I really do LOVE my job!! I mean it!!  Despite the broken nails, perpetually trashed vehicle, slight smell of must, I LOVE old vintage tarnished semi-falling apart lovely awesome junk...I mean treasure.  It's just hard to get excited about the holidays at home when you've been working on the holidays all year long.  This year I had the pleasure of crafting with my daughter, Bella!  That girl knows her way around some German glass glitter.  She now knows that you can get a splinter from real glass glitter, hence the term, "glinter"....Love it! And love her.  In fact she is the reason for this post.  Isabella, aka Bella is number 3  of 3.  I was Martha Stewart for the first two boys, but I've run out of steam.  I used to go all out for Christmas.  Literally 5-6 trees of varying sizes, baking my brains outs and decorations in every room.  Sooooooo....last year I really put a lot of effort into decorating my house after the shop closed for the year.  At least so I thought.....Bella had other ideas.  Bella the other day.... "Mom, maybe we can decorate this year instead of just a little bit."  Apparently I set the bar a little too high.  Gonna try to get it right this year for my Bella. 
 
 
Found this wonderful fresh wreath at a craft fair in Shepherdstown, WV.
 
A vintage pedal car fire truck filled with a cheat....a faux tree from my favorite local boutique Guten Tag.  It looks soo real, that's way I had to have it.
 
I'm trying a new approach....one room/space at a time.  Stay tuned to see if I can live up to Bella's Holiday dream!!!
 
Cheers,
Robin