Holiday Gift Giving

When I first opened the store, I prided myself on not putting out the holiday décor until the day after Thanksgiving. It seemed wrong to skip straight to Christmas before the turkey had been made into sandwiches. Some time ago, I had to let that notion go. My vendors started shipping their products in early November and I had to put it out because I had no back room. When I moved into my current location, I was elated to finally have a storage room. It isn’t huge, but it’s there.  And as fate would have it, my vendors have now started shipping holiday in early October. I refuse to have the holidays hit the store before the skeletons and witches have had their day though. As a result, it is almost impossible to navigate my back room right now. The boxes are piled high. My staff is getting irritable, because it has become increasingly difficult to move around. It’s time to get it out on the floor.As I’ve gotten older however, I can appreciate the early date of these holiday items. I realize that I get so stressed out this time of year because I wait to the last minute to get things done. This year, I’m determined to get it done early so I can enjoy the holidays. I want to watch cheesy Hallmark movies with my boys. I want to attend holiday parties. I want to drink champagne with friends and not worry that I haven’t done my shopping and decorating.  This year, I’m going to tick things off my list early. I am going to make my holiday list of people to shop for and cross them off at a leisurely pace, rather than the frenetic way I normally do it. It may seem funny, but for years I never bought gifts from my store. I was worried that it would seem to people like I just dialed it in. One year, a friend of mine asked me why I never gave her anything from my store. So, I told her. She laughed and told me that she was always excited to see what fun thing from the store I would bring and year after year it was from somewhere else.  “I love your store”, she said, “please bring me something from there.” Done.For those of you who tend to look at these items and think, “it isn’t even Thanksgiving yet”…I feel you. But consider taking advantage of this, little by little so that you can enjoy the holidays this year.For these reasons, all our holiday items will be out soon. Some items will trickle in, but the majority will be out by the time this hits print. I have decided to look at it as a good thing. I’ll be free for that glass of champagne in December with friends. I hope to see you out enjoying yourself as well.