Timely Seasonal Decking

This morning I was in the basement scouring through cobwebs and boxes for some Christmas tree lights for use at the store. We're setting up a little half-tree and planning the Christmas merchandising of ornaments. Now before you start whining about "Christmas aaaaallllreaaaadddyy?" I have one thing to say: shut up.  It's eight weeks away and frankly it's about time you all learned how retail works.

There is a certain amount of square footage in stores designated as "seasonal". There is nothing else to go in that spot (otherwise it would be already somewhere else in the store.) Consequently, some stores put out their seasonal merchandise pre-seasonally because otherwise it would be a big empty space where dust, dead bugs and live spiders collect.  Want to see that when you are shopping? Probably not. (It also makes the store look like it is going out of business when it is not.) Many stores have no space to store freight so as it comes in it goes right out on the shelves.  It doesn't make sense to wait and put out the winter coats on December first when the snow flies early in November - they go out in September when people are thinking and planning ahead.  Please note:  You are not at any point in your life forced to look at or purchase anything in the seasonal section so walk on by and get to whatever it is you need. ( BTW, if you shop to kill time, you need a life. )

Back to the tree lights.

While rummaging around in the basement I saw lots of lovely things I used to put up for Christmas.  I remembered my "To Tree or Not to Tree" dilemma and made a decision:  I'm going to start decking.  Not immediately - I have a home-grown pumpkin and gourds on my mantle and I like that.  We haven't had a hard frost or a warm fire yet, so I'm not completely off the reservation.  However, I am planning on spending some time in the basement this week, sorting it all out and planning what will go where.  I'm going to put it up and ENJOY looking at it all through November and December. I'm going to decorate the dining room, the family room, our bedroom and the kitchen.  I have all of these beautiful things that make me happy to look at - what purpose do they serve in boxes downstairs? Some of them have been down there in the dark so long I have forgotten about them. (Hey, new stuff!) Thanksgiving,  my favorite holiday, falls in the middle of it all and gives me a perfect opportunity to stop and inventory the past year and count the many blessings, people and gifts in my life.

Today is our 24th wedding anniversary but Joe is at a City Council meeting tonight so there won't be moonlight and roses and that is ok.  Tomorrow night we're planning to get Chinese food & crack open a very good bottle of champagne  and watch our wedding video.  We haven't watched it in about 20 years - at first it was old hat, but eventually we stopped watching because as we lost family members and other loved ones we just couldn't bear to look at them without weeping.

Too often I plod through the days and weeks and seasons and think about "next year, next time."  It feels like it's time now.  I may be dissolved in tears through much of the wedding video but we both want to look back and remember the day - and laugh at the bad 80's hair and shoulder pads.  I will probably get weepy unfolding the Christmas table runner Mom made but I want it out and on display - it is gorgeous.

It is time.

Boston Gift Show Report

Well, it's over for another year.  Even though the Boston Gift Show opened today, I'm all done.  We've been going to this gift show for almost 20 years (Joe has a gift shop in Gloucester) so we know the vendors & the drill by heart.

In the past few years, it has moved from the old Bayside Expo to the new Boston  Convention Center. It has also become about 1/3 the size it used to be. We used to spend an entire exhausting day working the show - today we did it in three hours.  Honest.  It was a little surreal - vendors and sales reps we've known for years were not present.  Hoity toity vendors that would never deign to do a gift show for the great unwashed were actually present. A nationally known candle company had a tiny little booth there, and I got a taste of one of my favorite emotions - schadenfreude - as I walked past their booth.... without stopping.   I remember having to make actual appointments to see the TY rep (think Beanie Babies) and being forced to purchase a boatload of other unsaleable plush toys in order to get the 'privilege' of  buying the Beanie Babies.  They were nowhere in sight. Again with the schadenfreude. There are dark secrets in the  wholesale / retail universe. It makes you want to go somewhere and just live off the land.

I have learned an awful lot about retail over the past twenty years - I could not do it for a living.  I just do not like shopping (or selling things) that much.  I am saddened to see the lack of high quality merchandise that passes for giftware.  There were some booths with beautiful and artistically made goods, but most looked it came over on a container ship.  So much is imported (there were at least 30 booths selling imported pashmina (maybe) scarfs for $4 to $6 a pop) and just, well, schlocky.

This is a trend in giftware, soft goods and even appliances. It is why some brides no longer register for beautiful, quality china that will still be available 20 years from  now,  and instead pick out something CUTE at Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware.  (Good luck finding a matching piece in a year or so when you break a plate.)  It's about how disposable everything has become in our current culture. I bought a toaster oven about 5 months ago and it looks like it is 10 years old.  It's cheaper to replace it - and that "disposable" mentality is why our garbage dumps are so full of things that used to last for years and years.  It is sad, really.  Or maybe I'm just getting into old-fart mode.  I have to tell you, though,  we had custom drapes made for our bedroom 21 years ago and while they were pretty spendy at the time, they still look beautiful and show some (but not much) wear.  I have no intention of replacing them. I don't need to! I registered for a very simple, bisque china with a fine gold rim over 21 years ago, and I still use them and throw them in the dishwasher.  They are made so beautifully well.  If I needed a plate, Lenox still makes them. It works for me.

Let's go out on a high note - the website for the gift show has the header I put below.  I'm pleased to point out that the picture on the far left is actually in GLOUCESTER, and I live near those houses. HAH - Nothing in Boston was so lovely, eh? Well, Boston Gift Show, you're welcome!