Hello and Merry Christmas! Hope this finds you well and surrounded by loved ones on this special and holy day. Christmas looks a bit different this year for us, much quieter and more solemn but we will enjoy the day as much as possible knowing my mom is here with us in spirit (it is an effort to totally believe it but I am hoping). There will be football games blaring, fires roaring and plenty of good food cooking on the stove. I look forward to this day of being home and being with those who mean the most (except my sister and family who could not join us) this year.

I hope my mom is watching over us and knows how much she is missed. I want to take this opportunity to just say thank you to all my amazing readers and customers for your continued support, kindness and empathy. The last few months have felt surreal and to have to run a business while you are in deep mourning was one of the most challenging things I have ever faced. Somehow it got done though and I think knowing we have such a wonderful customer base made it feasible. So thanks for hanging in there with me. A special thanks to my Enchanted Home team, all who pulled together and wore many hats in my absence to keep the ship afloat and get thousands of orders out the door during this busy season. It really does take a village.

With luck,  the new year will bring some peace, hopefully getting our new website launched and a truly phenomenal spring collection which I cannot wait to share with you. All seasons will be starting much earlier on this end as we are now doing wholesale. So I look forward to lots of good things on the Enchanted Home front, and we may also upgrade to an even larger warehouse, as we are kind fo busting at the seams!

Anyway I do think my mom is with me and here is the first time since her passing I felt it. Every Christmas Eve, we would run around picking up last minute things because I obsessed over making sure the boys were given “even gifts” (in value) and still do it as adults. Crazy I know. My mom was my willing copilot and off we would go to brave the masses. Arriving to a zoo like parking lot is not for the faint of heart. Somehow, I don’t know why, 95% of the time, when she was with me, magically a spot would open right in front of the entrance to the store. We used to laugh and laugh about it and she called it the magic parking spot.

Well, yesterday I set out alone, looking at that empty seat balling that she wasn’t there but continued on with my “mission”. Arriving to the parking lot, was met with a sea of hundreds of cars circling looking for a spot. Any spot. I started to do the same and I swear within 2 minutes lo and behold, someone I didn’t even see walking to their car, pulls out RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE ENTRANCE. I truly felt that was my mom’s doing. I really really do. So thank you mom for those memories and keeping the magic parking spot open for me:)

I had not planned to go to any stores, and ordered things strictly online. However due to the crazy weather that took hostage of most the country this week,  things were delayed. In the very end, I went out to buy some things, came home and went on a wrapping binge.  One perk of producing pretty papers, never running out!At first I was dreading it, but as I continued to wrap, it felt productive and through it all,  I felt my mom’s gentle nudging. So it got done….in the 9th hour. Here are just a few highlights………

For anyone missing a loved one this year, you are not alone. And yes, it hurts so deeply only someone else going through it can understand that kind of searing, take your breath away pain. Thought this sentiment is lovely, let’s all search for our loved ones in the stars that shine on Christmas night. Hope is all we have.

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And I am calling it a wrap on Christmas 2022. So happy we will just be home today, reminiscing ,relaxing , cooking, laughing, movie watching…..the kind of day I wait for all year long except of course wish my beautiful mom was here with us. Once again, many thanks for being such kind, empathetic, supportive readers and customers. I am so unbelievably grateful and you make what I get up and do every day a true joy! The best is yet to come.

Wishing you and yours a most merry Christmas filled with love, peace and kindness. Merry Christmas everyone.

My beautiful mom at the last Christmas party she attended at our house 2019