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
You said it all, Tina, so I will say for now, simply “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!” Waiting with bated breath to see the rest of your new home. The wallpapers in your pictures are lovely, just lovely.
Tina, I lost my in the same way you lost yours. I am wearing some jewelery she left me and it feels like she is here..May you feel your Mom’s presence today and feel peace.
Merry Christmas Tina..I am now 84 years old. My mother died at age 66 of a botched Fremeral Bypass surgery. Her Birthday was November 29th. I was 38 years old at the time. Her favorite time of year was of course Christmas and she went way out starting months before it. Not a day goes by I do not think of her or remember something she did even now all these years later. Our home was beautifully decorated and full of memorable Christmas baked goods and foods. Always an open door policy with family and friends popping in and out. I do believe she is with me in Spirit but especially Christmas. I feel your loss and pain and although you will never, ever forget her it does get easier with time. Know i am thinking of you and sending you love and prayers on this Holy Day and i know she is with you and her family in Spirit not just today but always. Much love and friendship today and always for you and your family…
Merry Christmas to you and your family ! Your new home looks beautiful !! You have so many blessings in your life . When I lost my parents I had little time off bc I still had to go to work as an anesthesiologist and take care of my patients . Keep busy it will help pass the time away . One day soon your mom will come to you in a dream and you will know she’s safe in heaven . I promise you that will happen . Have a healthy and happy new year !! Love, Dr. Caroline Engelhardt
I love your sweet story of the “magic spot” in the parking lot. I also remember the feeling I had when first seeing that ” empty seat” in the car. Thank God for these memories. It keeps our loved ones alive and close.
My parents are gone. My husband has Alzheimer’s and lives in a facility. We were never able to have children. It is Christmas Day, and I am all alone. I truly understand your pain. Have a very Merry Christmas. She sees you.
Tina, thank you for sharing the parking spot story. Warmed my heart and I’m sure others as well who miss a loved one that is spending Christmas in Heaven.
From my frozen, broken pipe, water everywhere SOUTHERN home to yours….We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Blessed 2023.
XO
Beautiful blue and white, as always. Sometimes the best way to ‘get through’ grief is to have a good cry, then plunge in and accomplish the most important thing, then the next best thing. and so on. You work out your grief as you go along. (Now, if only I can learn that lesson for myself!)
Merry Christmas Tina. You are so right, your mom will be with your this Christmas, just was she always has been. She is walking along side you, sitting in the passenger seat and ALWAYS in your heart. You are in my prayers Tina, as is your dad. Merry Christmas! xo
Such a beautiful Christmas post remembering your dear Mom and pressing through your sadness with joyful memories of shopping and parking spaces!
Please continue your love and peace will prevail in the midst of mourning🙏
Today is 7 yrs since my beloved sister passed on Christmas night💙
Merry Christmas, Tina! I love your Christmas message and your entire post, as always! I relate perfectly to your grief as I lost my dear dad recently. I’m so depressed over losing him. I try to smile for my kids and grandchildren who are my joy!
Your house is beautiful, a real dream. I wish you a joyful new year, and blessings from the Lord!
Blessings, Tina! What a lovely story to tell your grandchildren some day! I, too, have a “magic parking spot” story to tell about my Daddy, who went to meet Jesus in July, 2020. My Mother (who we lost in 2010 suddenly) always told me that “every time we go to the VA, see my Daddy served in WWII, your Father always gets a close parking spot as if by magic!” He was 92 when he passed. He was the sweetest, kindest man you could ever want to meet and I truly, truly miss him. It gets better, but you will always miss her. Enjoy these slower days after Christmas, before the New Year begins! Love your new home! Can’t wait to see how you make it your own! 🙏🏻🎄🙏🏻
I wish you a Happy New Year and a year filled with peace and comfort. Your new home was decorated so beautifully and your mother would be happy for you. I enjoy your blogs very much and am thankful you were able to make everyone’’s season brighter by seeing your lovely home with her holiday charm. Prayers that your upcoming days and months are filled with all the happy memories of your dear mother with less and less tears as time passes. She will live on in your heart forever..
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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.
_________________________________________________
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
You said it all, Tina, so I will say for now, simply “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!” Waiting with bated breath to see the rest of your new home. The wallpapers in your pictures are lovely, just lovely.
Tina, that was a beautiful post. Thank you…and yes your mom is definitely with you, no doubt about it! Stay warm!
Your mom is surely with you….always. Merry Christmas to you and your.
Tina, I lost my in the same way you lost yours. I am wearing some jewelery she left me and it feels like she is here..May you feel your Mom’s presence today and feel peace.
Merry Christmas Tina..I am now 84 years old. My mother died at age 66 of a botched Fremeral Bypass surgery. Her Birthday was November 29th. I was 38 years old at the time. Her favorite time of year was of course Christmas and she went way out starting months before it. Not a day goes by I do not think of her or remember something she did even now all these years later. Our home was beautifully decorated and full of memorable Christmas baked goods and foods. Always an open door policy with family and friends popping in and out. I do believe she is with me in Spirit but especially Christmas. I feel your loss and pain and although you will never, ever forget her it does get easier with time. Know i am thinking of you and sending you love and prayers on this Holy Day and i know she is with you and her family in Spirit not just today but always. Much love and friendship today and always for you and your family…
Beautiful. Thank you for all you do to make our lives more beautiful. Merry Christmas!
Tina, Merry Christmas to you and your family. I so understand how you are feeling and send virtual hugs to you.
Merry Christmas to you and your family ! Your new home looks beautiful !! You have so many blessings in your life . When I lost my parents I had little time off bc I still had to go to work as an anesthesiologist and take care of my patients . Keep busy it will help pass the time away . One day soon your mom will come to you in a dream and you will know she’s safe in heaven . I promise you that will happen . Have a healthy and happy new year !! Love, Dr. Caroline Engelhardt
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Your mom is with you, watching over you and is so proud of you!
Thank you for all you do for us!
I love your sweet story of the “magic spot” in the parking lot. I also remember the feeling I had when first seeing that ” empty seat” in the car. Thank God for these memories. It keeps our loved ones alive and close.
My parents are gone. My husband has Alzheimer’s and lives in a facility. We were never able to have children. It is Christmas Day, and I am all alone. I truly understand your pain. Have a very Merry Christmas. She sees you.
Much love,
Karen Tortorella
Tina, thank you for sharing the parking spot story. Warmed my heart and I’m sure others as well who miss a loved one that is spending Christmas in Heaven.
From my frozen, broken pipe, water everywhere SOUTHERN home to yours….We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Blessed 2023.
XO
What a lovely message. A tribute to your Mom – and to you.
Beautiful blue and white, as always. Sometimes the best way to ‘get through’ grief is to have a good cry, then plunge in and accomplish the most important thing, then the next best thing. and so on. You work out your grief as you go along. (Now, if only I can learn that lesson for myself!)
Merry Christmas to you and family
Merry Christmas Tina. You are so right, your mom will be with your this Christmas, just was she always has been. She is walking along side you, sitting in the passenger seat and ALWAYS in your heart. You are in my prayers Tina, as is your dad. Merry Christmas! xo
I lost my mom in July after having the privilege of caring for her in my home in her last 2 months. She was loved by all. I’ll always miss her.
Such a beautiful Christmas post remembering your dear Mom and pressing through your sadness with joyful memories of shopping and parking spaces!
Please continue your love and peace will prevail in the midst of mourning🙏
Today is 7 yrs since my beloved sister passed on Christmas night💙
LOVE ALL YOUR POSTS, TINA!
BLESSINGS TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY FOR CHRISTMAS AND MAY YOU CONTINUE TO THRIVE IN 2023 AND ONWARD!
Merry Christmas, Tina! I love your Christmas message and your entire post, as always! I relate perfectly to your grief as I lost my dear dad recently. I’m so depressed over losing him. I try to smile for my kids and grandchildren who are my joy!
Your house is beautiful, a real dream. I wish you a joyful new year, and blessings from the Lord!
Blessings, Tina! What a lovely story to tell your grandchildren some day! I, too, have a “magic parking spot” story to tell about my Daddy, who went to meet Jesus in July, 2020. My Mother (who we lost in 2010 suddenly) always told me that “every time we go to the VA, see my Daddy served in WWII, your Father always gets a close parking spot as if by magic!” He was 92 when he passed. He was the sweetest, kindest man you could ever want to meet and I truly, truly miss him. It gets better, but you will always miss her. Enjoy these slower days after Christmas, before the New Year begins! Love your new home! Can’t wait to see how you make it your own! 🙏🏻🎄🙏🏻
I wish you a Happy New Year and a year filled with peace and comfort. Your new home was decorated so beautifully and your mother would be happy for you. I enjoy your blogs very much and am thankful you were able to make everyone’’s season brighter by seeing your lovely home with her holiday charm. Prayers that your upcoming days and months are filled with all the happy memories of your dear mother with less and less tears as time passes. She will live on in your heart forever..