Tree in a can?
Friday, December 7th, 2007I cannot believe it is holiday time once again. Wasn’t it just Halloween a minute ago? I remember when I was a kid, my elders would always caution me about wishing my life away. They would tell me that when I got older, “time would fly by.” Now I know what they were talking about. But I can’t complain—I love this time of year, even if it is fleeting.
In December we get to see our wonderful customers in groups, and as Athens is a small town, they often know one another, so they enjoy a nice visit in the store. It is also the only month when the entire staff is working at the same time. Each year we gather one night after the store has closed to decorate for the season. We usually serve a little champagne to enhance the deck-the-halls experience. This year we decided to hang branches from the high ceiling and dangle ornaments from them, for a novel and festive effect.
We don’t have a live tree in the store this year, so Aunt Sadie’s Tree In A Can candle comes in handy. This candle is amazing: it smells just like a fresh-cut Douglas fir. It is one of our best-selling seasonal candles, and we sell out each year well before Christmas (I already sold out once and started taking orders for our next shipment, which arrived today, thankfully). I love the evocative scent, which reminds me of being a kid and watching my dad raise the Christmas tree in the living room each year.
I remember one year when my family was living in Saudi Arabia during the holiday season. I wondered how Christmas was going to unfold in the middle of the desert. To my great joy, my father found a live Christmas tree that had been flown in from who-knows-where. We were so excited to have a real tree that it didn’t even matter that the needles fell off of the sad thing long before Christmas morning. I do remember that smell, though: our Christmas tree that had logged more sky miles that Santa still had that deep evergreen scent.
Enjoy the smells—and sounds and tastes—of the holidays!
Eric