Best Christmas! Recap.

For retailers, Christmas is fun, exhilarating, high pressure, non-stop, wild and wonderful. Also a bit weird. I say that with a happy heart. It's only weird because we wind it up and up for the season at the shop (and it truly is joyful and lots of fun), but we ignore ourselves until the very last minute. We don't even know what day it is, most of the time. Way back when I was in the corporate world, the holiday season started at thanksgiving and slagged until the new year. It's not that we knocked off work or goofed around. Heck no! But client projects were fewer and work on the table was generally less. It meant the occasional, guilt-free two-hour lunch with girlfriends, or a little time out for shopping. A long weekend. Peace. Rolling down softly to land with a thump at the end of the year.

It's the exact opposite if you own a store. Holiday time is our make-it or break-it time. Black Friday and all that. You work seven days a week without even knowing it; you dream and think of nothing but your little business; you walk into another store and strange as it seems, you just start to realize it really is Christmas time. You shovel down a couple of bites of cottage cheese or yogurt at 3:45 and call it lunch. You finally get your own tree two days before Christmas [at 8pm when the guy is about to close down the lot], and quick, slap some stuff on it. [Okay, we did far better than that: I have to say our little tree is gorgeous]. I'm not complaining: just 'splainin', Lucy.

But, we got to reconnect with customers, meet some new ones, and have a grand old time. Everyone was in a good mood: I have to say, our customers are so dear, and they really came out in droves. If some had ratcheted down their spending, it didn't matter. Still fun to have someone ooh and ahh over a $12 item. If it made them happy to have something unusual they could afford, it made me happy. And there were those who just bought what they fell in love with. Add to that a few unexpected phone call purchases from Vermont and Michigan and I don't know where else; people who had found my little blog or our website. We had a wonderful open house day early in December – equal to several years ago – and gave 10% of our gross revenues to Saving Grace (a check for $460; the math is easy).

This year, we just wanted to know if we'd still be in business next year. Did we pull it out of the hat? Yes! As I said, this season was just perfect, all things considered. It's nothing like it was in 2006. Maybe it never will be again. And that's just fine. Having just one store now is bliss (for the last six years or so, we've had two stores to deal with). Financially, breaking even or even being a bit up from last year is a miracle – that part is a good omen and we're fine with that. But the stress level has dropped by about 90%. Maybe more, and that is worth gold. Everybody asks us if we miss our downtown store, and we do, but with all the demands and high rent downtown, we were literally on the edge of bankrupcty. And I was on the edge of falling apart. I can say that now, with a little distance between Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (2008) and regrouping (2009). Take some of the drama out of it (I wasn't exactly falling apart, just a temporary departure from my usual even-keeled self) and you have the retailers' reality. Think about it if you have any wild thoughts of opening a store right now. Or come talk to us.

We got our little baby through this very uncertain time. Although it can always be better, I'm happy with our merchandise decisions and our sell-through. As we did last year, we ordered the just-right amounts so that we're not left with a lot of unsold seasonal merchandise. What we do have in ornaments and holiday décor is all half off right now, but there's not a lot. The store is a bit stripped down, as you would imagine, but we have more coming all the time. It's all good.

But forget all of that! When we did finally get our moments of peace, it was more beautiful and focused than if we had had days to enjoy it all. Most of all, our little family was all there (some just by phone). My mom visited (it's a six-hour + drive, and has been a long time since she could drive up, or we drive down), and we had such a good time. I'll remember us standing in the kitchen, cooking two soups together. Mostly, she did it. A most outstanding squash and pear creamy soup with layers of delicate flavor (yep, I could just stand over that pot and eat the whole thing) and a split pea soup from my childhood. It doesn't get better than that! Our two sweet old dogs and their feeble, half-deaf antics were funnier and more precious than ever. Friends and family came over; we had a wonderful Christmas dinner and the gifts were perfect, even if we just did low-key, practical things this year.

And a dear friend who was desperately ill from the swine flu (I hate those swines!) pulled through and is slowly recovering. Recovering. That's a happy word. We got to talk to him on Christmas day, and that was the best gift of all. Boy, that kind of thing sure slaps you out of your self-inflicted trials and tribulations in a second. We're thinking about you every day, Mike.

Hmmm, now I need a tiny bowl of that precious soup.