Blog: All I want for Christmas . . . (a holiday blog from Della in 3 parts)
All I want for Christmas . . . (a holiday blog from Della in 3 parts)
- by Della Valenzuela
Part 1: All I want for Christmas . . . is [for] you . . . to let the Holidays take over
"We have all seen Love Actually. If you have not, for some unknown reason, stop everything and watch it this minute. The scene where the beautiful young girl belts out the Mariah Carey song in the Christmas pageant, and the adoring boy plays the drums to make her notice him…and then she points at him as she sings the words, "All I want for Christmas is You," is a game changer. No one can walk away from that movie unscathed.
That song, that thought, takes a child's Santa list to a new level. We can "want" for “You” as well as love, kindness, and other non-tangibles that mean so much more than a new sled or a diamond necklace. Who knew? I'm not sure if Santa can bring these. But what I do know is the holiday brings the best of people. The best intentions.
We need everyone's best intentions right now. We need kindness and love and compassion and truth and hope and joy and innocence and curiosity and magic. We need all that the holiday brings. Winter needs a pick me up. The darkness, the ending of the season, the death. It is how it works. The holidays make us feel warmth and light, and that fuels us. It calls for the best in us.
Part 2: Two Sides of the Holidays
So, there are two sides to the holidays for me. The intended. The magic. And then retail. I have worked retail for 1 million years. Me and the dinosaurs offered free gift wrap. Some stores start the Christmas music in October. We push the season earlier and earlier. Is there no shame? It is what makes a store make or break. Not that a customer needs to know that, but it is a fact. 4th quarter, OMG. And if we were Wal-Mart or Macy's or whoever we would follow graphs and charts and have amazing Black Friday sales and door crashers and whatever else people seem to want to get a TV for $42.00. All good stuff.
Sometimes up to a year before the holidays, we at World's Window start searching and gathering the perfect, beautiful, most amazing, intriguing, fairly traded, interesting, different, and magical items. We put a lot of work into the looking and gathering, and into the thought of holidays that mean something to us as well as you.
We start with over 150 different nativities from around the world. They aren't loaded on shelves in boxes ready to consume. They are displayed in the front window to ooh and ahh at by anyone walking by and to buy if they speak to you. We pull that set out of the window, box it up for you, and then pretty much that is it, that one is gone. It is small business at its best.
We are small and local and interested in offering items you don't find anywhere else. We are interested in the stories of the artisans. We are interested in beauty and magic. It is indeed a different way of shopping.
Part 3: Experiencing the Holidays
The adventure of World's Window is in the experience. We don't offer on-line shopping. We can't bring the smells and the feels to the internet. You roam. You look and wander. You shop slowly and with purpose. You hum along to the music. You discover. In the fast paced world it is an oasis. You can slow down, have a cup of coffee and maybe an old fashion ginger snap and think through your list. We can help. We love to help. Or you can take it all in and then start filling a basket with special gifts at your own pace. We can offer ideas. We can gift wrap. We can smile and listen.
My favorite part of the holidays is the extra. Extra hugs, extra kindness, an extra comment, extra FOOD, a little extra time to enjoy what we each have and the people around us. We have extra patience. We have extra excitement. It is a time of extra. Embrace that. Enjoy that. Hold that dear. Each year I get so caught up in the extra and trying to make it so for everyone - then suddenly it is upon me, that specialness, that warmness and I let it just engulf me. It is good.
Take the time to make sure you revel in it. Listen to the music, take a deep breath and take in the smells, the hope, the calmness, the love, the family, the celebration. Please. It comes but once a year. We deserve those feelings. We worked towards this all year. We need to breathe and let the holidays take over. I hope the best to you, and to yours."