Ready or Not! Here they come… 🎃🦃🎄🎅🏼

[Lovewell]

Yes, the Holidays in many industries can be JAM PACKED. Even if your industry slows down personal life generally picks up!

This isn’t always a bad thing. The holidays have a way of stressing people out but also

bringing people together. We’ve been talking a lot on the community about more face to face  interactions. The holidays are the best time to implement that practice! 

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS HOLIDAY SEASON?
The goal is always to remain positive. We can harp about all the stress that the holidays bring but what brings you joy? 

Anything fun planned

for staff? Yourself? Favorite traditions? 

We love this time of year! The shop is dressed up and everyone wants something yummy to drink.

Can’t wait to hear from you! 

English traditions?! @doc_choc

Oh and we of course have to hear from @CareyJo ✨ 

@TheRealChipA have to know- do we like peppermint ice cream? 

[CareyJo]

It's sad thought that we don't focus on these relationships more throughout the year, instead of just at Christmas time.  I've been trying to make more of an effort to do that.

[Lovewell]

Beautiful! That’s how it should be. Our bodies were made

for the seasons. After the hustle and bustle of spring and summer we should naturally wind down. Kind of like hibernating! We also should have even more connection because there’s less sunlight which can hurt some people’s mental health! Community and family boost your mental health! 

[Minion]

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@Lovewell wrote:

Beautiful! That’s how it should be. Our bodies were made

for the seasons. After the hustle and bustle of spring and summer we should naturally wind down. Kind of like hibernating! We also should have even more connection because there’s less sunlight which can hurt some people’s mental health! Community and family boost your mental health! 

---

Up in NY, our Winter is so long.  Come the middle of January I am over it but it tends to last until late March.  I don't mind the snow one bit, I just can't stand the bitter cold that February brings with it.  Negative 15 degrees, before the windchill. I just can't stay warm enough.  

Why don't I move you ask?  Great question.  My business thrives on the towns dropping salt on the roads so I'm stuck here for the time being lol. 

[Lovewell]

Yeah so born and raised in Southern California and I have tried to convince my family I should live in Maine. I have an obsession with a state I’ve never been to.They laugh in my face 😂 I don’t know what cold is. 

In winter our windshield freezes but it’s not often. MAYBE 30 degrees then it warms up. 

We have no seasons 😂

[CareyJo]

I've considered living there as well... I've been in love with it for ages.  We actually drove through the bottom corner of it a few years back at Christmas time.  The entire New England area is super low elevation but very high humidity, so they have a ton of precipitation.  It is amazing to me that they can be at 100 feet above sea level and have 3 feet of snow and a butt ton of ice!  I haven't hit Vermont yet.  That's a dream for me!

[CareyJo]

Our weather in MT is the same but far colder.  We typically see -40 in January without windchills.  February is usually a tad warmer but still at or near zero most of the month.  We typically get a bad storm in January that will cause that.  Lots of frozen pipes that time of year.  Our winter lightens up in March but spring doesn't come until April or May.  Some years not even until June.  We've already had snow in MT and not just the mountains.  We have a town called Red Lodge, which is at the base of the Beartooth mountain and they've had snow on the ground.  Beartooth was already really heavy by Labor Day, which is normal.  Red Lodge has been known to get 8 feet of snow in 24 hours.  The snow in our part of the state used to start in early September each year but has changed with global warming.  We only get it now that early when the storms are bad.

[SVLFever]

Well, it's honestly the busiest time of year for us.  We are actually open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, as  well as New Years Eve and New Years Day.   We will do a LARGE amount of business with kids out of school and families looking for something to do.  I just hope that people have enough money in their pockets to do the "staycation", as we are a great location for that.

Fingers crossed and Ho Ho Ho!

[CareyJo]

Our local lanes are only open part day on Christmas Eve but they're open NYE and NY Day.  I can totally see how that would be a great place to visit during Christmas vacay.

[SVLFever]

Yeah, we close at 5pm on Christmas Eve and re-open at 4pm on Christmas Day.  I do pay time and a half on Chirstmas Day and interestingly, I take volunteers first to fill the positions and normally do not have any issue staffing the place.  It seems some people prefer to get away from their "crazy cousins" and work that day.  I think we probably all have family members that we can relate to.  LOL

[VanKalkerFarms]

Probably until I was about 15, we went bowling every Christmas afternoon.  My dad was friends with the owner of the Z Bowling alley, and it was probably at least half full.  It was only a 20-lane or so place, but it was fun, and they had more kid-related stuff set up for the probably more than average kid-to-adult ratio.

[VanKalkerFarms]

Not a lot of free time to even think generally around the holidays.  We are closed on Christmas, New Year's, and Thanksgiving, but the lead into it, the previous 2-3 days, is like a month's worth of orders at our bakeries.  Then, on the holiday itself, is evening out inventory across the stores and gearing up for the following days, but that is usually done by lunchtime.
The good and bad news is that January is right around the corner, and then sales plummet for a bit as everyone is just tired of all the pies and treats from around the holidays.  Usually we can escape in Jan for a quick family getaway for a weekend or so.

[CareyJo]

It would make sense that you use that time to get away for a bit.  Have you ever tried doing something new during that time, to increase sales?

[DinaLRosenberg]

we have really fun staff parties the beginning of December. Last year we went to a shop and made our own perfumes.The year before we made card holders from recycles purse fabric from either Gucci or Louis Vuitton and then we painted them. We need to come up with this year! We're thinking maybe a photo shoot could be fun - make it witchy & they get a print?

[Lovewell]

OMG! This sounds soooo fun.