You know, we've got a cute little space in Historic Downtown Carrollton. We just love our little corner. If there was one thing to complain about, it would be the size.  It's about a third the space we're used to occupying. When we added "everyday" products, the square footage seemed vast... We had much space between displays. But we knew that once we started on our Fall & Winter holiday decorating, that space would fill up, fast. The Christmas trees would take over, one by one.

Having been in a mall space every Christmas season since 2006, we knew this year could be no different. What we did want to be different was the mall. While we loved being in Vista Ridge in Lewisville, this year seemed like a good year to try a new area. The Shops at Willow Bend feels like a nice fit for us.

What remains the same is our dedication to uniqueness and beauty. Our affections for creating and designing. And the importance of traditions. Traditions that too often seem to be disappearing with the passing of each year. Though we hear voices of dread and negativity, we remain hopeful. There are still mothers and grandmothers who collect a unique Christmas ornament each year. One that can be passed down to the next generation. There are still families who gather together to make new memories at Thanksgiving and Christmas. In a world of increasingly modern ideals, it's wonderful to see traditions live on.

Though you don't need "stuff" to make a tradition, sometimes a little "stuff" can really set the mood. It can be fun to find little pieces to add to your collection every year. The trinkets and ornaments and knickknacks can inspire joy and cheer.

In addition to our new adventure of the dueling Christmas Stores, we have added a website featuring some of our favorite items. We had attempted setting up a website for the last few years, but time was never available. Well, this year, we made time.

Grinchmas 2013 Ornament by Dept. 56

One of our traditions, is that of a Grinch section. We've done one almost every year. The story "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" is a favorite Christmas tale across the generations. Take the icons of the story, add bright, bold colors, and you have a holiday theme that your family will cherish.

Willow Tree Trellis Ornament 2013 by Demdaco

At our Willow Bend store, we will have a great selection of Willow Tree figurines, nativities, and ornaments including this Trellis 2013 ornament. Willow Tree figurines are loved and collected around the world.

Katherine's Collection Vampire & Vampira Vosner

And we've brought back our favorite vampires to help us glam up the creep for Halloween. If you've ever seen any Katherine's Collection dolls, you know just how gloriously sinister these really are.

These are just 3 examples of what we carry online and in store. View our website and see what we have. But if you have a chance to come see us, we'd like that even better. We'd love to help you get your home ready for the holidays.

For The Holidays - For Everyday

When we began For The Holidays back in 2006, we didn't put much thought into the moving in and moving out of a holiday store. We had very few fixtures back then (some were borrowed). Very few trees. And very little merchandise. Small store.

2007. We added tons more inventory and invested in some awesome furniture and fireplaces (we still have today) in this much larger location For The Holidays. The move in is always gradual as things are shipped to us. But the move out can be brutal. This year, we had a few short days to pack it up and move it out. We scheduled a few movers for the day before we needed to be out. So we packed and packed so we would be ready. The scheduled day arose, and even after confirming that morning, the movers did not come. Feeling pressured, we started hauling. Loaded up a nearby storage until it was packed to the door. Still had stuff left. It's midnight. Gotta be out by 10 a.m. Through the night, we moved. Mary loaded her SUV. Candice drove it home to unload there while Mary loaded Candice's SUV. That went on all night along with freezing January temps and a good heavy rain.

Between 2008 and now move-ins and move-outs were a mixed bag. 100+ degree July move-ins and the occasional snowy move outs.

If we just didn't have so much stuff in one place.

So we are trying something new this year. Two stores. We have opened one in Historic Downtown Carrollton to be open year round with gifts and all kinds of fun stuff. Then there will be a TBA mall store For The Holidays. That will be a bit smaller than the past few years, but it will be jam packed with Christmas trees, ornaments, crosses, gifts, stockings... a store full of what we love most about Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. No worries though, the Downtown Carrollton store will have tons of Fall and Christmas too!

Historic Downtown Carrollton behind the Broadway Place Sign

Come out and see how we filled this empty space. Just know... as always... we are adding new stuff everyday!

1014 S. Broadway St. Suite 100, Carrollton, TX 75006

NEXT STEP? Finishing that website! We'll keep you posted.

2012 to 2013 Holiday Season Recap

So our first (and last) blog post was way back in September when we had received all those boxes. My goodness that was so overwhelming, we are still feeling residual panic. When we moved out in January, we actually found a couple boxes we had misplaced and some that had never been opened. Great. Well, it'll be new to you this year. Ha. Speaking of this year, we have some plans in place, but more on that later. Let's discuss what has happened between September and the Present.

Our first holiday of the 2012 Fall/Winter Season... Halloween. We filled the store windows with vampires, owls, skulls, and spiders. Each year, we try to have a bit that is more kid friendly. Sticking with cute pumpkins and owls and staying away from anything too creepy. But we celebrate with some creepy too (because we must!).

Halloween is really the start to an awesome party season. We really like to have a main focus in anything we do, Halloween is no different.  The vampires and Dr. Dementia by Katherine's Collection are two ideas we focused on for 2012. The Doctor is a bit of a mad scientist complete with skull lined lab coat and I.V. tubes. Though he's been on the retired list for some time, we love to keep him around. We think he is the perfect centerpiece to a crazy, creepy cocktail party. The Doc is an expert at mixing toxins, why not deliciously, devilish drinks? Add in some wicked wine glasses from Top Shelf or Grasslands Road, and you've got yourself a a party your guests will be talking about.

For something more sinister we love Vampiro and Vampira Vosner as the focus of our costume party. Reds and blacks, spiders and flames... webs and lace. Sinister? Yes. But fabulous too!

Then we switched gears ever so slightly into Fall/Thanksgiving. Everything we choose feels warm and friendly with scents of pumpkin and deep spices filling the air around the imagery of harvested pumpkins and fallen leaves. We know when family comes to town, you want them to feel the joy of the holiday from the moment they step onto your porch to the moment they sit down for dinner. We were obsessed with these large hammered metal pumpkins. They made such a strong statement, giving a real kick to your Fall decor.

And then there's Christmas. If you've been in our store, you know we love Christmas. With a love of Christmas, we have a love of exploration. For this past season, we had 30+ themes. You get four of those in the image above (Russian Nutcracker, Nutcracker Sweets, The Grinch, & Scrooge). Throughout the rest of the store we had themes like, Winter Snow Storm, Western, Religious, Fairy Garden, Black & Silver Bling, Woodland, Old Traditional and New, Caribbean, Collegiate, etc.

And then the New Year came and it was time for us to pack and go. With much help and many many trips with trailers, we moved into our warehouse space... took about 3 weeks. Lots to bubble, and lots of trash to throw away. We really accumulated some stuff over our years at Vista Ridge.

Really... we owe a big thanks to those who help pack and haul. And haul. And lift. And haul. And load. And unload.


And then it was done. Wall paper down. Most of the glitter swept from the floor. And the next few days in bed. 

 

Stay Tuned... we are getting ready to start all over again!