Southern Christmas Show

It’s that time of year again. Can you believe it’s already almost Thanksgiving? I mean, wasn’t I just at the beach soaking up the sun a month ago? 

It’s also the time of year where everyone is getting ready for Christmas. Through the years, people have started running Thanksgiving and Christmas all together. We used to never start decorating for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving eve marked the beginning of Christmas. Daddy would always take us uptown to see the lights as it was the first night they would light up the town. 

Well, I will admit, I am almost finished with my Christmas shopping and haven't even gotten the Christmas stuff down from the attic. But in tradition, I will not light my tree until after Thanksgiving. 

Speaking of tradition, I think me and my daughter have started a new one. We both have always wanted to go to the Southern Christmas Show that goes on every year in Charlotte, NC. It is always a big deal and all the women are always raving about it. My daughter has asked me several years if I want to go but I never wanted to fight the crowd on weekends and the job I always had would not allow me anytime off unless it was family vacation or I was bleeding from my eye balls. I missed out on it.

Well, with the job I have now, I get to build up time off. It equals to about a day a month. I have several hours accumulated. I do not need permission to get off a day because it’s my time that was earned. I was sitting at my desk and thought about it. Then I called up my daughter and asked her to take a day off so we can go to the Christmas Show. She was all for it and by the end of the day, we had a plan. 

The Southern Christmas Show is an event at the convention center. There are hundreds of vendors, shops and crafts. Everywhere is decorated like Christmas and it just puts you in the Christmas mood. We had to wait an hour in traffic to get in and it took 4 hours to go through all the shops. We had a good time. We did not buy much because the prices were high on a lot of things, but I did buy a few little things that I did not need, but thought they were unique. 

I came home with a pair of earrings, bottle of wine, a cinnamon mouse, key chain and a cow bone. She came home with a key chain, earrings, a diamond art kit and a block of fudge. Yea, we are not big spenders. 

I want to show you the little cinnamon mouse. 

I thought it was so cute. It is made out of Cinnamon sticks and by placing it somewhere in your home, it will smell the room up like cinnamon. Ok we all need one of these, right? 

And the cow bone. I had ya there didn’t I?

It is a hair pin made from a cow bone. There was an African woman that made these for sale. Each one was different and imperfect.  I love it. I can also use it as a weapon if I need to. 

We have already talked about going back again next year. Now that we know what it’s all about, we can prepare our wallets and have some gifting ideas for friends. 

Do you have any traditions with family or friends?