Tis’ the season to be jolly! This should be somewhat of a hint as to what I am working on right now. I have been busy preparing for the upcoming Christmas fairs that I will be doing with my friend Marion (mademarion.etsy.com). This will be the second year that Marion and I will be working at the various schools and Churches that hold Christmas and holiday shows. Since a lot of the shows are at the local schools in our area, I try to make jewelry appropriate (and affordable) for children, since they come and do their own shopping during the school day. Yesterday, I was busy producing little snowmen earrings, which were a big hit with the girls last year. Today, I started working on my Christmas charm bracelets. It was like an assembly line. First, I cut the length of chains that I would be using; then, lining up the various charms and green and red crystals that will decorate each one; I started assembling them one by one. Hopefully, this year I will have enough. Then I will start making candy cane bracelets and earrings.
Of course, my favorite fair is at the elementary school where my children used to attend, and where I am still very active. What makes this fair so special, as in other years there, is when the children come in to do their shopping. It has always been a tradition there that the fair was open only for the children during the day until school ended. Then we would reopen in the evening for the adults. The very little ones (pre-K through 2nd grade) each have an older student to help them shop. They come up with their $1 or $2 in their little hands, and are so excited and looking at my jewelry, say "I want to buy a present for my mommy" I would ask how much they had (that $2 could just as well be a million$ to them!) - of course they would always look at the necklaces - which were just a little bit out of their price range, but I would show them a pair of earring and say "this just happens to be $1 or $2" depending on what they had. Even though I may have taken a loss, because they are usually about $18-25, the smile on their little faces was worth every penny I might have lost. Of course, they also got a free candy cane with their purchase. One of the cutest story was when a little boy came up to my friend Marion and asked about the little baby socks with ruffles she had made. She told him they were $4, he said he only had $2, so she picked up a pair and said, "oh, these are only $2" he smiled, and said he would buy it - then hands her $1, and says "thanks these are for my baby brother." We got such a laugh out of that and thinking what his mother will think when he comes home with little ruffled socks for his baby brother! Like I said, watching the little one's shop, their proud little faces, buying something special for their mommy or daddy, or little brother or sister with their pockets of wealth ($1) was worth all the sales in the world.
The picture shown was taken last Christmas at my daughter Kelly’s High School, of which she graduated in 1997. The fair is given each year by the alumni, so as you can see I also put her to work!
