offcntr | Home for the holidays (Reply)

Our Holiday Market booth. We set up the day before Thanksgiving, opened the doors on Black Friday. We'll be there every Saturday and Sunday 'til Christmas, plus Monday through Wednesday of the last week, closing 4 pm on Christmas Eve.

I feel like I'm at the top of a roller coaster, in that quiet moment before the plunging terror begins. We'll make a good quarter, perhaps third of our annual income in the coming weeks, put away enough in savings to last us through the winter months until we reopen at Saturday Market in April.

When we first started selling pottery, Christmas sales were critical. We did very little business in the two months preceding, so I'd been stretching bills, using the overdraft on my checking account, emptying the cupboard rather than grocery shopping. The first weekend of Holiday Market was a huge sigh of relief, letting us get current on our creditors, put away some money, even splurge a little on ourselves: a new music CD, a visit to the used bookstore.

Twenty-some years along, we're better supported year round. Clay Fest in October, and Clayfolk in November make the fall less lean and hungry. But the feeling of excitement and anticipation going into Holiday sales still remains.