Now don't accuse me of jumping the gun. It's true that we never start our holiday season until the Friday after Thanksgiving. I'm just writing to give you a little heads-up designed to save you from making that social crippling mistake of loading up too early on cheesy holiday decorations and gifts from "those places" that put out their holiday stuff on Labor Day.

Relax, and send all that junk back to the home shopping club. If you can wait just a few weeks, you can get the kinds of great gifts that your friends and family will keep and not feel obligated to re-gift at next year's company Christmas party.

Just to whet your appetite, I'm going to use the next few weeks to show off a sampling of the kinds of the fabulous stuff we're going have in the store during our holiday event. Just a sample I said - I can't remember what I had for breakfast let alone what has been building up in my storage shed for three months.

Here is the first installment...

Unbelievable Handmade Santas These guys almost look alive with their grandfatherly, hand molded faces, beautifully sewn vintage clothing and quirky antique accessories. They come in all shapes, sizes, and styles and we'll have a great assortment of these fabulous, one of a kind santas. Larger Image	Spectacular Holiday Wreaths And Trimmings After five years, I think we finally started to get the hang of this thing. This year we searched farther and wider than we ever have and it has really paid off - we'll have tons of great handmade wreaths, trimmings and all manner of cool holiday decor. Larger Image

Make your holiday home a plastic-free zone this year! Nancy has been out rooting around attics and basements all summer to bring home a great collection of fun vintage silver, sparkly glassware, and loads of cool holiday "swag". Sorry Coke, this is the real thing.

We've also just gotten in lots of antique planters and cool garden elements from my recent trips to the south and east. Stuff on the smaller side - just perfect for holiday decorating inside or out.

See you again next week with the next sneak peek.

All the best,