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Behind the Scenes at Wonderful Things
I thought it might be fun to share some of the happenings after hours/ 'behind the scenes' at Wonderful Things. Hopefully we manage to present the front of the store as 'put together' and ready for business at all times. Geez, folks, you just wouldn't believe what it takes to make it all work!
This time of year always presents our greatest challenge in terms of time and managing to keep going when all the 'go' has gotten up and 'gone'!! We just cannot bring ourselves to present one tiny bit of holiday decor, etc. until the Ghosts and Goblins have made their annual trick or treat run....since we have made it a tradition to host our Holiday Open House on the lst Thursday in November...it just 'ain't' easy to get it all done and be sane when the Wonderful crowd descends on us to see what the elves have done. Mind you, we present ourselves as sane and rational folks. Hmmm...as the holiday challenge unfolds, there is much to question!
Since holiday merchandise began arriving as early as June/July, it has been cleverly organized by Janet & Helpers to ensure that the 'look' for each tree is together and ready for assembly. Applause for Janet because she has a vision for each tree and related merchandise.....just don't know what I would do without her.
Holly is the mastermind of unpacking, pricing and moving the merchandise through the back of the store. No small task as you can imagine when you see how many items are on display. Each piece is checked for damage, repacked and placed in the warehouse and stock room. Delana, our bookkeeper, has moments of heart palpitation knowing there is an invoice attached to each box that is received! Keeping her supplied with chocolate helps a lot. (Holly keeps a Diet Coke nearby at all times....this is no time to give up any bad habits). Our UPS and FedEx guys probably have to see a chiropractor by the time our seasonal things arrive and ME ??? I'm wondering WHO could have possibly ordered all of this stuff!!! But golly, as we visited showrooms throughout the year, we just HAD to have this, that and something else. Anyway, this time of year, I'm thinking that ordering pens need to be broken in half and the order writers beat with wet noodles.
You should be a fly on the wall when the heavy trees, wreaths, etc. are brought down from the upper rafters of storage in the warehouse. Muscle strength is severely tested. It doesn't take long for the memories to emerge. Preparations begin in earnest on the weekend prior to Open House. This year there was a Friday night work session (Janet and I) followed by Saturday night when Janet and her mom, Mary, continued the projects. I must admit that I treated myself to a UT/Kansas football game and promised to work doubly hard later. As trees were decorated, the elves wanted to keep them as "surprises' and gamely covered them with plastic. (We KNOW it is so hard for women to be denied).
Sunday called for a hearty breakfast at IHop (we even included Marvin, my hubby, so that we could put him to work, as well). Afterwards, Janet, Mary, Marvin, Delana and myself threw ourselves into preparations. Different Staff Members came throughout the day and hung garlands, lights, moved decorations from the stockroom and warehouse, wrapped packages for the window decor, etc. For lunch we brought in chicken from KFC and drinks from Sonic to keep us going. It must have worked because we hummed and buzzed and made great progress throughout the day. With only an additional Dr. Pepper fix, Janet and I stayed several hours after our helpers departed. More trees and several displays were completed and we were feeling pretty pumped....alas, the time we had agreed on for departing came and THEN all we had to do was pick up all of the 'aftermath', including several furniture pieces that had been displaced, vacuum AGAIN, make sure our work was properly covered and FINALLY fall out the back door (almost literally) about 9:30 p.m. after being hard at work since 10 a.m. Can rational and sane be identified at this point??
At 6 p.m.on Monday, the doors were locked and Janet and I were telling ourselves, YOU CAN DO IT again! More trees, more display, more, more and even more!! Because we had 2 more nights and staff coming to assist those nights, we treated ourselves to a 9 p.m. departure. Thankfully, Janet's hubby, Ron, brought hamburgers and Dr. Peppers to keep up our strength.
8:30 a.m. on Tuesday and I was in Maggie's chair for a Maggie-Do to get me through the week and then it was off to HEB to gather supplies for goodies we were going to serve and then I was back at home preparing some of the recipes before returning to the store and more decorating after 6 p.m. Also, some of the 'food crew' showed up and prepared a number of recipes in the back kitchen. Many thanks for Cheryl, Katherine, Nancy and Pat helping with food preparation. Other Wonderful gals showed up to continue the preparations. It takes a whole village of Wonderful ladies (and gents) to make this event happen and this night it gook some tasty pizzas from Papa John's as well. So grateful for delivery right to our door.
More holiday decor, merchandise, etc. continue to fall into place on Wednesday night (thanks to help from some of the Wonderful gals). Shannon and her oldest daughter, Meg, helped Delana with the outside lights/garland and, of course, the wind came up and just about blew them off the ladders..seems to happen every year. The hefty hook it takes to hang our HUGE wreath was nowhere to be found so that required a Home Depot run and other supply needs surfaced that required a Wal-Mart run! (Sound familiar)? However, all things finally came together and by the time we left that night we knew we were going to be able to welcome everyone to a fully decorated Open House! Can you say huge sigh of relief!!
Thursday morning called for more food preparation and the final touches on displays. And THEN at 4:30, the plastic began to be removed and wahoo--beautiful trees and displays emerged. Let the party begin!! If you attended you probably saw several new faces as we brought in all manner of family, friends and others willing to pitch in to make sure everyone had a great time.
We burned up 4 blenders last year preparing Peach Bellinis...SO, we did our homework and found a 2-bucket commercial grade machine so that everyone could enjoy frozen Bellinis and Senioritas this year. My husband, Marvin, and Kim Anderson were very popular as they weaved through the crowd (oops, poor choice of words because they were NOT drinking) with trays of drinks. Ron was in the back keeping those drinks glasses filled. The food seemed to be a hit as tray after tray was refilled! When the doors closed a little after 8 p.m., we were all SO HAPPY and GRATEFUL for the support of our Wonderful Customers. As we've said, this is our favorite time of year because we so enjoy planning and presenting our creations for your enjoyment. And we hope everyone got a little jingle tingle to get the holiday season off to a good start. We actually added an additional register and yet we still had lines at the checkout counter. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your patience!
Oh, but my day was not over--some of the food was completely gone and we had 2 more days of celebrating so I made an HEB run and went home to prepare some additional food. (See, we don't just sit and eat bon-bons).
Tired and a little bruised, we enjoyed Friday and Saturday. The store was not so crowded but we had lots of customers stop in to enjoy our preparations. Thanks bunches!
Stay tuned....Wonderful folks, there is always something happening at WT.
This time of year always presents our greatest challenge in terms of time and managing to keep going when all the 'go' has gotten up and 'gone'!! We just cannot bring ourselves to present one tiny bit of holiday decor, etc. until the Ghosts and Goblins have made their annual trick or treat run....since we have made it a tradition to host our Holiday Open House on the lst Thursday in November...it just 'ain't' easy to get it all done and be sane when the Wonderful crowd descends on us to see what the elves have done. Mind you, we present ourselves as sane and rational folks. Hmmm...as the holiday challenge unfolds, there is much to question!
Since holiday merchandise began arriving as early as June/July, it has been cleverly organized by Janet & Helpers to ensure that the 'look' for each tree is together and ready for assembly. Applause for Janet because she has a vision for each tree and related merchandise.....just don't know what I would do without her.
Holly is the mastermind of unpacking, pricing and moving the merchandise through the back of the store. No small task as you can imagine when you see how many items are on display. Each piece is checked for damage, repacked and placed in the warehouse and stock room. Delana, our bookkeeper, has moments of heart palpitation knowing there is an invoice attached to each box that is received! Keeping her supplied with chocolate helps a lot. (Holly keeps a Diet Coke nearby at all times....this is no time to give up any bad habits). Our UPS and FedEx guys probably have to see a chiropractor by the time our seasonal things arrive and ME ??? I'm wondering WHO could have possibly ordered all of this stuff!!! But golly, as we visited showrooms throughout the year, we just HAD to have this, that and something else. Anyway, this time of year, I'm thinking that ordering pens need to be broken in half and the order writers beat with wet noodles.
You should be a fly on the wall when the heavy trees, wreaths, etc. are brought down from the upper rafters of storage in the warehouse. Muscle strength is severely tested. It doesn't take long for the memories to emerge. Preparations begin in earnest on the weekend prior to Open House. This year there was a Friday night work session (Janet and I) followed by Saturday night when Janet and her mom, Mary, continued the projects. I must admit that I treated myself to a UT/Kansas football game and promised to work doubly hard later. As trees were decorated, the elves wanted to keep them as "surprises' and gamely covered them with plastic. (We KNOW it is so hard for women to be denied).
Sunday called for a hearty breakfast at IHop (we even included Marvin, my hubby, so that we could put him to work, as well). Afterwards, Janet, Mary, Marvin, Delana and myself threw ourselves into preparations. Different Staff Members came throughout the day and hung garlands, lights, moved decorations from the stockroom and warehouse, wrapped packages for the window decor, etc. For lunch we brought in chicken from KFC and drinks from Sonic to keep us going. It must have worked because we hummed and buzzed and made great progress throughout the day. With only an additional Dr. Pepper fix, Janet and I stayed several hours after our helpers departed. More trees and several displays were completed and we were feeling pretty pumped....alas, the time we had agreed on for departing came and THEN all we had to do was pick up all of the 'aftermath', including several furniture pieces that had been displaced, vacuum AGAIN, make sure our work was properly covered and FINALLY fall out the back door (almost literally) about 9:30 p.m. after being hard at work since 10 a.m. Can rational and sane be identified at this point??
At 6 p.m.on Monday, the doors were locked and Janet and I were telling ourselves, YOU CAN DO IT again! More trees, more display, more, more and even more!! Because we had 2 more nights and staff coming to assist those nights, we treated ourselves to a 9 p.m. departure. Thankfully, Janet's hubby, Ron, brought hamburgers and Dr. Peppers to keep up our strength.
8:30 a.m. on Tuesday and I was in Maggie's chair for a Maggie-Do to get me through the week and then it was off to HEB to gather supplies for goodies we were going to serve and then I was back at home preparing some of the recipes before returning to the store and more decorating after 6 p.m. Also, some of the 'food crew' showed up and prepared a number of recipes in the back kitchen. Many thanks for Cheryl, Katherine, Nancy and Pat helping with food preparation. Other Wonderful gals showed up to continue the preparations. It takes a whole village of Wonderful ladies (and gents) to make this event happen and this night it gook some tasty pizzas from Papa John's as well. So grateful for delivery right to our door.
More holiday decor, merchandise, etc. continue to fall into place on Wednesday night (thanks to help from some of the Wonderful gals). Shannon and her oldest daughter, Meg, helped Delana with the outside lights/garland and, of course, the wind came up and just about blew them off the ladders..seems to happen every year. The hefty hook it takes to hang our HUGE wreath was nowhere to be found so that required a Home Depot run and other supply needs surfaced that required a Wal-Mart run! (Sound familiar)? However, all things finally came together and by the time we left that night we knew we were going to be able to welcome everyone to a fully decorated Open House! Can you say huge sigh of relief!!
Thursday morning called for more food preparation and the final touches on displays. And THEN at 4:30, the plastic began to be removed and wahoo--beautiful trees and displays emerged. Let the party begin!! If you attended you probably saw several new faces as we brought in all manner of family, friends and others willing to pitch in to make sure everyone had a great time.
We burned up 4 blenders last year preparing Peach Bellinis...SO, we did our homework and found a 2-bucket commercial grade machine so that everyone could enjoy frozen Bellinis and Senioritas this year. My husband, Marvin, and Kim Anderson were very popular as they weaved through the crowd (oops, poor choice of words because they were NOT drinking) with trays of drinks. Ron was in the back keeping those drinks glasses filled. The food seemed to be a hit as tray after tray was refilled! When the doors closed a little after 8 p.m., we were all SO HAPPY and GRATEFUL for the support of our Wonderful Customers. As we've said, this is our favorite time of year because we so enjoy planning and presenting our creations for your enjoyment. And we hope everyone got a little jingle tingle to get the holiday season off to a good start. We actually added an additional register and yet we still had lines at the checkout counter. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your patience!
Oh, but my day was not over--some of the food was completely gone and we had 2 more days of celebrating so I made an HEB run and went home to prepare some additional food. (See, we don't just sit and eat bon-bons).
Tired and a little bruised, we enjoyed Friday and Saturday. The store was not so crowded but we had lots of customers stop in to enjoy our preparations. Thanks bunches!
Stay tuned....Wonderful folks, there is always something happening at WT.
New Vera Bradley Designs Have Arrived
Come see the new fabrics! Our fixtures are bursting with new color!
New Brighton coming in!
Brighton
We have so many new Brighton products coming in! We recently went to the Dallas Market and saw the new products for Holiday and ARE SOOOO excited!
