Featured: Southern Christmas Show 2013

We have more than survived the 12 days of Christmas mayhem at the 2013 Southern Christmas Show! We have been back for two days and spent most of the time unpacking and sleeping. Ah! The recap? It was near perfection. I couldn’t have asked for it to have gone better or more smoothly.

Early wednesday morning we pulled out of our driveway with both our vehicles and a U-Haul trailer. It was tight to get everything in but we managed. Hundreds of tote bags and pillows take up an amazing amount of space! We made the two hour trip, only stopping to tighten the tarp once and to grab coffee and breakfast.

When we arrived it was a mad-house. Many businesses had been there for a few days to set up and were putting final touches on their displays. And others, like us, had just arrived. These photos make me smile. The painters working. Us assembling. Undressed mannequins. The entire place was in utter chaos mere hours before the opening night.

We scurried around and were set up right on time. After finishing we ran over to our rented townhome to unload our suitcases, food, high chair, pack-and-play, etc. Anyone else weird like me and take photos of the places you stay? I want to vividly remember the past 15 days.

Then me, my daughter, and mother-in-law literally threw on some different clothes and headed back to the show with minutes to spare. This photo reminds me how crazy it was. I look a tad frazzled. ha!

Overall, I was happy with how our booth turned out. It changed and evolved over the course of the 12 days depending on which product we focused on each day but overall it looked somewhat like this photo below.

It was a nice surprise to be awarded third place for tent design! Seeing all the other spaces gave me ideas to do even better next time.

Overall, we did quite well at the show and sold much of the product we brought. We are very thankful! We were praying that none of us would get sick due to the long hours and lack of a normal schedule and God answered that prayer. It was special to have done this as a family—a memory-maker for sure! My mother-in-law flew in to help both in the booth and at the rented townhome cooking and watching our kids. Our oldest spent many hours at the show. Might I brag that she sold out of every single garland that she crafted? So proud of her. It was a fun show!