It was 9:45 a.m. Fifteen minutes before showtime. The three of us had been up for 26 1/2 hours at that point. All through the night we had been sewing, cutting fabric/paper/ribbon, painting, and cleaning with Elf, then The Holiday, then While You Were Sleeping on in the background. There had been no time to think. Just sew.

But at that moment, at 9:45a.m., as I was madly attaching price tags to everything (so beautifully displayed if I do say so myself), as mom and Frit were making 5 gallons of hot chocolate and setting out the doughnuts on the crisp white table cloth, it hit me.

This is it. The thing I’ve been working towards for two months now. The thing I’ve invested all my time and money in…What if no one comes?

Internally I started to freak out. (I mean really freak out.) Externally I kept my focus. But Frit took one look at me and could see the fear in my eyes.

I went outside to hang a banner on the porch. She followed me out, and there on the porch, on a cold, snowy, morning we huddled together and said a prayer. A prayer that God would bless my efforts. That people would come. That it would all work out.

At 9:58 she arrived. My first customer. A complete stranger. A nod from heaven that this “thing” would work, or at the very least be ok. She left having ordered two custom aprons. (Huzzah!)

The next eight hours were a flurry of people and snow. And at the end of the day, when it was dark and I was plum tuckered, what had begun as a fully stocked boutique had become quiet, leftover remnants of hard work, hopes, prayers, and the support of friends new and old.

Thank you for coming. Thank you.

From the bottom of my heart.

***

This week’s task: to get everything up online for you out-of-state shoppers. Just in time for Christmas! :)

And an extra special thank you goes out to my mom. You worked your fingers to the bone. I’m ever grateful and I love you mucho. So glad you could be here.