The Magic of Time
Nov 2023
I hope this week's newsletter finds you well, as always. Above is a throwback to our very first website banner - we're thinking about bringing it back!
Have the Holidays sunk in yet? It's been our reality since July as we've prepared for this year's sale. The other day our daughter came in complaining about Christmas music being played at a store. She thought it was too soon. I thought it was too soon for an 8-year-old to have so many opinions...but that's another discussion.
Now I personally don't care when you listen to Christmas music...my thought on music is if it stirs your soul, listen to it often. If this is Christmas music...so be it. We recently shared the poll on our Facebook group to find out when the best time is, or what people prefer - join the group to answer the poll!
This group has been so much fun for Hannie and me to watch and see the experiences you're having with The Flower Letters. It was fun to see someone trying Hannie's Coconut Pecan Tart or Pie recipe from Audrey Rose. It's the best pie I have ever had. If you do make it...day 3 is best. Something about letting it sit just makes it that much more tasty.
Also, we love to see how many of you take the time to prepare the right setting and mood to enjoy the letters. Thank you!
Do you remember when 2 weeks seemed like an eternity? Well, Thanksgiving is about two weeks away and it'll be here before we know it.
Time is a funny thing, and it's taken on new meaning for me as I've grown older. It was as slow as molasses when I was a kid, especially around this time of year. I'd wait and wait for Christmas and be so excited with anticipation. The waiting was painful sometimes, but the excitement persisted through it. The drudgery of being at school, watching the clock on the last day before break. Then schools out and we spend all our time trying to see where "Santa" hid the presents. My brothers and I would search and search around the house to find where the presents were hidden, but somehow mom and dad were just too good. Christmas Eve would finally roll around, we would read the Christmas story, and be sent to bed. We would wake up long before Mom and Dad and gather at the top of the stairs. There was a strict no-peaking rule...but almost every year one of us would spy. We'd be introduced to the living room from youngest to oldest and be off opening presents. At that point it almost didn't matter what the presents were, the magic had happened and the presents appeared. Everyone was happy, usually, and every Christmas was great. As I look back on these experiences, something occurred to me that never did when I was younger. Everything would take so long and the days would drag on in anticipation of Christmas. Yet, the underlying excitement and joy were always there. Now I see that time was the magical ingredient to it all.
The anticipation. The waiting. The excitement. The joy. None of it is possible without time.
Time is also an important part of The Flower Letters experience. We send letters every two weeks for practical reasons, but also because time is an important part of the experience. The waiting. The excitement. The joy. Time is the magical ingredient. It's also why we add so much to the envelopes - so you can take more time experiencing the story.
Time is precious, not just for the reasons mentioned above but also because we only have so much of it. We are grateful for your time reading this newsletter, signing up for our stories, and interacting with us. We will do our best to make sure that what we do is valuable to you and worthy of your time.
Here's to more times of joy, enrichment, relief, and connection.
Michael