December 15, 2022 — I don’t ever remember a holiday rush like this one. It has been a fantastic season of greeting customers and filling orders. I can’t thank our customers enough for all their orders and support. And thanks to all the seasonal workers who come out of retirement or pull away from other jobs to help send those cherry gifts all over the country. Phew. It takes so many workers. And we were short of course, so the Cherry Republic marketers, and Human Resources and finance staff went to the warehouse to help get the orders out. And yes, HQ, too, spent some long hours filling in at night and on the weekends.
Honestly, I had fun baking Boomchunkas and bagging Ruby Reds. On Sunday, after helping pack a few boxes to ship out, and doing some neglected laundry, I went to see Mom who was in amazing good spirits. “Look at how decorated my room is. It’s going to be Christmas soon.” After leaving Effie’s and before catching up with Steph and the boys at Gloria’s, I took Sonny for a nighttime walk along the beach of Sleeping Bear Point. On the way back, we headed over the northernmost dunes and into the Christmas tree forests nestled to the east.
As we walked in the snowy balsams and white spruce, I thought about how much this protected trail exudes Christmas – with the smell of evergreen everywhere. I stopped to admire the solitude, peacefulness and darkness. Sonny laid down in the powder. It was so quiet and I was tired from a big week, so I laid down next to him in the soft snow. We listened to the silence and looked up at the sky and the tree tops and bows of snow on the lower branches. I might have fallen asleep for a moment.
When I opened my eyes, I grabbed my phone and took a photo as a reminder of this peaceful place. I wasn’t looking at the sky the second I took the snapshot and this is what appeared. Wow. Santa, doing a warm-up run? Santa’s elf heading home after Christmas shopping in our store? Let’s definitely place this photo as more proof for the believers in Santa.
