It's official. If we weren't excited, thrilled and tired before, we are now. All I can say is WOW. WOW. We had our Winter Fun Festival and I would say it was successful. I think my favorite part was riding the train with some families and hearing the kids at the same time exclaim, "OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!" going through the tunnel. Truly heart-warming. And Olaf and Elsa? If you missed it, I won't tell you Olaf was playing tag with the kids and Elsa walked through the garden taking pictures. It would be silly to tell you that you missed it. Truly, what a blessing and the weather was perfect.
Know what else is a blessing? Flying into the end of the year and looking back at all the hard work and accomplishments done by our Garden Center crew. Our full-time staff is stellar but behind those full-timers are adorable,
AMAZING and WONDERFUL part-timers
. Without their hands, ideas and time, we would not be who we are today. It takes a village, whether that village is here all the time or just one day a week! We have such great plant lovers and people who work full-time jobs and come work the weekend just because they love it. They love being outside after being stuck inside all week. They love you, our customers. They love the excitement, beauty and buzz at FGS.
I could name them all and their each unique talents but this would involve like 10 more paragraphs! But to name them, it's worth it because I'm sure you have met, worked or had your questions answered by them. Amy, Debbie, Emily, Erin, Harper, Jon, Josh, Josh H., Judy, Mandy, Nate, Nate Y., Rita, Sunshine, Elias:
You amaze us.
And without you this past year, there would have been a huge hole with far less funny stories and memories with you.
From cold winter days in gloves and hats ... to unloading thousands and thousands of plants and trays of flowers in spring (and I do mean thousands) ... to caring and keeping plants alive during the dog days of summer (those tans though) ... to unloading bins and bins and BINS of pumpkins (I'm really sorry about all that reaching into bins and half flipping into them!) ... to the sappy hands from Christmas trees (
It looks great. A little full. A lot of sap - Clark Griswold) ...
it took the village.
I could cry.
No words can express the gratitude of our hearts. We carry this close to our heart. And even when I'm grumpy, demanding and most often an Enneagram 8, our Black Bear and Momma Bear hearts love what you bring and what we all do together as a TEAM. And even better is that we often do it and have fun at the same time.
So our winter hats are pulled off our heads and at our heart for you.
You are rock stars.
And when you, our customers, want to be wowed? You could let them help you bring green home because they absolutely LOVE helping you. It's just a merry place to be this season.
