Hi there Sue, I just want you to know how much I appreciated your evaluation of Holiday shopping. It can be a real challenge. Because I had a retail business in a resort community I am aware of the expectations of the public. I remember that even though we were closed on Thanksgiving, we had customers ask us if we would open just for them because that was the only time they would be there. We always did that until we just opened from 1:00 - 3:00 on Thanksgiving automatically. That was easier.

We also had a David Salk gallery next to us. (Yes that artist was a nephew of the Salk who saved us from Polio.) He would run out of gift wrap and send his customers over to us. We also had folks who would wrap gifts from another store that they wanted to return in our gallery paper and then bring them in to see if we would give them cash. Well, we didn't do that but we were easy with "try it and buy it." We had a better chance of selling a painting if it looked great in their bedroom.

Those were the days. For some reason, it seems a bit frenzied now. So wonderful to have your grandchildren with you. I wish you lots of laughs and good times.
Chris