Whew! What a week! We held our first ever Front Porch Pickin’ where we opened up our home for a Christmas holiday tour and our front porch was a temporary antique booth/home decor store. We had hot cocoa and apple cider and fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and homemade cupcakes. It was amazing!

Most of the week was spent preparing. We took the week off from homeschooling and priced and sorted items that had been sitting in Margaret’s room. We cleaned the house. Pressley made lots of chocolate chip dough (from scratch!) and baked cupcakes all day Friday. I had no idea what to expect…just a vision that I wanted our home to be a place where people felt welcomed to stop in and chat.

When I say this is SO far out of my comfort zone, that’s no exaggeration and it’s not because I don’t like people, I’ve realized it’s because I’m always afraid no one will show. And that feels a lot like rejection. But I knew this was something God was asking me to do and there would be blessing from it. I didn’t know who would be blessed, but I knew it would happen.

Whether five people stopped by or fifty, I knew my goal was to just…be. Be a friend. Be an ear. Be a source of advice. Be a source of fresh chocolate chip cookies. Be a source of family. If I was just one of these things to one person that stopped by, it was worth my time.

I didn’t actually keep track, but our best guess is that around thirty or so people stopped by. I was able to send some of the goodies that have blessed our home off to new homes. I was able to meet new friends and connect with old ones. My children were amazing hosts and hostesses.

I’m left with enough antique/vintage goodies that we are seriously thinking about opening up an antique booth somewhere (or maybe even our own store….eekk…need major prayers on that one!). My realization is I love searching for the perfect goodies and finds and that I don’t need to keep them all for my own home. It’s fun to share them with others. Benjamin’s favorite part is the socializing and meeting people. Together, we make a pretty good pair. 🙂

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all that showed up. Thank you to everyone that sent a message saying they wished they could come. Thank you for prayers and positive thoughts. I’m surrounded by the best community and my heart is full today!

In other news, our Christmas tree has only fallen down three times. Luckily, no one was hurt. Decorating Christmas trees has never been my favorite and I’ve had to take everything off the tree and redecorate it twice now. It is now tied up to the wall so fingers crossed that it will stay secure until at least December 26th! lol

Until next time, from my porch to yours!

XO,

Sharlie