A gift from a friend is always a wonderful gesture, but when a friend thinks of you because they see something that they know will make you happy and they purchase it, present it to you...well that's a sweet wonderful thing. My friend Bryan brought such a gift to me the other afternoon. There was no special occasion, he had remembered a conversation we had about a year ago.When working together on the renovation of the Christmas Room, I had mentioned my desire for a mail slot. My thought was, children could come to HiHo and mail their letters directly to Santa. This sounds like an easy request, however in the limited space of the room a mail box was out of the question. Also remember in our quest for all things previously loved and worn, a trip to a super store for a average door slot was out of the question. A mail slot for Santa's lists had to be just right, I had put the thought out of my mind and then Bryan found the perfect letter drop. As if it were not enough to give me/HiHo such a lovely gift....he also installed the letter slot in the front of the candy cane counter and it's ready for mail as we speak.
HiHo can only hope to be a place where friends buy gifts of special meaning for each other. I am grateful though that much of HiHo is built on the thoughtfulness of good friends. Thank you Bry Bry...
She taught me how to 'place an order' with sales representatives, follow a color scheme and be financially conscious with pricing. Then she later asked me to paint the bathroom with flowers I knew from our garden from home. Earlier that year I had won a blue ribbon at the Ulster County Fair for a painting of the garden. I also participate in store events like when we launched the bridal registry we had a few years ago. My sister and I wore vintage dresses and my moms wedding dress was on display throughout 
the month of April along with her mothers vintage homemade vintage jacket worn at her wedding. I also helped out at every annual Tent Event, although I did have to make quick breaks to run to Gardiner Park to perform a tap routine with my dance studio. I also was Mrs. Claus' friendly elf when she visited HiHo from the North Pole. The laughter and snicker bars we shared will never be forgot. Mrs. Claus along with Mr. Claus have visited HiHo many times. Christmas at HiHo is always spectacular. At my home and at the store there's candy canes, Christmas lights, and mistletoe galore. It all kicks off with a great party. We invite family and friends to put up all the decorations for the store. One of my good friends Eva loves Christmas at HiHo so I invited her to the party and we were assigned to decorate the baby room. Between eating our hearts out in cheese doodles and slurping down cranberry juices with pizza, we actually accomplished something.
Because HiHo is known for Christmas, my mother decided to open up a permanent Christmas room in 2007. In there, a stage was built for Santa to sit after his long journeys from the North Pole. We set up the whole Christmas room in just 5 weeks.
