Ah... it's that gift-giving, card-swapping, secret-Santa-swapping time of the year for all of us.  The air is rife with folks looking for deals to and fro, and the malls are bursting at the seams with eager shoppers ready to save a buck in this struggling economy. 

In all of the hustle-and-bustle of trying not to spend, it's easy to forget the true notion and intention of the holiday season - to give and spread the spirit of giving. 

I am thankful for the holiday season.... for a person who creates handmade goods, this is the busiest time of the year, and I'm ecstatic to say that many devoted and loyal customers came out to the Beehive Atlanta to support handmade artists and purchase creative goods.   However, being so busy on the creative side of making a product in stores and at festivals can also can steer easily steer us away from what's most important.... to give in any way possible.

My husband and I are fortunate to spend our first holiday season in our first home together, which is a blessing in itself.  Early yesterday morning, we got up and began to clean a large amount of litter on the main drag of road outside our enclosed community.  It was a tedious, wet and messy job that was thankless at its core, but in the end it was our gift to our community, litterers and non-litterers alike.  While hard, I'd do it again next year in a heartbeat.

The Beehive is a place that encapsulates the spirit of giving in every way possible... You have to give your time to work in the store, give your creativity through the products you make for the public, and give your knowledge to other emerging designers.  Overall, it is a special place that truly impresses upon the best giving-and-sharing part of a person, and like everything else in life, will give back to you if you give your time, effort, and love to it, as well.

It is also a place that nourishes the entrepreneurial spirit of any emerging designer.  When that spirit can be combined with giving, great things can happen.  Recently, one of our designers, Arwen Fine of A. Fine Shirt, was bitten with the bug to give the Beehive to her community, and single-handedly created the first "Beehive on Wheels" event, where she set up a mobile Beehive store in Dunwoody, GA.

 

Arwen worked arduously to find the space, invite all Beehive talent to participate, and share the space with other up-and-coming designers in the Dunwoody area.  The result was a fantastically successful 5-day market filled with handmade goods, which dually promoted the Beehive. and gave other designers a chance to see how a group of creative people can work together to make something great happen in their community.

Kudos to Arwen for her gift to both the Beehivers, local Dunwoody designers, and her community this holiday season.  Kudos to the Beehive designers for giving so much time and effort to the store and eachother.  And finally, kudos to all who choose to give a small part of their time for someone else during this holiday season.  I wish you and yours the Happiest New Year, and encourage you all to continue to pay it forward.

Until next time, creative people....