It’s my second Teaser Tuesday entry! I have to confess that I’m still working my way through Carol Shields’ The Stone Diaries, but I’m also reading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens so I’ll use a quote from that one today. My parents have been visiting all week and while very little reading was accomplished, a lot of fun has been had.

A refresh of the Teaser Tuesday guidelines:

* Grab your current read.
* Let the book fall open to a random page.
* Share with us two (or more) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on the page.
* Share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given.
* Please avoid spoilers!

My Teaser (a very romantic one for Mr. Scrooge, I think):

“And yet I should have dearly liked, I own, to have touched her lips; to have questioned her, that she might have opened them; to have looked upon the lashes of her downcast eyes, and never raised a blush; to have let loose waves of hair, an inch of which would be a keepsake beyond price: in short, I should have liked, I do confess, to have had the lightest licence of a child, and yet to have been man enough to know its value.”

- Ebenezer Scrooge to The Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

I just learned about Teaser Tuesdays, hosted by Should Be Reading. It sounds like so much fun, and since it corresponds quite well with all the reading resolutions I’m making (which I’ll be posting soon) I thought I would join in. Here’s the rundown on how it works:

* Grab your current read.
* Let the book fall open to a random page.
* Share with us two (or more) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on the page.
* Share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given.
* Please avoid spoilers!

My Teaser:

“Nevertheless her fingers will always remember the feel of those tumblers, the pale raised bands on thin pink glass, but it is the sun she will chiefly remember - how yellow like corn meal it was, sifting through the fine summer curtains and filling up the whole of the room. These at least, were things she might believe in: the print of sunlight on her bare arm. The cold sweet drink sliding down her throat. The buttons on her father’s shirt, glittering there like a trail of tears.”

- page 77,  The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

Carol Shields was so brilliant at creating images you can taste, feel, and smell.  Such beautiful, tactile writing.

Here is the happiest image ever posted by this stationery designer: boxes formerly packed full of envelopes that are empty due to big sales! It has been a whirlwind holiday season for The Sweet Unfolding, and has left me so grateful! Every day has been busier than the last. I’ve filled orders for customers from all over the country and even as far away as Australia.

It’s been a true gift to me to have so much business! And it has confirmed in me that I’m on the right path. I’ve written a little bit about my journey to pin down the identity of The Sweet Unfolding, to reign in my ideas and try to narrow the focus to something manageable. It’s a strange thing to admit the vulnerabilities, especially on a blog that is linked to my business. But I want to communicate truthfully and personally—what’s the point of being a small business if you can’t relate to people on a genuinely personal level? Being personal is a large part of the beauty of being small. Sometimes it feels like I’m not “keeping up appearances” by writing so openly about the successes and the struggles…but I don’t want to appear to be something I’m not. How is that helpful to anyone, including me?

Speaking frankly, all the business this holiday season has been a huge boost to my spirits. It’s lovely to see people purchasing my designs. It’s surprising and so sweet to read their happy comments about my cards when they place their orders. Even lovelier is the feedback I’ve been getting from customers after they receive their order. It means so much to me that they would take time to email me and tell me how much they like their cards!

A friend of mine put it best by saying that I’ve been giving all my time and energy to The Sweet Unfolding for two years, planning and launching and working on growing the company, and it’s nice to see the business able to give back a little to me. It’s the nature of business and not something I have a problem with, this constant attention and care that a little business needs to get itself going. But it is so rewarding to see it gaining a little strength and maybe even a little confidence. Kind of like watching a baby learn to walk.

Thank you so much to all the customers and supporters of The Sweet Unfolding this holiday season! You’ve certainly given me the best Christmas present I’ll get this year. Happy holidays to you!