Holidays: Changing perspective, supporting local businesses

Kaity Holtman

The holiday season is upon us. When I say “holiday,” I don’t mean the generic term for Christmas – I’ll always just say Christmas.

It’s that monthly cycle of Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years. All are good reasons to spend time with family and friends. This is when we make extra time for one another and enjoy good food and fellowship.

I love everything this time of year has to offer, except maybe those very cold temperatures winter brings. My husband and I are both incredibly blessed that we come from big families. And for the most part, we make time for one another, even as our families grow each year.

Now I’m looking at the holidays with a different outlook – through my son’s eyes.

This is the most I’ve ever enjoyed Halloween. It was a weekend of firsts for him. First Halloween is in the books.

Sam dressed up as a tiger (Jim Fall would have loved to see him; I have no doubt).

While he obviously can’t have candy at this point, we still took him around to family to show him off in his costume.

He attended his first pumpkin carving party – an annual event we have with my nieces and nephews. His jack-o-lantern has two teeth on the bottom, just like Sam does.

He also visited his first pumpkin patch, where we met some friends of ours and enjoyed the gorgeous weather this weekend brought.

Just like during the Fourth of July when he saw his first parade and slept through his first fireworks, it was a lot of fun to see the holidays from a different perspective.

Over time, holidays change. As families grow apart, we start to miss the traditions we used to take part in. But now, I see the holidays as something I can use to create those same memories for my little one.

The fun we had with this holiday makes me especially excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas, which have always been very important to us anyway.

Speaking of Christmas… (I know, I’m a little early, but I want to get ahead of your gift buying ventures) I am revitalizing my mission to do as much shopping locally as possible this year. I always try to, but with a boom in locally owned retail in Maryville, I think that will be a little easier this year.

Posh Boutique has always been a favorite of mine for Christmas shopping, but now we’ve got On the Spot Designs, Minnie Lane, and Blue Willow Boutique all added to the list, among many others. Plus, there are a lot of businesses, like Brighton Wellness Spa, or our nail salons, that provide services where gift certificates make great gifts.

I’ll even be printing my Christmas cards at Rapid Elite again this year.

I’m sure there are many other local businesses I’m not mentioning, and for that I apologize.

It’s exciting to see entrepreneurs step up to the challenge of opening local businesses, making the local community prosper. And to see some of them finding their homes downtown, where revitalization efforts are under way.

The Chamber is working to encourage people to shop local this year through an upcoming promotion.

So whatever it is you’re after this year, please make an effort to find it at a small business or as locally as possible.

Believe me – I love Amazon.com as much as the next person. But we have to continue to be patrons of our local businesses if we want our economy to thrive.

So while my challenge to us all each year is to shop local for Christmas gifts. I’ll take it a step further this year: Tell people where you’re shopping. Tag those businesses in Facebook posts. Encourage others to shop local.

Together, our communities can help our local businesses, which will grow our economy and our community. Shopping local creates a cycle that keeps on giving.