Thankfulness

Hello, Everybody!

Thank you for reading my blog. Last week seemed to be a dark week in the world. I appreciate you all taking time to read my thoughts there. As I begin to blog more frequently than once a month, the topics will be changing. However, I aim to continue to keep my blog professionally oriented with a touch of personal. As I sit here with my younger siblings about to watch 'Home Alone', I want to share what I am up to in this week of gratefulness. :)

Their Inheritance's Thanksgiving

As the Williams children prepared for their first Thanksgiving holiday since their parents' death, the children tried to make their Thanksgiving the same as it was celebrated when their parents were alive.    James, Alexandra, Christine, and Lee spent Thanksgiving with their friends, the Unruhs. 

Excerpts
 from Purple Butterfly Publications' ebook, Their Inheritan

   

My Thanksgiving

I usually spend the week of Thanksgiving in the mountains with my family. We eat too much, catch up on naps and our visiting relatives' lives, and we start watching our favorite Christmas movies. The Thanksgiving Day meal changes every year. The 2015 Thanksgiving Day meal will consists of stewed chicken; Sweet Potato Fluff (my great-grandmother's recipe) which is an annual Thanksgiving Day staple; green beans (not in the casserole form); and homemade baked corn bread. Can you say yummy?! After we eat, we nap or watch a movie before getting ready to go to A to Z Auctions' annual Thanksgiving Day Auction. For the past few years, A to Z Auctions has held an auction on Thanksgiving night in Hiawassee, Georgia. This auction is different from their other auctions as they auction off more toys and Christmas gift options than they do at the regular auctions. They also start the night off with a large empty toy box sitting against one wall. Throughout the night, bidders can buy the toys and put them in the toy box. The toy box contents are distributed where they are needed throughout the local communities. I love how every Thanksgiving auction the toy box ends up overflowing! The community and bidders really come together and remind each other of what Christmas is all about: the gift of love! The auction lasts pretty late, and I skip on the Black Friday shopping the next day. I do support small business Saturday! I encourage you to do the same. 

Small Business Saturday

Make it fun! Take the Small Business Saturday to get out and explore your town as if you were a visiting tourist. Go into shops that you don't shop in very often. Show your support for the small businesses in America. Whether it is your small town or big city, take fun family or solo photos in the stores and when you share your photos online, tag the stores! Business owners love to see who is enjoying their place of business. If you shop small with PBPages and download Their Inheritance, tag us! @PBPages or #TheirInheritance #PBP #ShopSmall

Thanks!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I hope you all have a fun, pleasant, and blessed Thanksgiving! Whether you are spending the holiday with family; friends; yourself; or with strangers, I pray you find something to be thankful for. 

I am grateful for you all reading this blog, being a patron of Purple Butterfly Pages, and for the supporters of Purple Butterfly Publications. I am blessed with a job that I enjoy everyday!

***Leave a comment below and share your Thanksgiving week traditions and your Thanksgiving holiday plans for this year! :)

#ThePurpleButterflyPurpose

Mrs. Dianne Lawson

Hello Everyone!

I had a different post drafted out for July. However, I learned of the passing of a friend this week. I want to share about someone who inspired me as a friend and business woman. 

I'd like to this time to share about a woman who supported and inspired me when I started Purple Butterfly Pages, Mrs. Dianne Lawson.

I met Mrs. Dianne in 2007 when my family opened a British antique store in downtown Toccoa, GA. Mrs. Dianne owned Dream Giver's Art Gallery which was located a few stores down from ours. I was fifteen-years-old at the time and I loved browsing through her store and admiring the different art forms from the local artists. Mrs. Dianne would usually have a background story to tell me about the artists.

A couple of years later, when I needed to interview local entrepreneurs for a college assignment, Mrs. Dianne was happy to help and graciously answered my questions. Her advice to me was to always listen to my customers' needs. When I started PBPages at the beginning of school, she was excited for me and so supportive! Even after the British antique store closed and Dream Giver's Art Gallery relocated to another location in Toccoa, I still visited with her there. Mrs. Dianne kept a beautiful shop with a warm atmosphere! My parents gave me a beautiful sterling silver cross necklace from Dream Giver's Art Gallery as a gift when I graduated college. Mrs. Dianne would always ask about my family if they were not shopping with me and she would always want to know the latest with my business. She was a huge supporter of shopping local and supported many small businesses as well as mine.

Late last year, 2014, Mrs. Dianne closed Dream Giver's Art Gallery due to an illness. Other than a couple of emails, I haven't kept in touch since then. Mrs. Dianne has passed away on Tuesday, July 28, 2015. Mrs. Dianne could have chosen to ignore the teenagers who came into her store several years ago. Instead, she chose to listen to them, encourage them, and share her knowledge with them. I am so glad she gave me her time. I will miss our chats and cherish her advice. She was one of a kind.

     Rest in peace, Mrs. Dianne.

Caitlin Ayers,Proprietor & Publisher

www.PurpleButterflyPages.com