Are We Chasing Money? Accolades? Respect? Contentment?

"Our particular business that is in hospitality and celebrating people, I think came from our grandmother and I think that also shaped who we are. I love decorating and while my grandmother and I have very different decorating and design styles for sure. I just loved the intentionality of it. She used to go all out for Christmas every year. She would take everything, it was a week long process, outta the house and she would replace it with Christmas decorations."

Sometimes where you end up is because of where you started out. I love how Eunice and Sabrina credited their Dad’s sense of humor and continual stream of “dad jokes” as the foundation for their card business. It made me think of our grandmother - we call her Nina - and how much her hospitality and hosting really shaped our future - and we had no idea at the time!

I never really considered why we got into this industry until we were getting ready to open up the new ballroom and we needed to name it. We wanted it to be something meaningful so it made us take a step back and ask why it is we do what we do and what were the influences in our lives that propelled us to where we are now. Both of us came to the same conclusion - Nina. 

Nina loved celebrating - especially at Christmas time! Growing up,  Christmas was nothing less than magical and I attribute most of that to Nina. She took EVERYTHING down in her house and redecorated it as a winter wonderland - it took over a month to accomplish every year. I loved coming over and seeing the changes that happened weekly - she always took the time to walk around with each of us kids and let us experience all of the changes. Never rushing, always engaging. She made us feel like the most important person at the moment - and what I didn’t know at the time, is that I was experiencing true hospitality. 

She not only decorated but made hundreds of dozens of cookies each year - that we all took to our neighbors, friends, teachers etc. We could ALWAYS sneak into the freezer and pick out our favorites - they were always available - never being saved for someone more important. As a parent now, I find it even more amazing, as oftentimes our baked goods are intended for someone “more important.” Looking back it was such a labor of love and she made it look and feel effortless.

There were many more aspects to our Christmas traditions - and I could go on and on - but the point being that even though we didn’t know it at the time, Nina was showing us what hospitality, generosity, and genuine care really felt like and it was something we carried with us. It is also the feeling we hope to impart on our clients - and if we can achieve a fraction of what our Nina gave to us - we will be hitting it out of the park!