When The Most Wonderful Time of the Year… Isn’t.

And, how I think our flower shop can help with that.

Okay, we’ve all been there. The hype of the holidays has us BOUCNING as we near November. Halloween was wonderful; the kids were cute, ate too much candy, made some great memories. We watch leaves fall; we get our sweaters out of storage.

November comes in with her cooler weather; the leaves start dropping, the nights get darker. Dare we say the most wonderful time of year is approaching? Next thing we know, we are through Thanksgiving (weighing 5 extra pounds I might add; thank you, leftovers and homemade whipped cream), and charging straight toward Christmas.

And suddenly? We’re not so bouncy.

The first snow of the winter season, November 2025

For so many of us, this time of year can be a LOT. Oftentimes, it’s the time of year to make sure everyone ELSE gets to see magic at every turn. If we have children, their joy, their wide-eyed stare at Santa, or Christmas lights as we drive down the street to Grandpa’s house, can fill our cups up SO full. So we push for that. For those special, magic moments. And somehow, what should be filling us up, leaves us so, so drained. For those of us without children, it can just as often be a time where we go through motions and play a role that can leave us feeling exhausted. We plan holiday parties, we buy gifts for our mother-in-law (honestly, why isn’t our husband handling this?), we bake trays of cookies. We dress up (okay, personally I like this part), we shop (also a fan), we schedule, we arrange.

What gets easily missed during this jam-packed Christmas and holiday season, is the time for ourselves. The time to ENJOY the season as a woman, whether young or old. Don’t get me wrong: I LOVE the extra holiday fun and traditions with my family, especially with my own three children. But I strongly believe there is a special beauty we deserve to enjoy as women, that maybe boyfriends, husbands, and children can’t be a part of.

Our Granger flower shop decked out with her very own wreath

When I was dreaming of opening our little flower shop, one of the things that was very important to me was having a place to host floral design workshops, and wreath workshops for the people, especially the women, of our Granger community and beyond. As a mom, and as a wife, I feel there is so much value in allowing ourselves to return to a time, even just briefly, when we were able to just enjoy being us. I wanted a space where women felt welcome to come do just that. To create something beautiful, out of flowers, or evergreens, yes. But to just be; to sit with sisters, mothers, aunts, friends, and just be women.

Image of our workshop, filled with flowers and food, just before we opened our doors in April 2025.

Image Credit: Katya Dolgykh Photography

During a recent wreath workshop, one student said something so poignant, and I have been chewing on it since. I am hoping she won’t mind if I share it here with you. She said she couldn’t believe how calm and relaxing it was to create something in our workshop. She had expected it to be stressful. To feel pressure to “get things right” or make something a certain way. As an instructor, and as the person who envisioned the exact space where she was standing, this meant more to me than she may have realized.

We teach our workshops with guidance on how to put together a color palette, how to attach stems, how to arrange the blooms or branches, but truly there isn’t a right or wrong way when creating in our workshop. There’s no judgement if students want to diverge from our instruction, there’s no pressure to create a carbon copy of what we have shown. There’s just guidance, a jumping off point, a bit of knowledge. If you’re visiting with friends who like to joke around, you’re going to joke around. If you’re someone who likes to take their time and think things through, you’re going to do that. Who YOU are comes out in the workshop. Not the magic you’re husting to create for others. The magic that YOU HAVE inside comes out in a workshop. Your magic: your creativity, your vision, your personality, your voice, and we not only don’t block that, but we encourage it.

I love that Bouquet of Granger has helped women de-stress and enjoy themselves this Christmas and holiday season (and the seasons before). With just three Christmas design workshops left this year (including centerpiece and wreath workshops), we’re nearing the end of the 2025 workshop season. As we look to 2026, I’m so excited to continue to offer new floral design workshops in our shop, all involving flowers in some way, but all a bit different to suit our community’s exploration of floral design.

I hope you join us soon, and often.