December Holiday Hours

It's that time of year! It seemed to have come upon us surprisingly quickly, which is something I'm always a bit hesitant to admit because it's not like I wasn't aware of the days on the calendar ticking by, and I did indeed have a conversation with Jon about what our extended hours would be, and then didn't I actually personally schedule in all the staff for our increased hours? In any case, we've got extended hours throughout December. The main shop is going to be open 7 days a week starting December 1st until the 24th, and we're open late Monday to Friday as well. Monday to Friday: 11 - 7 Saturday and Sunday: 11 - 6 December 24: 10 - 2 December 25 + 26: Closed December 27 - 28: 11 - 7 December 29: 11 - 6 December 30 to January 1: Closed (for our regular Sunday/Monday close as well as January 1st holiday) Of note is that the studio shop won't have any changes to its regular hours (Tuesday to Saturday 11-6), except it will also be open Monday, December 24th from 10 am to 2 pm. As always, we would love to help you out with any of your holiday shopping. Please stop by the shop, send us a message or an email, give us a call. I personally would love if you stopped by the studio shop to say hello, but of course the main shop is where all the action is. This is one of my favourite times of the year, for the busy-ness of the shop, but also for us as a family, and all the joy of the season - I love the egg nog, and hot cups of tea, and Santa, and I'm even relatively cheerful about the oncoming cold, as long as I have Christmas to look forward to - January and February and even March are a different story. This time of year, I even enjoy a quick jaunt through the Eaton's Centre, with all of its decorations and massive Christmas tree, and the wandering around through the crowds - although admittedly, there's only so much of that I can take before it's time to go home and recover. I'm already looking forward to inking up some Christmas pens, and picking out my Christmas cards, and breaking out my reserves of Santa washi tape. In this age where there seems to be a push back against massive consumerism, trinkets and toys that won't last more than a season, or plastic items that just take up space, I'm glad to be in a business that advocates slowing down a little, taking time to write in a notebook or to send paper letters to someone far away. You can stop by and and have a chat about the experience of writing something down, and know that you're talking to people who have the same appreciation of pen and paper. I realize this is biased, but I love that the things we carry are there to be used in a physical, tangible, tactile way. It's not necessarily about convenience - in fact, you could argue writing by hand is sometimes less convenient than whipping out your phone or tapping away lightning fast on a keyboard - or ease, or speed, or instant gratification, but about slowing down and unwinding a bit. Exploring a different side of things. For some people, and I was one, the gift of a fountain pen was something that was transformative to my relationship with writing and life, and here I am now.