Sherry Clark
Dec 27, 20181 min
Everybody has a story. I was reminded of that over the weekend while selling mistletoe at our local farmer’s market. Some stopped to tell us their story and others I could only see the story in their eyes as waves of nostalgia swept across their faces.
We made some money - not a ton - selling pretty sprigs of the best-excuse-for-a-kiss Christmas decoration, but as it turned out, that wasn’t necessarily the point. The real gift to me was connecting with others over our stories of Christmases long ago.
Some sold mistletoe, as children, to their neighbors, making spending money for the holidays. One lady recounted how her Georgia uncles used to shoot the plant out of trees with a shotgun. Others, like me, just remember having it in the home of a loved one, usually the plastic variety. And others stopped to look at the sprigs with looks of confusion, needing an explanation that included what, why and how.
No matter the story, we connected in some way, either through a shared smile as they passed our booth, children in tow or during a short conversation when making a purchase.
We didn’t make a lot of money, but who cares? We exchanged something so much more valuable than that - a connection.
A special shout out to our friends Aymi and Thomas who used their Purdon Groves' mistletoe to help tell the story of their new addition!