Christmas is coming, despite the warm weather

A valuable lesson was reinforced for me this weekend: Martha Stewart and I could be friends, but not best friends.

No matter how much the people at work kid around about it, she and I have big, unsurmountable differences.

Yes, we both like to entertain and we both like to cook and garden and we both have dogs.

But the similarities end with holiday decorating.

Martha is all about centerpieces, holiday trees and wreaths and decorations. I, on the other hand, have to practically be forced to put up even a Christmas tree.

Don't get me wrong, though. I like celebrating Christmas and what it stands for. I just don't like putting out seasonal towels, lights, snow globes, stockings, knick-knacks and all that jazz. It's just not worth the time and effort. Plus, it's a pain to store the stuff all year.

With that said, I decided, like I do every year, to go with my mother to the Southern Christmas Show in Charlotte. I don't particularly care for the holiday theme, but I do like all the free samples. (Martha, of course, would frown on that because it's so common, but I like them all the same.) We don't usually buy a lot while we're there, but it's a mother-daughter bonding thing that has turned into a yearly tradition over the last six or so years.

This year, there was an extra bonus -- I wrote in my last blog that I hoped Jenny Cartee would be at the pottery festival on Saturday (which was great), but she wasn't there. She was, however, selling pottery at the Christmas show.

Evidently a lot of people from the area have gone as well. Residents of Cleveland Pines in Shelby went on Tuesday and came back tired and in good spirits.

Are you thinking about going? It ends this Sunday. Want to know more? E-mail me at emilykillian@shelbystar.com or call me at (704) 669-3331.

On the Web: Southern Christmas Show at the Charlotte Merchandise Mart