Give aways and goodies

day 11 of my advent calendar, or advent greetings for my friends "down under"

This draw is closed now. Please visit the advent calendar page for your next chance to win. thank you. Welcome to day 11 of my advent calendar! Today, after yesterday’s explorer set on Perfumeshrine, you can win again a discovery set, with 5 samples of your choice. Good luck. (and… .make sure to visit the advent calendar page tomorrow again: Worth it!)

Today’s illustration is for my perfume loving friends “Down Under”, or “Up and TOP”… Due to the time difference, I am sorry!, they might be a bit disadvantaged entering the draws. So there you go. A little sketch for you’ll. After being done with sketching the kangaroo, I realized, from a distance, that he/she does not really look super happy. And the fir twig with the christmas tree ornament is sort of floppy, too. Ah well.

Thus, I figured: Maybe this is the unconscious, fighting its way to the surface. As nice as the holidays are, if you run a perfume business they come with extras that are a touch difficult. I am not talking about more sales or shipments or orders. This is actually nice (!) and highly appreciated. And you can prepare, sort of. Although, a comment in brackets here: You never really know what you gonna get. And: Perfumes are like wines: It takes a lot of time until they are ready. It starts with the scented raw materials: Not always available right away. Then there are all the materials to pack perfume: Sometimes, especially when ordering in France, you have to wait for months. And then: A perfume, the way I do things here, with  lots of naturals, needs at least 2-3 months; it needs to mature after mixing. It needs to mature after dilution in ethanol, and then it needs to get into bottles.

So you see: My x-mas starts in spring.

I usually start planning and ordering  in spring all the things that I think I might need in October, to serve the shops, and later in November, to serve clients who order directly from me. And later in December for all the last minute orders. There we go: That’s one of the extras of the holiday season that is a touch difficult, sometimes: Things get very hectic. Everybody tends to get hectic. But after a few seasons I learned to calm down about the business, trying to remember what the holidays are all about. It’s about giving.

In that sense: The conclusion of this post. I guess Mr. Kangaroo is my unconscious self. But not because I am worried about my stock or late incoming orders. Nope. I guess my unconscious just told me that I did not organize any presents, yet. Not one.