Aunt Lillie Bells

Cyber Monday has drawn to an end, and we hope that you've enjoyed shopping our specials this Black Friday weekend.  Some of you may have braved the crowds searching for that great deal, while others enjoyed the comforts of your pjs as you shopped online.  However you choose to shop, we at Aunt Lillie Bells hope that you've experienced the warmth that accompanies buying that perfect gift (even if it's a little treat for yourself).  And if you are still wanting to shop a bit, we would love to see you this weekend at Canton.  The weather may have a little chill in the air, but that just adds a little more Christmas to the mix!

As Thanksgiving approaches, we find ourselves busy making plans.  Christmas is around the corner, and we all revel in the decorations, the tree trimming parties, the cookie exchanges, the evenings we spend looking at lights, but we stop and take this day (that seems to be shrinking as the years progress) to appreciate life and our many blessings.  Like so many of you out there, we have lost many of our loved ones through the years.  It's incredibly sad to think, "this is our second year without our dad here."  However, despite that sadness, there is an appreciation for the new little ones we've added to our families as well and for each of their milestones.  When you see a toddler walk, against the doctors' predictions, you know that you are witnessing a blessing!  We realize how fortunate we are to have such a large, loving family, to have faith in a wonderful God, to have warm homes, and to have jobs that provide for our families.  Hopefully, in the spirit of the day, you too appreciate and acknowledge your blessings as well.  We feel so blessed to have loyal customers who are so thoughtful and kind.  Several of you provide us with helpful suggestions or feedback on your purchases, and we truly appreciate your interaction and your accolades.  So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, we want to say thank you to our customers, and as one of our favorite shirts says, may you "gobble till you wobble' on this wonderful Thanksgiving Day!  Lezlie & Wendy

It's almost here...can you feel it in the air?  It's the one night a year when even grown adults can don a new persona in the name of fun, and it's okay to experience a little fright.  Halloween.  For us, here at Aunt Lillie Bells, the night represents yet one more fun reason to get together as a family, to share a familial camaraderie- and perhaps a little mischief (in the spirit of fun).  We trick or treat, enjoying the decorations, stopping for photo ops, adjusting costumes, and peeking in pumpkins to see what new tasty treats have accumulated in the hunt for the best goodies.  There's a bit of whimsy and imagination present this night that sets Halloween apart from all other holidays.  So, as All Hallow's Eve approaches, grab a broomstick, put on your fairy wings, a scary (or a sweet) mask, and enjoy the nectar of the season - candy corn - as you celebrate the fun with your little goblins!

IT'S HERE!  Can you smell it?  The Fletcher's Corny Dogs, the Hans Mueller's sausage, the cotton candy, the new fried-whatever-won-the-food-contest- the State Fair of Texas has arrived!  We love visiting the exhibits, sitting in or dreaming of new cars, shopping the craft tent, petting cute animals, eating the samples in the Food and Fiber building, looking at the handmade foods and crafts, admiring students' ag projects, watching the shows, and hearing the welcome from our newly refurbished, beloved Big Tex.  Sounds of bands arrest our attention, we visit museums, and we admire the great musicians who perform on the Chevy Stage.- And of course, who can forget the football?  Watching a game from the Cotton Bowl, a Texas mainstay, never gets old.  The sights and sounds of the State Fair signal that fall has arrived, and true to our everything's-bigger-in Texas tradition, the fair seems to maintain it's charm and still grow bigger and better each year!

As the summer rolls to an end, we wistfully put away our flip flops, relish our summer adventures, and begin a new school year afresh.  Don't get us wrong, we love our summer vacations- whether they be day trips to Canton, tubing down Texas' Comal River, enjoying Myrtle Beach, or jet setting to London.  Our family  members have traversed near and far, gleaning a little from each destination, for as the expression states, "so much of who we are is where we have been".  But now it's time to put those flip flops away, to don our new school (or fall) attire, and to enjoy the changes that come with the season.  So, as we begin a new school year and a new football season, we enjoy the cooler weather (hopefully), and the family gatherings, let us relish the blessings of the wonderful fall season - and just maybe, since this IS Texas, we will keep the flip flops out- just in case it's 108 tomorrow!