Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate this special holiday this week! I am lucky enough to be celebrating the holidays with my entire family—my three boys and my husband, plus my parents, my siblings, and their families. I feel grateful that we are all healthy and able to be together for Christmas 2015.
I am happy to report that 2015 was a great year for Blueberry Haven, and our holiday season has been one of our best ever. We even had our highest sales day one Saturday in December, and my employees who were working that day were very excited to be part of such a big day!
I truly do appreciate all of our customers, friends, and family who continue to spread the love of blueberries in Grand Haven and all around the world. This year it has been especially fun to watch the orders come in online and see who is purchasing products from Blueberry Haven for their holidays gifts.
In the last week, I met a graduate from my alma mater—Dow High School. She happens to be the older sister of a girl I knew in high school, and she filled me in on many of the Midlanders I haven’t thought of in many years. It was great catching up after so long.
I also filled an online order for a customer who has received Blueberry Haven gifts this past year, and now she was sending some blueberry goodies to her extended family in Kansas and other states. Another order came in this week from one of my dear college roommates who was sending gifts to some of her family and to herself, of course!
I was excited to help a new customer earlier this week who had recently relocated to this area. She told me how much she loves our store and stops in all the time to purchase gifts for all the special people in her life. And, it’s no surprise that we have a hockey connection in common—her nephew plays hockey at the University of Michigan with our friends’ son.
I also need to give a special shout out to my workout buddies and trainers who have come in throughout the year, and especially during the holidays, to purchase gifts for their families and friends.
This year seemed to be the year for many people in the Tri-Cities to make Blueberry Haven their “go-to” place for gifts. Yes—finally! I knew when I came up with the idea of blueberry goodness for everyone many years ago that others would feel the same way, too. I figured if I needed it, everyone else would as well. It turns out I was right—it just took a little longer for others to realize the same thing. Fortunately, many people now know how helpful Blueberry Haven can be when they want to send some love from a little slice of heaven we call Grand Haven.
The world just seems to continue getting smaller and smaller, and I am so thankful for the many connections in life. I hope our Blueberry Haven products keep traveling to new places around the country in 2016 as our customers continue sharing our West Michigan blueberries with others in far away places.
Peace to everyone from Tiffany Balk and Blueberry Haven—always in beaches, berries and bliss!
