Being the Jewish girl that I am, I can count on my hand the few times I participated in the thrilling seasonal activity, "Secret Santa". This year the staff at Mata Traders organized a "Secret Santa" and the big reveal was at our holiday party last Friday. The theme was "My favorite color is..." and while some people strayed away from the theme, the gift given to me was for many reasons the most awesome gift ever!

Fair Coast leather clutch with my textile design as the lining!

Last month I learned about a company called Fair Coast. They are a local company based in Chicago that makes handmade leather goods. I met the Fair Coast husband & wife duo at a holiday fair a few weeks ago. They are the sweetest people who are passionate about handmade products and working with companies and people who are local and ethical. They came over to Mata Traders and bought a handful of damaged dresses (garments with broken zippers, misprints, minor tears...etc.) and repurposed the fabric as lining for their leather clutches.

Katie Gavenda, my "Secret Santa" and marketing associate at Mata Traders (not to mention an awesome graphic designer) really hit the ball out of the park with this gift. It means so much to me that she thought of this awesome company, but she also picked the lining with my original design! When I opened the box and saw the Fair Coast logo stamped on the protective bag, I knew exactly what it was I was receiving and started jumping up and down like... oh I don't know, a kid on Christmas morning!

Fair Coast envelope clutches with repurposed Mata Traders fabric as lining.

There are some lessons we learned in kindergarden, like sharing toys, cough into your elbow and perfecting the use of "please" & "thank you". But the lesson I REALLY took away from my childhood was always make cards. It is true that as we get older, some of us believe that we lack in artistic skills and resort to an email or a store bought card. However, the principle of sending a follow-up after meeting someone or sending a message through the mail (email or snail mail), it is instilled in our society today.

A few weeks ago I was walking home from an adventurous day in Chicago with my cousins (who were in town from NYC) when suddenly, I heard multiple voices singing songs for שבת Shabbat. I knew the song and joined in, still not knowing who was singing. I passed the house with all the shrubbery to find two families with children sitting on their porch. They were singing while waiting to start שבת Shabbat and enthusiastically invited me to join for their picnic style שבת Shabbat dinner. Let me state that not 30 min before, I had stuffed my face with deep dish pizza, but I agreed to a glass of wine (and obviously some challah....it's sooooo good!) I don't know many of my neighbors and this was a perfect opportunity to change that. I joked around with the kids, avoided both dogs, chatted with the parents and had a wonderful time getting to know my neighbors. SInce that night I have celebrated the Jewish holiday of סוכות Sukkot with both families and have felt very much welcomed into both of their homes.

Whenever we in my family, needed to give a card of any kind (birthday, graduation, get well...you name it) my mother would ask my sister and I to whip up a "Whiteman Original". The recipient of said card, would always feel a little extra special because it was handmade and personalized.

So that is exactly what I did this week. I whipped up a "Whiteman Original" and illustrated the scene of the night I met those two wonderful families. I scanned the original painting, printed two cards and wrote each family a little note expressing how great it feels to have warm, friendly and hospitable families in the neighborhood. Here's to using our lessons from kindergarden!