JORDAN BROOKS

jordan.brooks@middlesboronews.com

As Christmas approaches, A Touch of Class prepares for what the owner, Stephany Ramsey, says is easily of her shop’s busiest times of the year.

The Middlesboro florist and gift shop provides various types of flower arrangements and home decorations, silk and cut flowers, wreaths, candles and more. Ramsey says the store is working to handle the Christmas season, despite some challenges and even a disaster or two.

Ramsey says she is just now in the process of getting Christmas items out on display. Of all the holidays, she says Valentine’s Day is the busiest day of the year, but Christmas keeps her busy for entire season, which has already begun for the flower shop.

Ramsey opened her business in 2011 and has been in her current location for seven years.

The already-busy Christmas season doesn’t come this year without some complications.

Back in September, the shop experienced some pretty severe water damage, when a leak forced Ramsey to close its doors for two weeks. While waiting for repairs to be made, the store continued to take phone orders, made deliveries and offered curbside pick-up.

“Originally, with the construction and trying to get the store back in order, we weren’t planning on a Christmas open house this year,” said Ramsey. “We were just planning to have a sale with and maybe some refreshments after the Christmas parade.”

However, this did not sit right with Ramsey, as the open house has been an annual occurrence for 12 years. The annual open house is typically an all-day event for the shop, including refreshments, door prizes and a sale. So, the shop owner decided to host an abbreviated “mini” Christmas open house.

The mini open house was Nov. 17, and included door prizes and refreshments.

“It felt wrong not to do something,” said Ramsey. “I know a lot of people look forward to it, so we thought about it and decided we would host a mini open house, to allow people to still get the opportunity to come and fellowship.”