Garden Club Christmas Auction 2023

Well, it’s that time again, the Hope Valley Garden Club Christmas Auction. Another favorite holiday activity. I have been in this garden club for 23 years and the Christmas Auction was the first meeting I attended. I brought fudge as my auction item and I think it might have sold for $15 which I thought was a lot considering how little it was.

We had a wonderful lunch made by the hostess committee. This year we were at Emmy Huckabee’s beautiful house. They made salmon and orzo and salad and apparently some yummy biscuits. I say apparently since I couldn’t eat those, but heard a lot of oohing and aching as they were gobbled down. That part of the Christmas auction has remained the same for at least the last 23 years.

Then there are other things about the event that have changed, especially this year. The items that people bring for the auction are incredible. I can remember in the early years the used pink plastic flask, or the Boy Scout popcorn brought by much older members. Hands down the worst item was a used ugly Christmas sweater that came from a house of a chain smoker.

This year we had needlepointed Christmas ornaments and needlepoint canvas kitted out with the fibers and stitch guide, French chef quality pastries and Christmas worthy cakes, original art, bespoke Christmas planters, soups, and the biggest hit of all was a Holley Broughton original wreath of tiny houses she made. Kathi Eason snagged that up.

The bidding was extraordinary even when I, as the auctioneer, was having trouble keeping straight if the bid was made by Laura, Laurie, or Leslie, or Ann, Anne, Anne or Anna.

In the end the real hero of the day was Missy McLeod our treasurer, who works through the whole event registering the items as they are brought in, checking in the guests, then making down the value of the items sold and who bought them and collecting the money at the end. She reported in that we had made over $8,500 and that was before she collected money from the people who did not bring an item to auction. To put into perspective how good that is, last year we broke our record and raised $6,550. All this from some cakes and wreaths.

It’s not so much about the money, but it is wonderful to raise it so we can give it away. It is the fellowship and the fun. I offered two quarts of soup, the winner got to pick which of my original recipes I would make them. When the bidding got to $200 I said I would let two people each get two quarts for $200 each. Then after the auction another person wanted two quarts for $200. So tomorrow I am making the soup and the garden club got $600 for a very small amount of soup on my part.

Paige asked me at the last minute if I would auction off an hour of private Mah Jongg lesson. Two people paid $200 each to share an hour.

The guests made a big difference as some bring items and many bid up items. We really love having them come. It was a fun day all around. I can only imagine what Pat Joklik, the previous auctioneer, would think about the amount of money we raise today compared to 23 years ago. At least she would recognize what a nice job the hostess do.