Jackson Free Press

I hadn’t even eaten all of my ghost-shaped marshmallow Peeps from Halloween before a friend posted a picture on Facebook of her fully decorated Christmas tree. “Already??” I thought. But sure enough, the calendar doesn’t lie; November was here, and holiday season was knocking at the door.

I’m not one of those who gets stressed and harried over holiday preparations and celebrations; twinkling lights and tacky decorations make me happy. Lots of parties with friends mean chances to dress up and socialize, and good cheer abounds. Thanksgiving to New Year’s is one of my favorite times of the year once I get in the proper spirit.

This year, I found that spirit at Fondren Unwrapped, the hip neighborhood’s annual holiday open house. On a clear, crisp November evening, I met up with some girlfriends, and we wandered through the galleries and stores. Starting at Fondren Corner (2906 N. State St., 601-362-8440, 2906northstate.com), we first hit Blithe and Vine (Suite 103B, 601-427-3322, blitheandvine.com), where I scoped out a great sparkly cocktail dress that would be perfect for the annual Krystal Ball New Year’s Eve celebration at Hal & Mal’s and made a mental note to return to try it on. Next, we stopped by photographer (and soon-to-be newlywed) Christina Cannon’s gallery, One Blu Wall (Suite 107, 601-713-1224, obwgallery.com), where an exhibit showed me some new artists, and I snagged a new T-shirt at Swell-o-Phonic (Suite 103, 601-981-3547, chane.com). Young people from local schools performed Christmas carols and played string-instrument pieces in the lobby, adding to the family-friendly atmosphere and festive mood.

As we walked down State Street toward Duling Hall, we ran into lots of friends and stopped to chat along the way. That friendly, fun atmosphere of people out and about enjoying a neighborhood and all things local that always gives me warm fuzzies and reminds me why I love Jackson so much.

That feeling, coupled with the wine from the merchants, put me in the perfect frame of mind to thoroughly enjoy the SMoakys when we reached Duling Hall. SMoak Salon (622 Duling Ave., Suite 206, 601-982-5313) owner Suzanne Moak had set up at table in her shop, at which two incognito individuals dressed in black, their identities disguised by colorful bandanas covering their faces, hats, headphones and sunglasses, sat at electric typewriters as guests lined up to receive from them an “honest assessment” of their appearance—along with a numeric score. Sounds intimidating, but it was lots of fun and, it turned out, “honest assessment” really meant a positive and sassy missive encouraging you to be yourself and feel confident. I may or may not have gone through the line twice.

To cap off the evening, we headed to Babalu Tacos and Tapas (622 Duling Ave., Suite 106, 601-366-5757, babalums.com) for some much-needed nourishment. Among the boisterous crowd, we managed to crowd around a bar table, where we were joined by a couple of late-comers to our evening.

As we laughed, ate and talked, I felt incredibly grateful for the place I live and the festivities to come this season of celebration. In fact, before leaving for the night, I not only made plans to return to Fondren to hit up the stores I didn’t make it to that night, but also made plans for a pre-Thanksgiving “Friendsgiving” gathering with the folks around that table.

After all … ’tis the season.