Christmas Cottage opens in Jackson

JACKSON, Tenn. — Get your Christmas shopping started and support local charities at the same time.

Shoppers packed the Madison County Agricultural Complex Auditorium on Friday for the 35th annual F.C.E. Christmas Cottage.

Jill Donnell comes every year. “I love their little stocking stuffers,” she said. “They’re just things that you don’t find everywhere.”

Shoppers have more than 7,000 items to choose from. “Everything here is handmade or home baked,” Christmas Cottage Chairman Krisann Blair said.

They have everything from pies to pumpkin rolls, ornaments, wood items, and things for the kitchen.

“I love all the different foods and jellies and jams they make because I’m not very good at making those,” shopper Dorothy Caglehill said.

The Family and Community Education Clubs put on the two-day event. Organizers said a percentage of the proceeds goes to service and education projects. “We support Imagination Library and we support RIFA, the backpack program, Birth Choice,” Blair said.

Donnell said she always makes a stop at the Christmas Cottage. “I think it is a lost art and something that our, my children, need to know about,” she said.

Kids also can take pictures with Santa from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. Organizers said a portion of those proceeds go to the Madison County 4-H chapter.

The Christmas Cottage is open until 7 p.m. on Friday and then from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.