So it is really that time of year. Whether you want to believe it or not the holidays are descending upon us, and we have to prepare, as busy execs, to be able to do all of this seamlessly and flawlessly.
Setting the holiday itinerary is always the most difficult for most families. Herding older children home for some semblance of celebration together, with work schedules, vacation schedules and committments to spouse or partner family functions. If you can carve out a day or two during the Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years rush, consider yourself thankful and lucky. I have had it happend only successfully once in the past seven years. Of course, in my case, divorce has caused some extenuating circumstances that don't seem to go away. Every family has it's story and mine is no different than half of the population with step parenting, non custodial parenting, and shared parenting, it has become a difficult balancing act of respect and a sense of fairness. So sit down with those calendars, negotiate with everyone and try to come up with "family time" whatever structure your family may have.
Once you have that calendar set, you can begin to decide what you will do with those precious hours or days. What family favorites to cook. Which family traditions to keep and which ones to forget about with limited time. If cooking something extremely complicated takes you away from the action, and out of reach, opt for something simpler. Your presence is much more important than anything someone would like to eat. I have learned that one the hard way. Being the "dream maker" for a family of seven made me miss out on the simple moments, and now I just don't do it anymore. Valuable time with my family is just too darn.... valuable.
Getting your holiday decor up and in place early really helps the season fall into place. With Thanksgiving so late this year, alot of families are getting really organized and installing holiday decor next week. (that is when my season hits the speeding zone) There is just too much to do as the holidays get closer to worry about Decking the Halls. Now that there are so many life like options available, there is no real reason to wait and put up the tree on Christmas Eve like our forefathers did. (they were worried about a dry tree because they had candles on it) We also see people remove their holiday decor the first week of January. It is over and they have enjoyed it, and it is done. We have a take down calendar that is much more aggressive than our installation calendar. When it is done, it is done. And we remove it, quickly.
I have simplified the Holidays for my sake, and the sake of not missing a moment with my kids. I have always done nine trees, every mantle, lit candles every night and enjoyed every room of my house by having a view of a tree from every vantage point. It is glorious, it is beautiful and it will have to wait for next year. This year my business has grown to a point that we will probably only enjoy two or three trees. We also plan to visit family out of state during the season and will enjoy their houses and their decor. I have a real need for family this year. Even if part of it is adopted just like family friends that have enriched my life beyond reason. They will get lots of my attention this year. And next year when we are in a little less crazy growing time, maybe we will be in that larger house, with nine trees again, and everyone will come to visit us. That will be a nice thing to think about.
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