Jingle Bells

I'm lucky to work with very talented colleagues and am always impressed by the talents that they have, but that I don't always get to see in a work setting. Take my colleague, Caroline. She has a knack for taking pictures and we were lucky enough to have her take our photos for our holiday cards.

Here are a few that we love. These are really some of the first pictures we have with the three (four) of us as a family. Thank you, Caroline!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

It is officially December, which means it's now appropriate to pull out the Christmas decorations and start playing the holiday music. While I had previously believed that Black Friday kicked off the holdiay shopping, I am now informed that it was, in fact, Cyber Monday. I've never heard of Cyber Monday before and I wonder if any other days of the week will soon get their own holiday adjective, as well.

Our firm is doing something a little different for its employees this year. Usually, it gives out holidays gifts to everyone (we're a small firm of about 40 people). Last year, for example, everyone got Wiis. Scott and I were excited about this for about a month; neither of us were allowed to have video games growing up, but the novelty of the Wii soon wore off and it's now sitting, dusty, in our living room.

This year, because of the economic downturn and the resulting effect on our communities, the firm is doing away with employee gifts and using that money to sponsor 10 families - 5 families in Atlanta (where our second office is located) and 5 families in Durham. So our employees have been busy playing Santa Claus and it has been touching to see what we have purchased for these families.

That sparked an idea for me and Scott - we are fortunate that neither we nor our families truly need anything. So we asked that we don't exchange gifts this year; instead, we'll use the money we normally would have spent on our families on a Raleigh family that is truly in need. So far, we are only halfway through our budget and I'm amazed by the amount of clothes we've been able to buy for these four children. We racked up on Black Friday, finding nice, warm coats at Old Navy for $30 each. Not only is it so much less stressful, but it also embodies the true meaning of Christmas. And, in the end, we will probably buy so much less "junk."

So this weekend, we're off to buy a Christmas tree and finish shopping for the family. This year, the holidays feel so much more like they should be - filled with the joy and giving of the season.

Deck the halls with turkeys and pumpkins

I get it. Really, I do. The economy sucks and retailers are hurting. But that doesn't give anyone the right to put out Christmas decorations three weeks before Halloween.

A few weeks ago, I walked into Crabtree Valley Mall, only to find workers hanging fake garland from the ceilings and assembling a ten-foot tall reindeer-shaped garland topiary. And I didn't even mention the Santa-land that is now positioned by the entrance of Southpoint Mall. Before you even think about turkey and stuffing, you can now have Junior's picture taken with Santa.

Adpulp has a good article about retailers' strategy for the holidays. It sounds like consumers are cutting back on shopping (although, as I've mentioned before, I have yet to actually witness this is Raleigh). But maybe this is a good thing. Just like when gas prices skyrocketed and we saw people curtail their driving and opt for gas-sipping vehicles, maybe we'll see people reorder their priorities and become less wasteful and less consumption-driven.

Of course, no one wants anyone to suffer or to go without things that they need. But at the same time, there are lots of things we buy that we don't need and which we buy just for the sake of buying or having. Perhaps tightening our belts a bit will allow us to better understand what really matters and to just consume those things we truly need. Not only is it better for our souls and pocketbooks, but it's also better for our environment.

So let's turn off the holiday music and take down those hideous topiaries. Let's enjoy the season for what it is and maybe, for just one year, take it easy on all that shopping.

Holidays on Ice

Happy New Year!

The holidays have flown by. And even though it's not officially the end of the holiday season (that doesn't happen until January 6th), it's strange how the New Year caps off the celebrations. With no more holiday parties planned (I think it's only Americans who don't make the big fuss about the Epiphany) and all the presents opened, we now hunker down for the long, drab winter ahead and pray for Spring. Of course, North Carolina hasn't seen temperatures below 45 degrees yet, so winter hasn't officially started for us.

It's strange, isn't it? That the best part of the winter season is behind us and New Years has kicked off the start of No Man's Land. There's really nothing to look forward to, save a Valentine's Day here and a President's Day there.

We hosted the whole fam for the holidays this year. And it was fun (it's strange how time, even just a week, can erase the pain and discomfort of being around family 24/7. Maybe that's why women keep having babies). To my mom's credit, I think it was strange that this was the first year that her daughter hosted the holidays. And that's hard for someone who likes to be in control. She kept "suggesting" ways to cook, how to clean my house, and when to rake my yard. And when I ignored her, she "suggested" these things to Scott, hoping that there would be a trickle-down effect. Let's just say there was a lot of drinking going on.

I think everyone had a good time, though. And no matter how painful or uncomfortable being around the family can be, there is comfort in having them around - comfort in the chaos and frustration. I think, for awhile at least, we'll be leaving the holiday hosting to our families, though. We never realized how much work - and food - it entails!

Here's hoping that everyone had just as comfortable of a holiday season and is looking forward to 2008!