“Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny (bleeping) Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse.”
I used to work with a guy I will call “John” and he was one of the most genuine people I have ever met and still know to this day. From the first day I joined the company, I knew this guy was good people. Regardless of any stress we endured while working, we always laughed every day and his sense of humor always had me laughing hours later when I would think of the things he would come out with. The best part was that he was not even trying to be funny but he would look at things as they are, comment on them, and I would be roaring. My favorite was when our HR department mandated we all go through some “Emotional Intelligence” (EI) training and “John’s” first comment before we started was that the phrase “Emotional Intelligence” was an oxymoron. You had to be there but he is right in his theory in terms of his some people and companies try to jam or force these potentially great tools on people. Needless to say, he was allowed to test out of the follow-up sessions and I was given the Spanish Inquisition on why I kept challenging the poor leadership at our company. Nicely played “John”!
This is the last weekend before Christmas and now the hustle and bustle begins for many. This time of year always brings mixed emotions for me since 2002 when I was sick and not awake to celebrate Thanksgiving through New Years. But one of the best days of my life (even though I do not remember it) was Christmas Eve 2002 when I was declared in remission for leukemia I was diagnosed with a month earlier. Needless to say, I get even more philosophical and sentimental during this time and the one thing I constantly think about is why such a potentially joyous time can bring so much stress to people lives? I know some of it is due to things out of our control like work and even layoffs at this time of year. We all have challenges with out families and extended families and who to visit and when and why can’t everyone make a certain date and nobody is willing to compromise yadda yadda yadda. The list can go on and on.
So let’s try this. For the rest of this year, 2 weeks, 13 days; enjoy life for everything you have and focus on that. Remember, all the other stuff will probably still be there waiting for you. This is the time to reflect on all that is gone and memories of Christmases past. Reach out to old friends and family, people you use to work with, go to school with just to say hello. Embrace the holidays and reflect on 2009 while looking forward to what 2010 can bring – all the positive things like a whole new year to seize. It starts this weekend. If you still need to shop, I highly recommend doing it on line as you can still get things delivered by Christmas Eve. We know the stores and malls will be packed and I do not know about you but that is not my scene. Plan something for New Year’s Eve, even something low key like having a few friends over for a nice dinner and hanging out.
The Choice is ours. You can also watch (or in my case re-watch for the hundredth time) “Christmas Vacation” which came out 20 years ago and where I took our opening quote from Clark Griswold who was facing his own holiday stress.
