Photo by *Sally M*

We all have our favorite holiday traditions.  I’ll be celebrating one of them tonight, as my family will gather for the traditional Italian-American fish-themed Christmas Eve dinner.  But, I’ve got several hours to kill before I gorge myself on bacalla and lunguine with clam sauce, so I thought I’d write this post.

At work

Before the Christmas break can begin, you have to survive through the weeks leading up to the big day.  For me and my fellow finance-types, this is our busy season.  There are salients to meet, objectives to achieve, and action items to close out, during the time when everyone else starts to slack off.  Oh, well.  We’ll just have to work harder.  You may also have holiday get-togethers, whether it’s the official company-sanctioned luncheon, or an ad-hoc trip to the local watering hole for some off-track betting from Tampa Downs (not that I ever did that.  Honest).  Then there’s the dreaded Secret Santa, where employees get to exchange Chia Pets and other crappy gifts.  For many of us in the defense industry, we get to use the floating holidays that we couldn’t take off during the year.  That equates to a week off between Christmas and New Year’s Day.  I like that tradition.

At home

When I’m home for the holidays, I don’t do anything work-related.  I feel it’s a time of year for family, and whatever I haven’t cleared from my plate can wait until after the holidays are over.  This was of particular importance when my kids were little, and I needed time to get into my Santa Claus costume.  Of course, sometimes a phone call from my boss has interrupted my family time, but I try to let everyone else know that I’ll be unavailable.  So, before any other Christmas tradition can start, I try to disconnect from my work life.  It’s a well-appreciated break, and it helps me to recharge and get ready for the onslaught of another year.  I probably should try to get to midnight mass.  I try to stay out of my wife’s way as she bakes her Italian pastries and whips up her world-class eggplant parmigiana.  We might squeeze in a trip to Manhattan to see the tree.  So after we finish the Feast of the Seven Fishes, and before my traditional New Year’s Day hangover, I get my act together, and start focusing on what I want to accomplish in the coming year.

Your traditions

What traditions do you follow?  Are you lucky enough to get some extended time off for the holidays?  Are you in retail, and stuck working to midnight?  If so, I feel your pain.  I’ve worked late on Christmas Eve.  And New Year’s Eve.  One year, I even missed the Super Bowl due to a store inventory.  Right now, I’ll take the risk of a layoff with the promise of having a week off for Christmas.  Of course, my attitude could change if this were last April.

So, Merry Christmas to all of you, and I hope you get to spend some quality time with your families!

Enrique (The Corporate Barbarian)

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