So – this is Christmas!

Christmas for most of us means different things and for some of us it’s just a great time for family and friends, even if it’s not part of our tradition. However, the Christmas heart eventually emerges in us all. We want and enjoy feeling warm and fuzzy at this time of year. Aside from the commercial value, Christmas is mostly about togetherness, kindness and goodness, caring for each other – and peace. These are universal human phenomena we are thankful to experience.

The holiday season gives us a chance to pause and think about what we’ve done in the past year and what we want and need to do better in the coming year. And often John Lennon’s Christmas song catches us and touches us – and we happily sing or hum along:

So this is Christmas
and what have you done
another year over
a new one just begun

As we reflect back, for many of us these last few years have not been the easiest of times. Even though we are living through what some now see as a recession – not an uncertain blip. In these best and worst of times many of us have tempered our personal lives and how we deal with our loved ones. We’ve also tempered our relationships with our employees, clients and suppliers.

Some things, though, are certain. We know we have the power to control how to celebrate a wonderful, warm Christmas – simply or lavishly, with family and with friends, or quietly. But how do we use our power of influence at the company Christmas celebration when somebody asks what we want for Christmas? Well, these days perhaps we’re more inclined to say something like this -

“We can make this a better, richer time if we remember to be thankful, value people as much as our profits, stand up for others as much as we stand up for ourselves, live with a little less so that others can have more.”

The economy will get better, in time. And we have the power to make our lives better at work right now. And as some believe – continuing to engage and value all our people will add to our economic recovery.

So, this is Christmas! And it’s not only about the money or a bigger compensation package. We can be our own Santa and we can put a little more “us/we” in Christmas for the coming year – and just maybe we can carry the Christmas feeling with us every day.

We want to take this moment to thank you, our valued clients, for enriching our lives in so many, many ways. We look forward to working with you in 2012. And we’d like to leave you with a light-hearted thought as we wish you all the very best for the holiday season – and to lasting Christmas cheer!

Christmas!
The very word brings joy to our hearts.
No matter how we may dread the rush,
the long Christmas lists
for gifts and cards to be bought and given–
when Christmas Day comes
there is still the same warm feeling we had as children,
the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes.
~ Joan Winmill Brown