Holidays, errr -daze

For The Sake Of Our Brother 

In a stable, in a manger

In the cold winter's air

In the arms of his mother

A child's lying there

In a city, in a village

Though the years have gone by

The child still remains

With the dream still close by

And each year on this night that child reawakens

And each year on this night that hope re-begins

That the dream he has offered might one day be taken

Trans Siberian Orchestra's "Lost Christmas Eve" has become one of my all time favorite tunes to play, to get me into the Christmas spirit.  It's become very difficult as year after year my holidays are spent working, prepping a BigBox store for the rest of the world to shop and create holiday magic for their own families.  I've worked retail for 16 holiday seasons now, and I've spent a total of two of them with family.  One because my father had been hospitalized in 2004, and 10 years later when he died.  Neither one of them were the joyous family gatherings they should have been.  Mind you, I'm not complaining (much!).  It's just a difficult life that anyone in any kind of service industry has when holidays are here, and we're not able to spend it with family.  

So thank you to those who provide services so that others can have their happy holidays:  

hospital staff, hotel staff, restaurant staff, retail staff, safety/city services staff.  

All deserve so much more recognition than is given!

 Family is the reason for the season!

Tired, but Thankful

Yep.  That's pretty much how it's been.
It's weird:  because I've been in retail for 15 years now,
I know what's coming this week -
the week from hell!
So I'm feeling tired in advance, if that's possible.
I took an extra nap both yesterday and today,
knowing that if I'm going to survive this week
in any way, it's because I got the extra rest
to make up for what will be missing between
Brown Thursday and Black Friday.

I know that retailers are catering to people who feel
they need to 'do' something after a big afternoon meal
on Thursday -- but they forget that in order to bring
people those products, it takes an army of retail workers
to get the job done in the weeks' prior - and including
Thanksgiving Day.

So to all of you who work retail -- and any other fields
who routinely don't have this weekend off --
thank you so much for giving up your own holiday
so that millions of others can spend money and make
corporations richer than they already are.

Of course, those heads of corps,
they're probably all enjoying the holiday with family.
Lucky them.

Be thankful.  Not just on Thanksgiving Day, but every day.