Season’s Greetings …

Christmas decorations were a struggle this year …

I usually store our holiday decorations in our garage, which makes pulling them out to display a relatively simple and effective process … as long as nobody needs to park a car in our garage during the regular year.

This year, the wife got a new car, so we have been rethinking the whole “Garage as a Giant Storage Shed” thing.   My contribution a few months ago was to shift some things around, throw some things out, and move the holiday boxes and plastic tubs to our lower level utility space.

Great move at the the time … the car would actually, barely fit into the newly cleared garage and all was well.

However, Christmas now means lugging numerous heavy boxes and tubs up and down several flights of stairs, from within a very small and cramped space.  Not so good …

However, I persevered, even as I “temporarily misplaced” several critical collections of decorations and supplies and as I struggled with a living space arranged differently than in the past.  

I prevailed, with my Christmas spirit mostly intact and my back in better shape than I had any right to expect.

Such are the small joys of the holiday season …

I could not shake the feeling, though, that something was missing and it was not just another misplaced box of essential holiday doodads or decorations new to us purchased during the after-Christmas sales last December.  There ws some lack of  … life and energy in our home.

Enter Bentley, our Cat of All Trades, who graciously volunteered to serve as a living holiday table ornament … sort of like the living Nativity scenes, except without the baby Jesus, Magi, or any other animals to compete for attention and adulation.

… and now our decorating is complete.   Let the festivities begin:)

No questions for you to ponder today, or pithy observations about human behavior, workplace culture, and leadership development of offer for your reflecdtion.

Well, maybe the one observation:

Leadership sometimes involves preparing the environment for the contributions of others to successful events and outcomes.

Some folks work hard and long, while others simply grace the space with their presence.

Feeling a little more prepared for Christmas in the Heartland ….

John