All You Need....

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and continue to have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends!

 

I am very lucky in my line of work to have been able to take time off around the holiday season this year and spend that time with those I care about most. However, many of my friends work in fields such as healthcare, emergency services and retail and they do not always have this luxury.

 

Our hospitals never shut down, accidents continue to happen, people still get sick... so those of us in the healthcare/emergency services field understand that there will be holidays that will be spent at work, away from family. That being said, for any of my friends that work in these fields, they don't work every holiday, they rotate on and off and do have a chance to spend some holidays with their family....

 

Then....there's retail. I just texted with a friend of mine who is a Store Manager at one of the busiest malls in Canada, just to see how she is doing....she sent me back a 2 word answer...."Friggin Crazy".

She loves what she does, but, as her friend, I would love to see her have the opportunity to spend Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day with her family/children. As a Manager, she is there until close on Christmas Eve, is there first thing on Boxing Day and generally stays until the bitter end...EVERY, SINGLE YEAR!

 

Like I said, she loves what she does and she is darn great at what she does, but, if I could have one wish granted, I would love to see Boxing Day moved to December 27...or even December 28! I would love to see her be able to stay in her pajamas on Boxing Day, curl up on the couch with her 2 beautiful kids and just relax!

 

My friend and her daughter at the lake this summer...

 

We spend an entire day opening gifts that we haven't even had a chance to truly appreciate and enjoy, yet, some of us feel the need to line up as early as 1am on Boxing Day (or even before), to go buy more 'stuff'...yes, 'stuff'. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with that, but, let's be thankful to those people who have given up their holiday time to be there to sell you 'stuff'.

 

We are a consumer driven society and yes, I understand completely that we need to continue to be consumers to ensure our economy stays on track...however....we also need to find a balance between needs versus wants! 

 

A person may need medical care on December 26 but no one needs to go out and buy an iPad on December 26.

 

As you can likely tell, I've never understood the hype behind Boxing Day...I'd much rather spend the day with people I care about versus fighting through crowds of strangers for 'deals' on material things.

 

I challenge you to spend time with your family today rather then your debit/credit card. Be thankful for what you already have versus what you feel you still want.

 

 

 

RR