Merry Christmas!
Happy Holidays!
We’re only a few days from the arrival of a new year, and the anticipation is HUGE.
What’s 2012 got for us?
This is the day after Christmas, and we pulled out all the stops here at the Owen House.
We had our traditional “Christmas Eve Rib Feast” . . . Tracked Santa all day on NoradSanta.org . . . and enjoyed each other and all of the great folks who came to visit.
Christmas day was nothing short of wonderful beginning with sheer delight as the children discovered that they had, in fact, made Santa’s “Nice List” . . . The gifts were all thoughtful and FUN!
We ate and ate and ate our way through the day – “Strada” for breakfast, Leftover ribs for Lunch, and a wonderful “surf & turf” for supper . . .
and we exercised every chance we got – a nice hike at Radnor Lake and a few walks of the dog.
All in all, it was a GREAT day . . . and it was MESSY!
This is where “Managing the details” comes in.
Just before sitting down to write this and enjoy my morning cup of coffee, I cleaned the oven (The ribs create a tremendous mess) . . . and I looked around the house and wondered how we got it all done in 36 hours. AMAZING!
I thought back and remembered some “strategies” that I saw unfold that apply nicely to every day life. Many of these come from prior restaurant experience, some from “Leadership training” and others from the simple premise that TEAMwork (Together everyone achieves more) carries the burden.
Simply put:
- We PREPARED beginning Christmas Eve Morning . . . Spent much of that day tidying up and setting things up to “manage” a large gathering. Everyone in the family pitched in . . . When the party started, we were READY and could enjoy.
- We PRACTICED “Clean as you go” throughout. I noticed everyone participating by doing even the smallest things like gathering the shredded wrapping paper during the opening mayhem (Some of that might have been preservation of gifts that could be lost in the pile) . . . It seemed like everyone was always picking something up – Washing dishes – Organizing – Cleaning up spills etc.
- We set GOALS and identified REWARDS! “When we get this house in order, we’ll reward ourselves with a hike” 🙂
