I want to do something a little different this week and before we get into that, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
With Christmas coming up this weekend I want to talk about traditions as well as having that balance between work and the holidays with family.
Growing up, one of my favorite traditions was Christmas morning with my family. Not the part about opening gifts, it was more about time with family.
At a young age my grandfather always wanted to be the first to see us open our gifts so he was up early and over at our house as early as he could be. This started a tradition of spending Christmas morning with the Russell family and having breakfast/brunch.
As my sister and I got older, instead of having Christmas morning at our horse we shifted to my uncle’s house as he had the youngest kids.
We’d get up and head to my uncle’s early and the men would go all out and cook a huge breakfast for everyone and then clean up and do the dishes. This was my favorite part.
Even as an adult, we still continued that tradition for many years…with me on toast duty because once…as a teen I burnt one toast…so I wasn’t allowed to cook. It was probably better that way.
Now that I have 2 nephews and a niece things have changed a bit and since they are 2 hours away, we had to start a new tradition. This now is something I look forward to all year long. This is a chance to take somewhat of a “mini vacation” so to speak and spend a few days away and get to play with my nephews and niece.
This is where the balance really comes into play. The last thing I want to do is be on the phone, tablet or laptop working when I’m with the kids, so that’s where planning really helps.
Now I will say, I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to planning and keeping things organized but this is something I try to pay special attention to during the holidays. Both in the summer when I want to take time off and during the holidays so I can take the two hour trip to see family.
I take the time at the end of the month before I’m going away or need time off to plan ahead. Doing this, I know what important dates are coming up, what work needs to be done and with that I make a plan to have everything set in motion so that when I am gone for a few days there isn’t anything pressing that needs to be done.
As much as I say that though, when I’m away and on vacation I do have my Galaxy Watch 4 synced with my phone so if an email comes in I can take a peek to see if it’s urgent. If it is, I have my laptop with me at all times so I can quickly respond and then get back to spending time with my nephews and niece.
When it comes to the holidays, are you able to take time away from the office or do you keep work up to the point you have to go to dinner or head to something else going on?
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