As the poem states, “the stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there”.

Christmas is in less than 36 hours – the day that all good boys and girls wait for. I am all ready as yesterday it took me five hours and I saw six Lifetime/Hallmark Channel holiday movies that I had been DVRing for the past several weeks while I wrapped Christmas gifts. As always I can never believe how much I have bought – the presents placed in carry bags will take the entire back seat and floor of my car. But, it will be worth it to see the boy’s faces when they open their gifts.

The front passenger seat and floor will be left available to hold the food that I picked up per instructions from my family – it will hold the fresh ham ordered from the butcher, the pound and a half of Italian pastries from my local bakery and the two eggnogs (the one with liquor and the one without). I will take all of this down to my cousin’s house in Hartsdale tomorrow as we meet to go have a nice Italian dinner. This past week I was in the office for a couple of days and was able to give my team their Christmas gifts – a diary with all the New York information (restaurants, transportation and most needed phone numbers) I also gave them a pumpkin bread with cinnamon crumb topping that I had baked on Monday evening. Wednesday and Thursday I was able to hit the gym in the morning and then attend a few conference calls and do a lot of work for the Visual Communications Industry Group (VCI-Group) – I am President for next year and we are starting with a vengeance.

Friday although it was windy and rainy we had Breakfast with Santa at the Rock Café in Rockefeller Center. Ryan totally enjoyed himself and he does have an appetite as he downed scrambled eggs, bacon and hash browns – also he ate all of the melon that was on the fruit plate. Callum not so much – he was really being shy and didn’t perk up until almost the end when he ate a muffin and then was ready to go bye-bye.

We walked to Grand Central and I was able to stop by Godiva Chocolatier to buy the chocolate Santas for the boys and chocolate snowflake lollipops for the rest of the family. We took the boys to the Train museum where they had the train sets up and running – both Ryan and Callum were fascinated by them. Each walked away with something; Callum a train and Ryan a book on the architecture and engineering of Grand Central.

The week has been full and will culminate in the next couple of days – I hope that each of you have completed your Christmas shopping, baking and cooking. May you enjoy the next week with your family and friends and the true meaning of the season.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All.