The Day After

What a lazy day! I am almost ashamed to admit I did very little today. I slept in until after 10am and then went for a run. It was snowing heavily but it felt good to shake off the grogginess of a full nights sleep. Mrs. Claus met me with a full breakfast and a steaming hot pot of Christmas Blend coffee when I finished. We took our time over breakfast to talk... it seemed as though the first time we've really talked since last month given that we've both been burning the candle at both ends to get ready for the big Christmas Eve operation.

After breakfast and a warm shower, I did go into HQ to meet with my extended leadership team for a couple of hours. We conducted a full debrief and after action review of the Christmas Eve operation. We do that every year.. and we try to do it as soon as possible... in order to capture our learnings (i.e. What went well, want could have been improved, and what was missign) and start to build a plan to apply them for the next year. Given the world's population growth, our margin for error is shrinking exponentially each year. So even though this year's operation went really well, we have to be even better next year.

Other than that meeting, I didn't do much. I returned after the meeting and took a long nap on the sofa next to the fire while Mrs. Claus read. She said it had been about 30 days since she had a chance to read but that it felt like 30 years. After my nap, I tuned in to a few of the English Premier League Boxing Day matches. I am very excited my ManU club is back on top of the tables after Ronaldo put away the penalty kick.

This evening, after Mrs. Claus and I had dinner with some friends we haven't seen since mid-November, I took a walk down to the Starbucks in the Village Square. It was as empty as I have seen it since the same time last year. The vast majority of elves and reindeer left by mid-day on vacations to sunny locales or to visit family during this Holiday season. Those that are still here are staying close to home so they can re-connect with their loved ones after working most of the waking hours for the past 30 days. I sipped my Egg Nog Latte... probably my last of this Season... and enjoyed the still and quiet of the Village Square at night. It was beautiful with the Christmas tree lit and snow lightly falling. We all work hard but it is times like those this evening in the Village Square that I realize I might just be the luckiest man on this planet. I hope all of you can find that same peace and contentment this Holiday season.

Well... these lazy days are not going to last long. Nor would I want them to. But since they are here, I'm going to call it a night for now. Good night, everyone!