The stockings were hung by the chimney… musings on Christmas Eve

I'm alone in the office today, with a single receptionist to help keep the doors open and the wheels of commerce turning for a few hours longer. After the maelstrom of the past few weeks, (the one time of the year I curse our mall location), the mall is finally quiet, with just a few worried looking guys striding past with furrowed brow, hoping they haven't left it too late to start their shopping.

Christmas is traditionally a time of year to count blessings, and I'm surprised and delighted to realize that 2009 turned out to be a much better year than expected. Amongst my blessings have been a dedicated and resourceful staff that worked incredibly hard this year, saving my bacon constantly. To salute them, yesterday we enjoyed the traditional GreenWay long boozy staff lunch, and it was on the tip of my tongue to tell them how much they were appreciated, until I realized that they might then demand to be paid what they are worth.

We are blessed as well with a great group of clients who loyally entrust us with their work year after year, and do us the honour of referring to us their friends and families as well.

Because much of my practice is business related, assisting entrepreneurial clients, we are also blessed that most of them are still here, perhaps battered and bloodied, but still in the game. I am in awe of the tenacity, ingenuity and perseverance of my business clientele.

Lastly, we were blessed with reliable and professional suppliers. We rely throughout the year on a network of couriers, registry agents, IT technicians, marketing and website consultants and legal research services. We could not function without them, and we probably didn't thank them nearly enough.

I was particularly impressed this year by those suppliers who opted to re-direct their client appreciation budgets to feeding the homeless. Dye and Durham, and our accountant, Stephen Plant, deserve special mention in that regard.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!