Thanksgiving Eve 2009

For most of you out there in the US, I should say "Happy Thanksgiving!" because its past midnight and technically into Thanksgiving for you. I am on North Pole Time and it is long past midnight for me as I write this post.

While it has been a very long day, I am not in the least bit tired. I have caught the "Christmas fever". I am SO excited for the Holidays. Its a good thing too since the Holiday season kicks off tomorrow for me on a personal basis as Mrs. Claus and I host our annual Thanksgiving banquet and then it kicks off on a professional basis on Friday as our Operations swing into full gear.

I think the Christmas spirit really hit me today because of what I did. First, I started the day especially early, around 4am, with a run. The snow was falling as I ran and that always gets me in the Holiday mood. I finished the run at the Village Starbucks, where I had coffee with Jingle to discuss tomorrow's morning appearances across North America including the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and at NFL games in Detroit & Dallas. The egg nog latte was superb! By the way... I have to confess... I have gone decaf for the most part but I did cheat and have a regular, fully caffeinated latte this morning. From there, I had breakfast with Mrs. Claus at the house. Afterwards, I flew with Jingle down to Tennessee to pick-up the fresh turkey's for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner.

We were back around lunch time so I pulled together my staff for an impromptu, informal discussion over lunch. We chatted for awhile personally - sharing things from our weekend, etc - and then discussed the status of the re-org transition and its impact on the team's morale. Overall, everyone was very pleased with how well the re-org has been accepted by the team members. Obviously, we still have some "kinks" in the roles & responsibilities to work out but we are ahead of where we thought we might be.

After lunch, I joined Mrs. Claus to see if I could help with set-up for tomorrow's big Thanksgiving Day dinner. As always, she insists on cooking all of the food and she refuses help from me. So I wandered over to the Hall in which we'll hold the dinner. And let me tell you, I got over there at the right time. Amongst all the elves scurrying to hang decorations, set tables, and generally position everything for tomorrow's event, I found Taylor Swift on stage doing her sound check. Mrs. Claus specifically requested her for this year's banquet and now I know why after seeing her perform. What a voice! Especially for someone so young. It's going to be a real treat for our guests tomorrow to hear her sing. She will perform some of her original work but she is also going to sing a number of classic Christmas Carols.

When the sound check was over, I had Rudolph and Blitzen fly me down to Heidelberg, Germany for the opening of the Christmas markets there. What fun! Even though it was a Wednesday night, there was a great crowd out. I made sure I had a crepe with Nutella before I left. And of course, I sampled all the food that was available in the various booths. The town was beautifully decorated too with lights on practically every building, Christmas trees in every open space, and lights on the street lamps. It was magical.

After the markets in Germany, I rushed back to help Mrs. Claus. She sent me out on a grocery run. Of course, by then it was late and many of the things she needed, like pumpkin pie filling, were sold out at the Village market. I had to scramble around on my sleigh to multiple places to finally find everything she needed. She and I had a snack together after I returned... we had both skipped dinner we were so busy. Ok... maybe you can't call me skipping dinner when I grazed my way through all the Christmas markets, but it wasn't a proper meal either!

Post-snack, I just dove into helping the elves prepare the banquet room. We finally finished a few minutes before I sat down to write this post. I must say it was a good day. And it definitely sparked the Christmas spirit in me. But its time for me to crash... I have a long - but exciting - day ahead tomorrow.

Have a great Thanksgiving, all!