It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Well, kinda.

With under a week to go until the big day, there’s a lot of pressure. Is the holiday shopping done? Was that one item on Amazon that you really needed not able to be delivered until December 27th? Are you facing a trip to Costco this week to stock up for that big family dinner you are hosting on Saturday? And what about work? Did you procrastinate and now face an unsurmountable list of tasks to complete this week? Maybe you forgot to turn in your blog post when it was due on Friday (not mentioning any names here.) And forgot about putting cover sheets on your TPS reports.

Last year in this holiday post I wrote about how the holiday release of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens helped the world forget its problems for a couple of hours. The holiday strategy most have been deemed successful because the folks at Disney are back with the latest installment of the saga, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. A pleasant distraction, yes, but more pressure to make sure the kids get to see it.

Despite all of this pressure, there is a lot of magic in the air this time of year. And we recommend that you take a moment to stop to savor and appreciate this energy. Instead of stressing about things we want and need to do, take some time to be thankful for what we have. At Thin Pig, we are thankful that we have grown from a cocktail napkin idea in 2009 (I was the first client so I saw the actual napkin) to a company that now works with over 50 clients in six countries. We are thankful that we have great clients who entrust us to tell their stories, which are even more exciting this time of year. In 2016 we got to help open a new restaurant in Canada, assist in the campaign for another New York Times Best Seller book launch and start to tell people about what is sure to be an amazing new luxury resort in St. Kitts. And if that weren’t enough, we welcomed a new baby into the TPM family. Enjoy your first Christmas, Mallory! I am thankful for our amazing team and that we have created a culture with our virtual office that allows us to work from home and spend more time with our loved ones.

We’re going to hear a lot of talk as the year winds down about how 2016 will be a year to forget and lots of top ten lists about all the horrible things that went down in the world. But when I sat down to write this post, it didn’t take long to think of a whole lot of things that went incredibly right this year. And I encourage you to take a minute and do the same thing; instead of stressing about what is not under the tree, count the wonderful gifts you have already received.

And now that this blog post and positive reflection are done, I am going to jump on those TPS report cover sheets before Greg gets on my case. Happy Holidays from all of us at Thin Pig Media!

Take time to stop and smell the roses mistletoe.