The Entre Holiday
Donât you just love the limbo week between Christmas and New Yearâs? One party down, one to go. Something accomplished and something to look forward to.
Kinda like Scroogeâs Ghosts: Christmas Past, Christmas Future and all the Presents in between.
Or like the Entre Guerre between the 2 World Wars, a sweet spot full of celebrating and excess. OK, maybe only until 1929 and definitely not for the Germans.
And even if you have to work between the 2 Holidays, like most of us do, it seems a lighter, gentler kind of work. Big projects are finished, new ones to plan for. You really canât get anything done and there are no big decisions to make because everyone else is off for the season.
It can be like a holiday, but youâre getting paid to, well, not slack off exactly, but to maintain the fort:
To put out the fires of the day, but not have to worry about whether the buildingâs on fire.
To enjoy the people coming in and not have to worry about protocol and follow up and all the rules of the game.
To have conversations with coworkers and enjoy their company.
In DeparmentStoreLand, we elves could not usually afford to take time off, even time-owing, but we enjoyed the life of maintaining the decorations, removing clothes off mannequins for customers, taking sold out items out the windows. I remember bringing a customer into the front fashion windows to remove a coat she wanted. Totally against the rules, but she loved it. And I loved showing it off. A rare peek at the magic behind the scenes.
 This was before the days when Boxing Day/Week/Month went up before Christmas was even over. And Clearance Banners covered the windows. Being a small team in a huge store we tried to extend the season until Ukrainian Christmas. We are a multi-cultural country after all. More time to enjoy and more time to do take-down. No one seemed to mind. No one was watching. Everyone in Head Office had the time off!
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