I was thinking about that yesterday. How here on Christmas Eve (a Monday this year) I actually looked forward to going to my office since I knew most people were either not working or not working the way they usually do. I realized then that there is no other week in the entire year as business-relaxed as the week between (Christmas and New Year’s). Because Christmas Eve is a Monday here in 2012 it actually extends a couple of days. In fact not much work will have been done between the evening of Friday December 21st and Tuesday January 2nd, 2013. It’s about as long a period of non-productivity as can be had during the holiday season. And I love it.

I love the fact that although my family did not go on ‘vacation’ for the holidays, I get up later than usual (a half hour seems like hours), and move at an overall slower pace than at any other time of the year. If clients, colleagues, and vendors reach out to contact about something, there is not the expectation of a an immediate reply – in fact not replying at all is acceptable until after New Year’s since nobody really knows for certain if I am in or out of the office.

I’ll use the time when I am in the office to clean out unwanted and unneeded files and correspondence. I’ll make some outlines of what I’d like to accomplish in 2013 – three, six and twelve month goals. I’ll tackle some of the things that I have put aside under of the headline of ‘I just never have the time’. I will not finish all of them and I’m ok with that.

If you are around this week and ‘working’ I hope you can have some semblance of a similar experience. Take a longer lunch than usual. Show up for work right on time instead of a half-hour early. Leave a little earlier. Make a few phone calls to people you have not talked to in a long time. More importantly, reflect on your 2012, what went well, what did not go well, and the things you’d like to change and how you can accomplish those objectives.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year for many reasons. I have mine. What are yours?