Christmas....Bah Humbug

Just 18 days until Christmas....I am having a very hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. I'm usually that annoying person who starts listening to Christmas music on October 1st. And while I'll admit that I was listening to Christmas music in October this year as well, it has just felt different. Maybe I have been busy or distracted or whatever. Work has played a roll. We are opening Encore in 16 days. My department is one of the few that covers both properties. So not only do we have all our regular responsibilities and workloads, we have now added another property and 13 additional stores. Don't get me wrong, it is a very exciting time and I am grateful to be involved in a company that is so innovative and is the best of the best when it comes Las Vegas resorts.. I mean let's be honest. I like good old Wayne Newton as much as the next person, but Steve Wynn is the REAL Mr. Las Vegas. I'm thankful to be involved in the whole process, but I am totally burned out. I go in early and stay late everyday and I can never seem to get a grasp on my always growing list of things to do. This is the current state of my office, and it's driving me crazy. I am the type of person who loves lists and organization and order. I don't know how much longer I can work like this. And everyday it seems to get worse, I'm currently not winning this battle. I also have times when I get so frustrated that I think I am going to kill the next person that comes to me with a problem or a dumb question or a stupid excuse about why they can't do their job.

I am the type of person that when I am upset or angry or frustrated, I want to have it out right then. I do not like holding things, it makes me feel like I am going to spontaneously combust. So I think this is I haven't felt very Christmas-y. Then last week on one particularly icky day, I returned to my desk after lunch and found the new Chanel holiday bag on my desk. This happens often and it's usually stuff for an executive or stuff Mr's Wynn wants us to check out ect. However... this bag had my name on it. I actually squealed a little. I love Allure perfume! I had been working with the regional manager of Chanel to book reservations for all the Chanel people to come stay at the Wynn during our soft opening and Grand Opening. It had been a very long process to get everyone what they wanted and get them booked, but we got it done. Anyway she left the Chanel bag for me as a way of saying thank you. She also left me know sweetest card. It was so nice of her and actually really unexpected. Most of the time you barely get a thank you. Then this year we had decided we would forgo buying gifts for each other and we would adopt a family for Christmas. Someone from another department at the Wynn just adopted 4 foster children ranging from 4 to 8. We set up a little tree and called it the donation tree. We asked everyone to bring in gift cards and put them on the tree. With the economy struggling and with 4 news kids at Christmas time, we thought gift cards were the best way to go. I was put in charge of our tree and everyday as I would receive gift cards from people I would tie them to the tree. Just those few minutes each day sitting with that little fake tree made all the difference for me. I got to thinking how fortunate I was and thinking about the "reason for the season" We have already passed the tree along to the family, and I really hope that it makes a difference for them this year as they spend their first Christmas together.