Christmas is my favorite time of year – for the obvious reason, but for many other reasons also. I love the weather that we normally have this time of year. I love getting together with family members that I don’t get to see often enough. And I love seeing old friends and catching up with them.

It’s so much fun going to work during Christmas because I never know what it’s going to bring. We’re extremely busy, and that makes it fun. One of my favorite things is that I get to see so many people who I don’t get to see throughout the year. It happens every day, and I never know who I’m going to run into. Just in the past week, I’ve seen and been able to catch up with more classmates, teachers, and other friends than I can count.

And it’s not just me either – with my job I’m able to see lots of other old friends “catching up” also. They always seem to do it right in the middle of the busiest aisle, but that’s OK – it’s just one of the things we have to get used to at this time of year. It seems like every day I hear someone remark “well I haven’t seen you in years” and that just makes me smile.

That’s one of the nice things about shopping locally. Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m in charge of the website at Tomlinson’s, so I am glad that people do shop online. But there are some things that can never be replaced. And I don’t think that you’ll ever run into your high school friend on amazon.com.

It’s nice to know that we play a small part in bringing people together for Christmas – because after the birth of Christ, isn’t that one of the most important parts of Christmas anyways?

From all of us at Tomlinson’s to all of you – we hope that you have a very Merry Christmas.