I’ve always loved the Christmas Season. It really is a magical time of year with the snow on the ground, and in Edmonton’s case A LOT of snow on the ground, and the smell of fireplaces in the air. Right from when I could remember I’ve always liked decorating, eating Christmas baking (notice how I didn’t say baking), wrapping gifts, giving gifts, being with family and friends, and new this year giving back to the community.
The one thing I’ve always dreamed of during the Christmas season is to have everyone over for the Christmas weekend. Just like you see in those movies like “The Family Stone” (MINUS Sarah Jessica Parker’s Character) and “Christmas Vacation”. I want to have a big family and even better have a big house to hold everyone for the holiday. There is just something special about having family arrive through the day to a house that smells like pine from the HUGE HUGE Christmas Tree in the living room. If the family has to come in from far we will pay for the travel because it’s important to have family together regardless of cost.
At night the house will be all lit up and able to see for miles! 
I’ll have a huge skating rink in the back yard so that everyone can skate, and if you don’t have skates we will have skates of all sizes for everyone! There will be a fire pit near the rink so people can warm up or just sit by the fire and catch since the last time they saw each other. The backyard will be lined with pine trees and all lit up as well and will be one of the most beautiful backyards you’ve ever seen. I’ll even plow snow up so there is a small toboggan hill for the kids to slide down!
Christmas Eve will be like it has been for years where we just drink wine, play board games where the men will beat the women (that’s for you mom), and just sit around the floor to ceiling fireplace that will be roaring with warmth and have stockings for each and every person that is there, including the dog and cats. Everyone will slowly trail off to bed and after Santa Clause has delivered his presents we all wake up bright and early to see what the big guy has left for everyone. There will be no drawing of names, no gift exchange, EVERYONE will have gifts for everyone else. The tree will be filled and you won’t even be able to touch the tree. Now gifts are not everything so by the afternoon we will have been given names of families around the town we live in that are less fortunate and will deliver gifts to these houses. I will have organized and arranged for all the gifts personally and everyone that shows up for the weekend will have a house to deliver to. It will be the Guthrie’s way of giving back to those families in need. After a great afternoon of giving back everyone will come back to the house and get ready for an amazing Christmas dinner. It will be a feast like no other and everyone will be around a HUGE table laughing and just having a great time.
I could go on with so many more details but you get the picture. I’ve thought about this a lot in the last 4-5 years and this will be a dream that will come true. This is a dream that honestly without the business we are in would not be possible. I can clearly see this dream, this vision for my future Christmas’s and almost brings a tear to my eye when I think about it because it means so much to me to do. To be able to buy presents for everyone, fly people in that need to be flown in, buy presents and get them delivered for the less fortunate, have the house to hold everyone, skating rink in back yard, toboggan hill, etc… all of this (to the standard of my dream) would not be possible without this business. With all that I’ve listed here in this blog post how can I say no to a business that will allow me to obtain this? There is no turning back and no failure, there is only the future and moving ahead, staying true to this business and being core.
Merry Christmas and to you and yours this holiday season!
I’d love to hear what your dreams are for the Christmas holiday, Christmas season, or for your family in general.
Lindsay and I have been thinking a lot about our future and how we can streamline our life to 1) pay of debt quicker and 2) have Lindsay retired sooner. Now we’ve been talking a lot between the two of us and have some ideas of what we can do but it’s always nice to have friends to be able to counsel with. Now we don’t just counsel with anyone because if the people we counsel with are not moving ahead with their lives or in some way successful in their own way why would we counsel with them? You really have to be careful of who you counsel with because it could have a serious impact on your decisions.