In the Zone: The Holiday Zone.

It seems that once the gate opens on Thanksgiving, we enter what I like to think of as the “holiday zone”. Life is pretty normal up until that time and then people shift into a whole different gear. Nobody is really focused on a whole lot work wise or anything else but everyone is planning their holiday parties and family get-togethers or holiday trips. It is really hard to break anybody out of that mindset. Christmas and Thanksgiving are 30 days apart and if you haven’t got in done, whatever that is, you can almost forget it until, at the very least, after Christmas. More likely, after New Years.

In the game of politics, we will be very busy through this holiday zone attending Christmas banquets and holiday get-togethers as well as whatever family events. There is quite an expectation that we attend everything we can. So, this lull in the action can actually be quite fast paced. Even with that being said, it is still a pretty nice time of the year. I certainly do not try to schedule any auctions during that time because I have learned after 25 plus years that peoples’ attention is on anything but business. It is kind of like my friend Mattie Kinder taught me years ago about using the Almanac to work cattle. It is not magic or sorcery. It is just a simple rhythm of the Earth. She has said several times that her Grandma Stoll taught them that you do not even wean babies without the Almanac. I think this “holiday zone” is a lot like that. It is swimming up stream or walking uphill. It is just really hard to get peoples’ minds out of holiday gear and I guess that is as it should be. We do need to take time to be thankful for all the things we are blessed with and to celebrate the birth of Christ and to enjoy our families. Those are the things that really count. Whether you can squeeze in one more real estate deal or one more auction, in the end really does not matter. What really matters is our friends and families. I guess that is really what this zone is all about. It is that little stretch of time when people really are focused on everything but business.

I have fought it for years but I think with my age has hopefully come a little bit of wisdom. So, this year, I am going to try to relax into it and not fight human nature and just try to enjoy this little stretch that used to really frustrate me. Oh, there will be the daily stuff. Making sure cattle are taken care of and things of that nature. I guess the passing of my dad right before Thanksgiving kind of helped serve to tune me into what is important and what is real, and I guess you could say, what really matters. I am going to try my best to work with the rhythm of the Earth and enjoy the “holiday zone” and not fight it so much and just let it happen. It has been a pretty good Fall, for the most part. We have been pretty busy. Just sold our Spring calves. So the world looks pretty level. Got a deer hanging in the shop and a few more days to get another one possibly. So, I am going to enjoy this time of year and I hope you do too.

If you would like to contact me while I am at the capitol, please do not hesitate to send an email to donarmes@house.gov or call me at 1-800-522-8502.

And here’s a little something to think about as you go down the road:

“I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month”. -Harlan Miller