IB is happy to publish, again this week, favorite memories of more area businesspeople, all of whom we asked to recall a favorite holiday memory to share with you. Happy reading!
Kathleen Paris, Kathleen Paris & Assoc.
My favorite holiday memory was from the year when my daughter Meaghan was 6 years old. She had decided that she would like to sing Christmas carols to the neighbors. So with me as her bodyguard, she went up to people’s porches, rang their doorbells, and said she would like to sing a Christmas song for them.
Her little girl voice was so sweet on that clear night. People were in tears listening to the tiny choir of one. We were offered cookies, hot chocolate, and even money, but there were songs to be sung, so we kept moving. Later that night, I wrote in my journal that my Christmas had been made.
Corey Chambas, First Business Bank
For several years when I was young, on Christmas Eve my dad would have me go with him in the car to drive around out in the country where we lived and “look for Santa.” When we got back, amazingly (and very coincidently) Santa would have come by our house and left presents. My mom would say something like, “I was in the basement doing laundry and I thought I heard something upstairs.”
Well, one year as we were pulling out of the driveway, lo and behold, Santa drove right past! We followed him for a while, but I guess Santa must have been quite the car chase type driver, because my dad somehow lost him. When we got home, I was so excited to tell my mom, and yet sure enough, he had somehow delivered presents to our house while we were out following him. I still laugh when I think about what must have been going on in my dad’s head on that drive!
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Nilesh Patel, Mahadev Law Group, LLC
Having grown up in New York, nothing beats Rockefeller Center for Christmas spirit and cheer. There’s just something about the decorations around Fifth and Sixth avenues, the decorated shops and their Christmas displays, and of course, the big tree and skating rink in the middle of it all. The whole scene is a sight worth taking in, especially at the start of the season when the tree is lit.
That’s where my favorite memory comes in, because in 1996, I attended a holiday party for a vendor with offices on the fourth floor of the NBC Building. I’m not sure if it was “30 Rock,” but whatever the address was, the location was perfectly situated in sight of the skating rink and the tree. There was the usual holiday food and drink with the bonus of avoiding the crowds and having a bird’s-eye view of the festivities. If memory serves, Olympic skater Ekaterina Gordeeva performed that night before the gigantic tree was lit.
After the festivities, it was time to take the subway back home to Long Island. And that’s where I got one last treat for the evening – walking past Yankees Manager Joe Torre.
Jody Glynn Patrick, In Business magazine
One year, my family decided to give “memories” (versus “things”) for Christmas and so, as my gift to my husband, I flew in one of Kevin’s longtime friends whom he hadn’t seen for years. She came from Michigan to spend a weekend with us. I took him to the airport, hinting that we were boarding a plane to a secret location. Imagine his surprise when Laura met us at the ticket counter! Shock and awe!
His gift to me was a trip to Door County to a bed-and-breakfast in February. We got snowed in during a blizzard and it was so much fun. Something I’ll never forget, including the awful, cherry-cough-medicine taste of the complimentary bottle of Door County Wine. But other than that … it was perfect!
Our daughters sent us to a performance of the Blue Man Group, poncho section. For those of you who have been there, done that, you know it’s a treat.
Everyone gave everyone else a special day in one way or another, and it was our best extended holiday season ever!
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