What is a favorite gift you have given or received?

All I want for Christmas is…

Jordan Glover, Senior Public Relations Specialist

I received my favorite Christmas present when I was five years old a few weeks before Christmas. I had just gotten back from my aunt and uncle’s house when I heard a little puppy squeal coming from the laundry room. After months of badgering my parents and hanging “please get me a puppy” signs all over my parents room, bathroom and car I finally got my precious little lab puppy. Still my favorite Christmas present ever!

 

Christmas vacation in Europe

Mackenzie Wortham, Account Director

A few years ago, my family decided to skip the traditional Christmas and gift giving and give each other the gift of time together instead. We went to Europe over Christmas and visited Christmas markets across multiple cities and made so many special memories together. On Christmas eve we went to midnight mass in Vienna and spent Christmas Day exploring an old monastery and drinking mulled wine and looking at lights – it was magical!

 

 

A Tom Cruise Christmas to remember

Marci Allen, Account Director

Now that I have kids, it’s a 1,000% more fun to give them gifts than any memory I have from my childhood, but a few highlights that make my Christmas memory short-list are…(drumroll, please) the highly-coveted, hard-to-find 1984 Cabbage Patch Doll in 4th grade (she had red hair, but apparently beggars can’t be choosers when you’re living in a tiny fishing town in Alaska – population 2,000), a mini boom box and Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors cassette tape in 6th grade (do I even need to explain?), a denim jacket in 7th grade (it was all the rage with my homemade blue jean purse and white high-top Reeboks), a computer featuring a state-of-the-art DOS operating system and a 5.25” floppy disk drive in 8th grade (what was even the point?!?), and a brown leather bomber jacket in 10th grade (because Tom Cruise, obviously.) I think I still have that bomber jacket somewhere (because Tom Cruise, obviously.)

Santa Claus really is real!

Stevi Perkins, Marketing Specialist

My parents made my gifts so special growing up, so it’s hard to pick a favorite. Some of the highlights include a trampoline, a hot pink motor scooter, a Belle from Beauty and the Beast costume… Oh, and once I said “I hope Santa brings me a skateboard” at about 8 pm on Christmas Eve and my sweet parents went and bought me one that night so I would still believe in Santa magic! These days, I get excited about coffee tables and cooking utensils, though I wouldn’t say no to another motor scooter…

 

Nothing says Merry Christmas like a fresh roll of toilet paper

Wanda Lightbody, Accounting Manager

My favorite gift was a 50 gallon sized gift bag full of random household items. Paper towels and toilet paper were the fillers of the bag, but there were so many random things that you couldn’t predict what was coming out next. Items such as shampoo, conditioner, wooden spoons, dish towels, toothbrushes, hand soap, random kitchen items, laundry detergent. Items both large and small, it was so fun pulling all of the random things out of the bag!

Share your favorite Christmas tradition:

Our Cowboy Christmas, “Yee-haw!”

Allison Kirkland, Marketing Manager

Christmas brunch! Our brunch goes beyond the food, which you better believe includes lots of 1970s jello molds. But we also incorporate activities like a “sleigh ride” (aka a feed trough tied to the back of a tractor) and a skeet shooting competition. It’s a true cowboy Christmas in East Texas!

 

 

Oh, Christmas Tree… closest to the checkout counter… 

Audrey Miranda, Senior Communications Specialist

Growing up, our family would take a trip to a tree farm to find “the perfect tree.” We’d spend hours walking around to scope it out, then cut down our favorite. These days we bundle up and head to the nearest tree place (read: parking lot “farm” with a booth), point to the tree closest to the front counter, and call it a day! 

 

Drinking [cocoa] and driving in PJs? 

Hannah Daniels, Senior Manager Development

One of my favorite traditions is when we’d all hop into the car with hot chocolate in hand (and in Christmas pajamas, of course!) and drive around for hours looking at lights. Once we got home we would have a Christmas movie marathon until we all fell asleep.

Schneider Christmas Late Night

Jessica Schneider, Senior Public Relations Manager

About 8 or so years ago, we started a tradition of going to midnight mass then coming home, making breakfast and opening presents in the wee hours of the morning!

A walk down Christmas memory lane

Jessie Donlon, Social Media Specialist

My favorite Christmas tradition is decorating the Christmas tree – We always blast Christmas music and drink Abuelita Hot Chocolate. I think the best part is seeing all the old ornaments that I had and continue to forgot about!

Share a New Year’s resolution you are looking forward to implementing in 2021:

Cheers to more water in 2021!

Hena Husain, Social Media Specialist

1. Drink. More. Water.
2. Finally finish putting together a cookbook I’ve been working on compiled of my mom’s homemade Indian/Pakistani recipes. This has been a long time coming and I really want to get it done so I can have hard copies bonded and published!

 

Cookies, cookies and um, more cookies!

Lauren Miller, Senior Public Relations Manager

Finish cooking my way through 100 Cookies baking cookbook by Sarah Kieffer! I’m on number 6 of 100 so 94 more recipes to go. My resolution is to become a confident baker and work on my skills here and so far I can see a big difference with just these first 6 recipes!

 

The wisest investments of all.

Mariana Bulgarelli, Apprentice

Investing in myself and investing in my future.

Spending more time being grateful.

Megan Zweig, Vice President

I don’t even have to say it, but I’m going to anyway, “2020 was a challenging year.”  Duh, right?  I have found over the last 12 months that being grateful for people, things and circumstances is much more pleasurable than not.  So, I’m going to be significantly more intentional in 2021 to not only find gratitude in my own life, but help others in need of a positive outlook find gratitude in their hearts as well.

A year of intention.

Dan’l Mackey Almy, President and CEO

Not big on resolutions as they are fleeting to me. I’ve been listening to and now reading a game changing book called Atomic Habits. This easy read has completely changed the way I think about good and bad habits for the better. My word and thus action of the year is – Intention. I want to be intentional each and every day. I also intend on exploring intermittent fasting, picking up golf again, and writing a lot more. I am also intently working on a 5 year plan for DMA, which is a significant endeavor that will take me (and the team) into 2021 to complete!

The truth is, we wouldn’t be a successful marketing company, blog or team without you, our friends and readers – and we are grateful!  We wish you all the happiest holiday season and health in 2021.

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