Until we Decorate Again…

I’m not ashamed to say I haven’t taken my Christmas decorations down yet. I just can’t get enough of the holiday and have been a little blue to see the Pfister returned to its pre-holiday state. It is still gorgeous, health of course, sans tree, baubles and wreaths.  

I was there on one of the last days of holiday glamour and had to laugh at the mother whose little girl who had her mind dead set on touching the plaid scarf draped on the neck of one of the lions in the lobby. Watching the little one stretch as far as her toes would take her was almost as good as seeing her mother holding her breath and her hands back, letting the child try it on her own.

The thing about the post holiday lull in our lives is it’s sprinkled with the memories that came during the season. That’s what’s been happening at the Pfister. Families and friends who enjoyed the bedazzled hotel have taken out those moments again now that the hustle and bustle of “regular” life has resumed.

It might be my favorite part of technology and contemporary times that when the impulse strikes you—when your TPS reports flash at you on the computer screen and your mind takes you back to a decorated cookie and a champagne cocktail—you can simply move the cursor to your email and savor the memory by writing about it.

Of course the Pfister is known for its service. The most consistent comment or conversation I have is about how guests and patrons are so well-cared for when within the hallowed halls of the Pfister Hotel.

What I like most, however, is receiving the comments about guest experience after the holidays. This week there have been many and I know it’s in the timing. The decorations are coming down, the work weeks are settling in and the holidays are officially over. To deal with the sadness of coming face to face with your resolutions and with waiting more than 300 days to do it all again, you think of how great it was and try to get other to join you in your festive remembering.

It’s these nostalgic afterthoughts that plant the seeds for next year’s excitement. It’s these afterthoughts that build traditions. I welcome every “I just had to write and tell you how perfect you made our holiday” email you can send. Your nostalgia, your memories, your visions of sugarplums and Santas and holiday parties laced in the history of the hotel are what give me the justification to keep my home holiday décor up just a little bit longer. It sure doesn’t look like the Pfister here, but it does help me remember each and every holiday reveler I met there.