It helps me to focus as snow ever-so-lightly falls; and with cleats on my feet I walk on the trail left from my snowshoes in days before! It is quiet, the snow-filled woods are as far as I can see, and here and there animal tracks cross my path or walk in my footprints. It is the spirit of the season: the pines loaded with white, the smell from fallen branches and the gratefulness in my heart that we are blessed with: health, family and guests!
As Innkeepers you often live in the most wonderful surroundings, make a living with a viable business and have a lifestyle that allows you to be authentic, generous and gracious. What an opportunity! Don’t get me wrong. To be that Innkeeper you have to work long hours at times, get up early and perhaps stay up late. Not every guest is your best friend. But you are your own master, and you are successful because of your own creativity!
What I love most of all is to see that you appreciate and embrace the diversity of your guests. Not every guest shares in the celebration of Christmas; there is Hanukkah and the many other religions that do not celebrate in traditional ways. Fresh greens, a deer on the mantel, carved Santas and maybe a Christmas tree in the sunroom, minimal and tasteful, are a warm addition to the wintery scenery outside.
I appreciate this festive time of year and music complementing my dining experience, and I do not object to a lovely Christmas carol, along with great traditional classical or jazz renderings, as long as the music is a complement to my total experience.
I hope that you are all having a wonderful holiday season, with lots of guests filling your rooms; where the smell of fresh baked muffins, scones and cookies wafting throughout the Inn awakens the guests!
Happy New Year!
~ Heide
