Now that I've neglected this blog for a year...

Wow. What an interesting and emotional day today.
Let me go back a bit...about 5 weeks ago, when the head of our PR department asked me to head up the "Dear Santa" contest for our market. All I had to go off of was a copy of the script for the television spot and a vague project outline. The idea was that the owner of the company wanted to give away bedroom furniture to 10 kids in our market that wrote letters to us with good grades and/or helped in their communities. My job (up until today) was fairly simple, and didn't require too much of my personal time... aside from spending four hours creating a pretty ridiculous candy-cane striped mailbox receptacle in which we collected the letters, which I was very proud of. (Pictures soon to come)
Today was the big day. My little panel of judges and I sorted through and read EACH and EVERY letter. Of course this became an all day event, as we found it difficult to narrow it down to 10 winners. We laughed, we cried, we even argued a bit. It was incredible how, over the course of about six hours, we became so connected to these kids...and most of them will probably never even realize it. Their stories were varied...some kids were outgoing leaders who had no trouble listing each and every accomplishment they had under their little belts, and some humbly struggled to explain why they needed the furniture and yet managed to keep their heads up through enormous difficulties in their lives. Like I said, we all cheered for them...or cried for them.
In the end we chose our winners, and stumbled back to the private office to contact the winners. We all looked and felt like little kids who just got the tar beaten out of them at a massive playground brawl...battered, bruised and ready for some fun. It was strange how draining that process was. I don't think any of us expected that.
The phone calls were so much fun. Our youngest winner (a six year old boy) made some of the cutest squeals I have ever heard. I can't wait to contact the rest of them tomorrow.
We finished the night with a work Christmas party at a bowling alley...and I have to say that, surprisingly enough, it was the perfect way to chill out and be thankful for the insanely emotional conclusion of our "Dear Santa" contest.
Cheers.