My dad (still alive) used to read us The Night Before Christmas on December 24 every year when we were kids/teens. I think he even did it into our early twenties when we would come home from University. About 15 years ago he found an audio picture book of the story where you record your own voice and it lines up as you turn the pages. He recorded himself reading it and gave one each to my sister and I. I still have that book and I store it without batteries so it won't get ruined (tried it with batteries last year and it's still going strong, but I'll probably record it on my phone at some point just to further preserve it). Some day that's going to be priceless.

My office has this lovely policy that if you work over the holidays you're responsible for covering for EVERYONE who took the time off. Out of 20 assistants only 5 are currently working between Xmas and NY, which means we have to cover EVERYONE's work as needed. Sure it's quieter...but I'm still responsible for my team of 5, my cubicle-mate's team of 5 (I always cover her vacation) AND anything else that anyone in the dept feels like sending my way.