29 Days

Twenty-nine days- that's the length of a February in leap year. This year, it is the number of retail days from Black Friday to Christmas Eve. And, for every one of those days, yours truely will be working.
I wonder if people who don't work in retail know just how big a deal Christmas is to many businesses, particularly those in the gift and specialty shops. These days between Thanksgiving and Christmas can make all the difference to a business's success and stores like the one I work at spend the entire year with an eye on the holiday season.
It begins in late January, with inventory of the merchandise. What sold? What didn't? Which Christmas merchandise did the best? Then, starting February, we begin ordering the seasonal items for the next Christmas. These items start arriving in June and we spend July and August unpacking, checking, pricing, and storing the items. Some items that sell well with the tourists start creeping out into the store in August; most are placed out the day after Halloween. And then you're back to the actual Holiday Season with its extended holiday hours, constant playing of carols in the store, and harried shoppers hoping you can help cut some of the holiday craziness out of their lives.
Twenty-nine days. . . we've been working towards this all year. I hope you appreciate it.