Thursday

There are certain Christmas gift giving habits in this country at least here in New York.

There are people who are perfectly happy with anything they get. It shows that they value the though and not the material value of the gift.

Years ago I had a friend who had a small jewelry stall in Manhattan. I remember being there a couple of days before Christmas when all the mailmen who were delivering the precious items throughout the year came around. They walked through the store from stall to stall with their opened hand and all took the cash the merchants gave them. This was expected. No gift, no next time delivery. That was the message.

In my building before the Holidays they post the names of all the employees. Super, handyman, porters. Just to remind the residents that it is time to cough up some dough. Not that they don't get any tips during the year whenever they do something special but this is special time.

There are buildings with really large staff with some not even visible to the tenants. In those places there is a suggested contribution that will be decided between the staff. Who knows, maybe yes maybe no.

Anyway, we are used to this form of gift giving. Tonight was the night when we prepared the envelops that will be given out tomorrow. This way at least they will say hello when they se us the next time.