Tax Tuesday: What Santa and Congress have in common

You better not shout (Yes, it is frustrating to do taxes), you better not cry (Okay, so you might not have a refund this year), you better watch out (hope you saved your receipts...), I'm telling you why.... Congress is coming to town (and collecting taxes)

Yes, there is a strange similarity between the IRS and Santa. (I want to point out the common misconception that the IRS does not actually write the tax law, it just administers Congress's work... probably why taxes are so messed up?) The IRS and Santa invade out homes once a year. The reward, whether it is a tax refund/ lower taxes or presents is directly correlated to your actions all year long - if you are a "good" boy or girl or citizen all year (giving to charity or playing well with others). The punishment, whether it is paying higher taxes or coal has the same correlation.

Both Santa and the IRS try all year to "teach" us to be better. Seems like the two of them are more manipulative than some people's crazy Ex's.  We all know what a "good" boy or girl is like in Santa's eyes, but what about the governments?

1. You should grow up and get married- you get to file jointly!
2. You should buy a home- we will let deduct your interest. Still not good enough? Here, have a tax credit!
3. You should have kids- Its hard enough, so you deserve a deduction for dependents.
4. Your kids should have child care- this way you can work, get more money, and pay more taxes. But we will give you a break on child care.
5. You should go to school- cant afford it? we will help you out
6. You should not smoke or drink or tan- hey, we can implement a sin tax to punish you unhealthy people
7. You should take care of your elders- qualified relative deduction.
8. You should give to charity- charitable contribution
9. You should still take care of your kids if you get divorced- thats right. we will make you pay it AND not charge the poor caregiver income tax on the child support.
10. You should save your money- we just might not tax you on it.

What manipulative people those politicians are. But then again? so is Santa. I guess someone has to teach us right from wrong once we reach adulthood.

They see you when youre sleeping, they know when youre awake (and working so you can pay taxes), They know if you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sake. (Does this not creep anyone else out?)

The Post-Holiday Blues

Sunday night after a long holiday break. This could quite possibly be one of the most depressing moments. You just roll off of a long vacation with family, friends, presents, cake, and sleeping until 10am. Suddenly the break is over and you are back to waking up at 7am, putting on work clothes, and sitting at your desk for 8+ hours. I definitely have the work-blues. Don't get me wrong, I like my job (as I am sure many of you do), but I really like vacation more. Americans get an average of 17 vacation days a year. The French? 37.5. (37.5!? Au revoir- I am heading to France!) It doesn't matter how sad I am about getting back to real life, or how many statistics I look up about vacation days, the days of college 4 week winter breaks are over and I (as most of you) have work tomorrow. So what can I do? Make the best of it and try to fight the Post-Holiday Blues.

Ways to beat the post holiday blues when heading back to work:

1. Be thankful you have a job. It would be worse to NOT have a job to go back to after the holidays- appreciate this blessing
2. Get excited to reorganize your work life. It is a new year and you have a new opportunity to organize your desk and how you work at work. Get excited about how you are going to change your work life for the better and going back wont be so bad.
3. Make plans. It is easier to go back when you know you get to spend time with your work friends. Get excited to catch up with them.
4. Buy yourself some new work clothes. (Am I suggesting retail therapy? maybe, but hey, it always does the trick.)
5. Get a good night's sleep. Chances are you have quite a few emails awaiting your arrival and who knows what other work obligations. EVERYTHING seems better when you have slept. Instead of thinking about how much you don't want to go to work, just go to sleep and know that tomorrow will come ready or not.
6. Be motivated for a new routine. It is sometimes nice to have a routine, something that vacation doesn't provide for you.
7. Listen to some good music. If nothing else works, at least you will be sent off to post-holiday work in a good mood.

On that note, I am going to download some N*SYNC (legally of course) to my computer, layout my new shoes (Not sure what outfit I will wear yet, but I have my new work shoes ready for their debut), text Kelly about lunch, and I am off to get a good 8 hours of sleep. (let me suggest the same!)

Working between Christmas and New Years? Turns out you might be on to something...

We were discussing in the office today about who is taking what vacation days off until the end of the year. Some people are working part of next week, some aren't working at all. Almost everyone, however, is taking off between Christmas and New Years.

There are A FEW people who will be working between Christmas and New Years. At first I thought these people were crazy. Why would you work on this precious week when you could go on a much needed vacation before busy season? Do you really like work THAT much? (If the answer is yes, then you really do need to find a hobby...) It then hit me- at midnight on a work night- that these people might actually be on to something. And if you are one of those people who are STUCK working this precious week? Well this post is for you, consider yourself lucky!

Think about it. You are in the office with very few other people, not alot of work (since there are very few other people) and free time that you are getting paid for.  Here are my list of ideas of how to spend the week between Christmas and New Years in the office:

1. Organize your desk. Would it really hurt for you to enter a new and busy year all organized and with a clean desk? Definitely not! Everyone will come back from their ski vacation frazzled and jealous of your organized desk.

2. Organize your life for that matter. You probably will have free time (since all the managers are skiing), you might as well make a budget, take care of personal finances, and prepare for the next year.

3. Network. There will probably be other people in the office. This is the perfect opportunity to branch out and make new friends in the office that you might not ever get to meet.

4. Snack on all those holiday treats that people left in the break room (hey, you deserve it! and they would just go bad without you)

5. Enjoy leaving at 5. Who is going to be in the office to give you work at the last second before you are walking out the door? Is there really going to be a deadline on December 28th? probably not.

6. Plan your next vacation. With this whole week of vacation time you have saved, you can use the roll over vacation to take a MUCH NEEDED vacation later in the year.

7. Stock up on cool pens. If they don't have any more in the supply closet, I am sure your neighbor will never remember exactly which pens he had before the holiday break.

This being said. My last day in the office is December 24th.  For a week- and a much needed vacation. While I have now convinced myself that working this precious week is not too bad, I think the real place to be on December 26th is laying in my bed at 11am.