Ah, the best time of year is finally at hand. That’s right, it’s the Holidays and the official launch of my various and sundry Yuletide traditions. I used to pretend that these were all new versions of old classics, but I have to admit that ten years in there is a decent amount of repetition. It’s just not avoidable.

But far better to be rehashing the 12 days of Christmas or polishing up a diatribe on the best Christmas movies, writing poems and putting together the world’s most impressive nice and naughty list than getting dragged relentlessly into the sewer that passes for political discourse these days. No, I like to close out the year with smiles all around. Not like last year when I was losing my mind and trying to get the dithering Liberals to call an election, which they didn’t do.

Nope, they called it in April. But we did get a new prime minister which means, thank the lord, that I get to remove any reference to Justin Trudeau from the various lists, rhyming couplets and hackneyed metaphors I am going to subject people to for the next few weeks in the lead up to Christmas. We are officially free of the Trudeau era!

Except of course I saw on Twitter that he and Katy Perry double-dated the former PM of Japan – ugh, there goes my head exploding… again.

Oh well, not much I can do about it, more power to him living his best life out of the spotlight….

Back to the holidays!

First up is everyone’s favourite – an Advent calendar for your viewing and reviewing pleasure.

I don’t know about your families, but we are big on Advent calendars in our house. Not for any religious reasons or because we have trouble counting down the days to Christmas. No, we do it because we like the surprises that lie behind the cardboard doors. Chocolates, flavoured gins, hair products, personal care products, whiskey, gin, cocktail bombs (don’t ask), socks, clues to a mystery – you name it. It is fun and a wee bit of a daily shared ritual amongst a family that at the best of times seems to be travelling at warp speed in 50 different directions.

So, I am going to share that with you in a way. With the attached (link below) Crude Observations/Stormont Capital Annual Advent calendar.

The Calendar can be viewed all at once or day by day. Each window continues the kind of pithy observation you might expect with plenty of pipeline advocacy.

But, if I may leave you with one key theme that runs throughout.

For my primarily male readers.

Christmas shopping season starts November 21, not December 21.

MAKE SURE to get your wife stocking stuffers – your kids will FAIL at this task.

Set a daily reminder for this.

DO NOT go to Costco three days before Christmas and expect to leave with your sanity.

It’s not too late to get physical advent calendars. They come in 12 and 24 day varieties. I highly recommend the whiskey ones.

Oh, and did I mention stocking stuffers?

At any rate – here you go, enjoy. I think the way it works is that you can open the calendar and it opens day one, then every day you can refresh and hit subsequent doors. Or, for those with limited patience, you can open each one all at once, but then you will need a post-it note reminder to buy stocking stuffers.

Click here to access the Advent Calendar

Crude Book Update:

OK – I didn’t make the Christmas deadline so no easy gifts, but… if anyone would like a copy, please email me directly at sparnell@stormontcapital to get on the “list”. Note that some of you are on the list anyway.