Now that I’m a grandmother, I can look back at Christmas' past with my own children, and there are lots of memories I still treasure. One of them takes me to Christmas of 1985, when our children were 6, 8, and 11 years old.

My husband Michael and I owned a large janitorial business, and our services included housekeeping contracts, and carpet and upholstery cleaning. December is a really busy month, since everyone wants their home to be spotless for the holidays. We were short-staffed as, one by one, our workers were leaving for their family holidays, and the closer we got to Christmas, the busier it got with last-minute customers. And the guiltier I felt, for being away from the kids so much, working too hard, etc. But we were building a business, and customer service was the ‘name of the game.’ Finally, it was Christmas Eve day, and our children were pretty excited about Christmas …. but Michael and I had to go to work, as usual. We had a full slate of jobs to be done, and only one staff member left to help. We promised the kids that we’d be home by 2:00 pm to spend Christmas Eve with them, left them in the care of my sister, and headed out to work.

We got into the office to pick up the day’s equipment and supplies, and there was a message on the answering machine. Our last worker had a sick child, and wasn’t going to be able to make it in! That left just the two of us, to do the work of three people.

Discouraged and already exhausted, we had to carry on and do the best we could, between us. We didn’t want to disappoint any of our customers, who were counting on coming home from THEIR work world to a spotless house in time for Christmas Eve.

Some time after lunch, I realized that there was no way we would be done by 2 o’clock, so I headed back to the office to pick up more supplies and tophone the kids. I was overcome with guilt, thinking about phoning the kids to let them know that we’d be even later than we thought, getting home. The light was flashing on the answering machine when I rushed in to the darkened office, and I sat down at the desk thinking, "Oh, no, we can’t possibly do one more job today." I flicked the button impatiently to play back the message. What I heard was just about the best Christmas present I’ve ever received …. our children, singing "jingle Bells" in complete unison! When the song was finished, three angelic little voices chimed, "Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad. We love you!"

I sat at that desk and cried, and it was at least half an hour before I could compose myself and get back out the door to work.

We finally made it home at 6:00 pm, too tired to care that it was Christmas Eve! But a week later, when all our staff was back at work, and most other children were going back to school after the holiday, THIS family checked in to a resort in the mountains for a week - and had a WONDERFUL ‘second’ Christmas!

Our kids will never forget the Christmas of 1985 because they got TWO Christmases. And I’ll never forget the Christmas of 1985 because of an answering machine, a silly little Christmas carol - and the three best children in the world!

About the Author: Marilyn Guille started her first business, a thrift store in a girlfriend’s garage, at the age of ten. She learned a great deal about everything from pricing to marketing to scheduling, and that childhoood summer project became the basis for a lifelong love of entrepreneurial pursuits.
As an adult, Marilyn has over twenty years experience in small business, (both home-based and public) encompassing the retail, service, wholesale and tourism industries. She has also taught small business courses through the community college, and as a Business Analyst for a local Community Economic Development agency. "I’ve had exactly two ‘real’ jobs in my adult life – and they both ended badly. I’m definitely meant to be self-employed," she says.

Today Marilyn is a successful freelance writer, bringing her writing skills and business background to a local monthly magazine she publishes, and to her consulting business, Full Spectrum Business Services and Marketing http://www.fullspectrum.bizhosting.com. Her three children are grown (and they’re all entrepreuneurs!), and she’s now has two grandsons who are 5 and 1. She lives with her husband Michael aboard an old classic yacht, and they offer year-round sightseeing charters on Vancouver Island, in Canada http://www.zapbc.com/windwalker.