Happy New Year!

First of all, I hope all of you had a great Christmas. Hard to believe it's already been a week since the celebration. We all had a great time with friends and family. On Christmas Eve, we spent part of the day at my mother in-law's house and then later in the evening, we headed over to my cousin Karen's house to cap off the evening. Christmas morning, Betty and I prepared for our celebration. This year, we spent Christmas day at home with all our kids. We had a great Christmas dinner, watched old movies, and reminisced about past Christmases. Before you knew it, the day was gone and it was time to go to bed to get up early for all those after-Christmas sales.

I arrived here the day after Christmas promptly at 5:00 AM, and it was like the day after Thanksgiving all over again. The phones were ringing off the hook, orders were coming in online, and we have all of you to thank! So, as I sit here today, on the eve of New Year's Eve, and I reminisce about all that's happened here this year, I think it's been pretty amazing. So much has happened this year: so much good and a few not-so-good, but that's OK. I feel pretty fortunate to be able to do what I truly enjoy every single day. So many of you have been with us since the first days of Hocus Pocus, and some of you have just climbed aboard the Hocus Pocus Express. The bottom line is: you are responsible for the continued success and growth of our business. Your support, suggestions, and viewpoints mean everything to us. We have never lost focus of that, especially in today's society of the rapidly-diminishing notion of customer service. So, for that, I sincerely thank you.

For the first time, I'm going to actually take tomorrow off and not return until next Monday. I say this every year but never do it. I'll sleep in a little bit, catch up on some movies that Betty and I want to see, and spend our New Year's quietly at home. So, all in all, I'm a pretty happy guy; my life is great and I can't wait to see what 2009 brings. On behalf of myself and everyone here at Hocus Pocus, I wish you a safe, healthy and happy New Year.

Until next time,

Paul