Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg...It's that time of year again. Time for the annual SYDCON holiday blog and the sharing of my favorite Christmas Song. Jingle Bells, but not just any rendition, the Barenaked Ladies rendition. Go ahead, click the link and press play and listen along while you read!

It's definitely looking a lot like Christmas here in the Chicago area. Heck if feels like it too! Thanks to the winter blast we have been experiencing, we should have a white Christmas here. White Christmas makes me smile, sub zero Christmas, not so much. But I digress, it is the holiday season so that will keep me warm!

2013 has been a great year for SYDCON! And we owe it all to our family of clients, outstanding staff, great friends and supportive family! 2013 has seen mobile and e-commerce gains on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and the rest of the year wasn't too shabby for it either. It's not just e-commerce on the rise, its apps, and complex systems allowing companies to go paperless that is helping to drive the tech surge. So, with that being said, we have had a lot of exciting and challenging projects come our way here at SYDCON and look forward to what's on the horizon for 2014.

Each year I enjoy sharing something personal around the holidays to help our clients or prospective clients get a better feel for the people behind SYDCON. So this year, I thought I would share my top ten favorite things about the holidays.

1. Family
2. Baking with my kids (even thru all the bickering)
3. Decorating and reminiscing about when and where all our ornaments came from (most have special stories).
4. Starbucks Non-Fat Peppermint Mocha...in a lovely red cup.
5. Pulling out handmade Christmas items the kids made over the years and getting sentimental at how fast they are growing up.
6. Christmas songs. Some favs are Jingle Bells, Rockin Around the Christmas Tree, Do They Know It's Christmas, to name few.
7. Make homemade bread from my Grandma's recipe that my kids now call "Christmas Bread"
8. Cooking a huge dinner for our large family.
9. Online shopping from my couch in front of the fire and not braving lines in stores!
10. Holiday movie classics such as Home Alone, It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, The Santa Clause and more.

So, there you have it, my Top 10 favorite things about the holidays. What are some of your favorites or traditions you enjoy around the holidays? From all of us here at SYDCON, we wish you and your family a very Happy Holidays and a wonderful New Year! And, we thank you for being part of our family!