Happy New Year!

We've been celebrating the holidays in the best ways possible at Metafile over the past couple weeks. From Secret Snowflake gift-giving to white elephant and holiday potlucks to ugly sweater contests, Metafile has been filled with holiday cheer and office camaraderie!

Another #GivingTuesday has come and gone, and the results of this year’s day of giving were phenomenal. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this holiday, #GivingTuesday is a global day of giving and is celebrated the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, providing a chance to give back after two busy days of consumerism (Black Friday and Cyber Monday).

A new generation has arrived in my family and it has nothing to do with the birth of a child. For the first time, a member of a newer branch of the family tree has volunteered to host the family for Thanksgiving dinner. My niece has invited us all to her home in a downtown metropolitan area, providing the address of the parking ramp where we can park our cars. She has asked only that we bring whatever we want for a buffet-style meal and has committed only to providing the ‘protein’ portion of the meal, which may or may not be turkey. She has reserved the party room which has plenty of room for all of us, though not for a large dining table to accommodate everyone. Oh, and there’s a liquor store in the building so we can just pop downstairs to pick up whatever wine we might like to have with our meal.

In 1918, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, an agreement was signed in a forest outside of Paris to end hostilities between Germany and the Allies at the end of World
War I. It was the beginning of the end of World War I and the start of Armistice Day, celebrated by many allied countries to honor and remember those who serve the military of their countries.  In the United States it has evolved into what is now Veteran’s Day, a federal holiday set aside to honor any and all persons who have served in the armed forces.