The final accounting for 2020 will be on January 5th, when all the revenues and bills will be finalized. The last four days have been good, so I think it's going to be a little more than I expected a week ago. 

To restock, I'm probably going to be pushing the outer limits of my estimates--but, of course, I'm more likely to reach those estimates by being fully stocked. 

There is no way to conduct business without risk.

When I originally looked at possible sales in December, I couldn't quite believe it. If we, as we had been doing for most of the year, increased sales by 30%, it would be an impossible number. 

Well, we hit that number almost exactly.

So if I extend that rate of growth into January, the restocking bills should be covered. If not, I'll back down in February onward.

As I say every year, I look forward to Christmas--and every year, I look forward to Christmas being over.

Yes, sales are down January thru May, but that means we can relax a little, not be overworked. As long as we stay within budget, no harm is done. 

I was talking to another retailer the other day, and I asked him how he thought January would be. He said, "I'm not worried about it--we did so well in December."

That answer kind of puzzled me. I have the opposite reaction. The pressure never really eases. Success needs to be followed up. It's self-imposed pressure to be sure, but as I said above, business is never without risk, and pursuing lines of success is one way to reduce that risk. The better you're doing, the better you'll survive a downturn. And a downturn is always in the cards. It will come eventually. It's a cycle. 

At the same time, I'm feeling very relaxed. We just had a very good year in a very bad time.