Emily Almasy

Professionally
This year marked my twelfth year working with one of my favorite clients – Metrics. And it was a great year for them, one that I’m happy to have been a part of!

Personally
If you know me at all, you know that Pete and I embarked on a home renovation in January. Well, I’m proud to say that we made it through – still married – and have completed 98% of our planned work. It was a huge undertaking, but one I would do again, now that I know what its like to have a bigger kitchen and new bathrooms!

Shelley Bainter

Professionally
In 2012 we worked on several projects that I really enjoyed, but I have to pick one of our biggest digital marketing projects of 2012: Renovating Metrics’ website. It was a great experience to create for them a website that captures the company’s and its employees’ personality, while giving a lot of organized information to their web visitors.

Personally
I finished my first marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon on Oct. 28 in 4:18:44. Receiving cheers and support from US Marines while running through the nation’s capital was an incredible experience. I’ve run somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,250 miles this year!

Candice Hogan

Professionally
As a college graduate in 2008, at the start of the downward spiral known as the US economy, there weren’t too many options for jobs. You took what you could get and were happy with a job. Since then, through a few jobs, I’ve learned more about what I’m good at, what kind of work I want to do and the type of environment I want to work in. And this year I feel like I’m doing the work I’m good at and like to do, in the environment that facilitates the best version of my working self. I think this is what it looks like when your job grows up, into a career.

Personally
Anyone that’s known me for the past year probably knows I’ve been planning my wedding. Getting engaged at the top of the Rockefeller Center Building in NYC has to be one of my favorite memories of 2012 and planning our March 2013 wedding has been a lot of fun. But planning a wedding is also a lot of work and I’m really proud of the way things are coming together.

Karen Sinclair

Professionally
I continue to be amazed at the longevity of both our client relationships and of my wonderful coworkers at Sinclair & Co. This year marked the twelfth year of supporting pharmaceutical development and manufacturing client Metrics, which has celebrated its own big news this year, as well as launched a new website that we created and developed for them. Inside the agency, which I’ve steered for 24 years, I’m proud of the seasoned, smart, talented, and most of all, FUN individuals I get to work with everyday. Collectively, the five of us have more than 50 years working within Sinclair & Co. We have a great team.

Personally
I helped initiate, organize and execute a multigenerational Sinclair family reunion in November in Southern Pines. We traced the paths of our ancestors through the Sandhills of North Carolina, visiting old home places, schools, churches and long lost cemeteries, and in the process rediscovered that tie that holds us all together…the love and memory of our late grandmother and the good humor we were all fortunate to be blessed with. Of course, no Sinclair gathering is complete without good food, good wine and lots and lots of laughter.

Emily Almasy is one of the three of us who has caught the Game of Thrones bug and will continue reading:

• A Clash of Kings (book 2) by George R. R. Martin

She also enjoys reading cookbooks cover-to-cover:

• Barefoot Contessa Foolproof: Recipes you can Trust by Ina Garten
• Cooking Light The New Way to Cook Light: Fresh Food & Bold Flavors for Today’s Home Cook from the editors of Cooking Light
• The Mom 100 Cookbook: 100 Recipes Every Mom Needs in Her Back Pocket by Katie Workman

Shelley Bainter is taking two books on her trip to small-town America:

• The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America by Bill Bryson
• The Lifeboat: A Novel by Charlotte Rogan

Candice Hogan continues the A Song of Fire and Ice series with:

• A Dance with Dragons (book 5) by George R. R. Martin

And if Santa sees fit to bring these requested titles:

• The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers: An Unconventional Memoir (P.S.) by Josh Kilmer-Purcell
• The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Cookbook: Heirloom fruits and vegetables, and more than 100 heritage recipes to inspire every generation by Dr. Brent Ridge

Karen Sinclair has been enjoying and will finish:

• Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies by Ben Macintyre

Karen Stinneford has this wonderful variety of books to see her through the end of the year:

• Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (p.s. this is one of Shelley’s favorites!)
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding
• Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore (also one of Shelley’s favorites)
• Plainsong by Kent Haruf
• South of Broad by Pat Conroy
• In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson

The first party is for some of the most important people in our professional lives – our partners. These are the folks behind the scenes who make us look so darned good. People like our designers, web developers, photographers, videographers, representatives from printing companies and other close friends and colleagues. The talents of these wonderful professionals make it possible for us to do good work and have happy clients.

We hold this celebration after work at the Raleigh Times over delicious bar snacks and beer and wine. The other great thing about our partners is that they’re all good folks with whom we’re happy to lift a glass (or two… or three… or four) with.

Tonight is our smaller company celebration. With spouses in tow, we’ll enjoy a delicious dinner at a local restaurant, then retire to Karen Sinclair’s house for dessert and a dirty Santa gift exchange. And laughing. Lots of laughing. Some years the gift exchange is dirtier than others – we’ll get back to you Friday about how this year’s goes.

Some of us stay here for the holidays. Others travel to hometowns. Our office will be closed Dec. 24th – 26th. We’ll re-open on the 27th to close out 2012.

1. Spread cheer!

Share good wishes for your clients to enjoy the holiday season. Keep it general enough that no matter what your customer’s religious or cultural practices, your message will apply and not accidentally offend.

2. Show your personality.

This is a great opportunity to be creative, light-hearted and fun. But that’s not to say that I’m not advocating dancing elves a la Jib-Jab for every company.

Pretty photos or images are a nice way to convey a personality or feeling. One way we’ve done this is sharing images of how our client companies’ hometowns celebrate and bedeck themselves for the holidays.

For Metrics, located in Greenville, NC, we shared a photo and information about how many White House Christmas trees have come from North Carolina. (This year’s is the twelfth.)

For OsoBio, located in Albuquerque, NM, we included photos of the nearby Sandia Mountains and talked about the winter recreation OsoBio employees enjoy there.

These personal touches make a connection with your readers.

3. Thank your customers and look forward to another good year ahead.

It’s a simple formula, really, for what should be a simple message. I just have one don’t, and will hope that common sense and the do’s above will lead you down the right path.

Don’t make a sales pitch.

Don’t talk about your business. Don’t make it educational or informative. Don’t talk about your products or services. The only time this is ok is if you are offering customers a discount or gift of products or services. Otherwise, just don’t go there.

I do think that it’s okay to give folks a reminder of office closures or special holiday hours you’ll be keeping. Otherwise, this email has one purpose: spread holiday cheer and show your gratitude.

Starting the agency’s Pinterest account wasn’t a lot different than starting to browse Pinterest in your PJs from your couch. First, create a company account with Pinterest. You can create the account using your Twitter or Facebook accounts, or simply create a unique username and password. From there you can upload a picture or company logo and fill in other specifics on your profile. After that, all that’s left is to create a few boards and add some pins.

We’ve set up a number of different types of boards: by client, by project type, etc. Some boards showcase a recent project we’ve completed while others have a range of clients shown, but all one particular service.

We’ve also created some just-for-fun boards, like our Holiday Favorites board. Here we’re spreading holiday cheer and sharing our favorite holiday recipes. We’ve incorporated the pins into blog, Facebook and Twitter postings.

If you’re looking for a way to improve your company’s visual representation, Pinterest is a great place to start. Pinterest boards leave a lasting impression on your new business meetings and are a great tool to incorporate into your overall marketing efforts.

Here’s a recipe for my favorite Thanksgiving leftovers sandwich.

2 slices of artisan bread
2 t. dijon mustard
2 t. cranberry sauce
thinly sliced tart apple or pear
thinly sliced red onion
thinly sliced brie
thinly sliced turkey

Lightly butter outside of bread slices.

Spread mustard on inside of one slice, cranberry sauce on the other. Layer other ingredients as high as you’d like.

Toast in a sandwich press or weighted in a nonstick skillet over a medium-low flame until the bread is toasted and the brie is melted.

Best served with a side of North Carolina mountain.

This is my Mama Ruth’s sour dough bread recipie. My grandmother, Ruth Youngblood, was mistress of the domestic arts. Her quilts, afghans, canned goods and pies won all sorts of ribbons in Oklahoma. Her recipes for sour dough are among a handful of items I have written in her own handwriting. I once accidentally threw them in the trash and went wading through days-worth of garbage to retrieve them, they are that precious to me. Fortunately, Mama Ruth put ALL her recipes in plastic sleeves so the recipe cards themselves emerged from the garbage unscathed.

Mama Ruth’s sour dough is a little sweeter than the traditional San Franciso style that had a bite to it. This bread was among the MANY homemade goodies awaiting our arrival at Christmas — along with cherry and apple pies, divinity to DIE for and homemade spiced apple cider.

Sour Dough Starter: before you can make sour dough bread, you’ve got to culture the starter.

1 package active dry yeast
2.5 cups warm water (105-115 degrees)
1 c. Instant nonfat dry milk
2 TBSP. sugar
4 c. All purpose flour

Stir first four ingredients in 2.5 quart crock with lid (non metalic) until yeast is dissolved. Stir in flour until smooth. Loosely cover and let set in warm place for 3-5 days. Stir, then cover with lid and keep in fridge. Whenever you use starter — or every 10 days, whichever comes first — replenish supply by adding 1c. Milk, 1 c. Flour and 1/3 c. Sugar. After “feeding” starter, always allow it to sit at room temperature for a while before returning it to the fridge.

BREAD
1 package yeast
1 TBSP sugar
1/2 c. Warm water
6 c. Flour
1 c. Water
1 egg
1/3 c. Sugar
1/2 c. Oil
1-1/2 t. Salt
1 c. Sour dough starter

Add yeast to 1 TBSP sugar and 1/2 c. Water and set aside

Add starter, 1 c. water, sugar, oil, salt and egg together and blend thoroughly. Add to flour and blend thoroughly. I use my standup mixer for this, using the bread claw until the dough threatens to spill over the bowl.

Put dough in greased bowl, cover and set aside in warm spot until it rises to double its size. Knead again and form into two loaves. Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees, then turn down to 350 and bake for another 30 minutes.

My maternal grandmother, Imogene Nance – Mama Jean to us – was extremely devoted to her mother and sister. There’s a long back-story there; for brevity’s sake, let’s just say that Mama Jean was destitute growing up, and her mother and her sister were all she had.

After Mama Jean and Aunt Kat grew up and started their own families, they would gather together for holiday dinners. My great-grandmother, Margaret – Other Mama to us – contributed the cranberry salad. It was her signature dish.

My mother inherited Other Mama’s old-fashioned food grinder. Here’s a photo of what it looks like:

As a child, I loved helping make the cranberry salad. I loved smelling the orange as the food grinder released the peel’s fragrance, and I loved hearing the pop and crack of cranberries in the blades.

My grandmother once tried using a blender on the cranberries and orange peel, reporting that they came out too mushy. We’ve never tried a food processor, but I would imagine a coarse setting would work.

Here’s the recipe, handed down in my family since the 1930s.

Other Mama’s Cranberry Salad

1 package fresh cranberries (12 ounces)
2 small packages lemon Jello
1¾ cups sugar
½ cup chopped pecans
2 naval oranges, peeled and sectioned (remove all white pith)

Coarsely grind cranberries and orange rind through food processor. Dissolve Jello in 2 cups of hot water. Add sugar and stir until thoroughly dissolved. When thickened, add cranberries and orange rind, nuts and sections of orange. Place in mold and refrigerate to congeal. More orange sections may be added if desired.

Here’s a picture of the salad:

Psst — See more of our favorite recipes all week over on Pinterest!