This is the time of year I would generally like to skip. Running a business during the holidays is very much like being the guy who kept the plates spinning on the old Ed Sullivan Show -- once in a while some of those plates fall off the stick.

I get invited to so many affairs and holiday parties that I keep a separate schedule just for those dates. I'm thinking of getting a dart board next year and using it to determine whose party I'll be going to next. The Holiday Olympics start this week, with four evening events penciled in, three the next, and two (so far) the following week. My calendar looks like one of those football plays you see on TV during the game.

I've also trained for this event, losing a few pounds I know I will surely put back. This is the time to loosen my belt and go for every pig in a blanket, fried chicken ball, or miniature quiche I've ever turned down. If I can't eat like a madman during the holidays, it's just not worth all the trouble, is it?

In between the business social chitchat, there are, of course, the decisions on how to wish your clients and other business significant others all the best. To the left of my desk is a stack of catalogs listing every imaginable doodad there is for the holiday -- from greeting cards and baskets of fruit to chocolates and even teddy bears. Then there's the decision on how to thank your loyal employees. Money is always a good idea.

But what about the clients that I don't want to thank? The ones who never paid, or the ones who did pay -- but a year late? Are there holiday voodoo dolls available? Better yet, I'll go to Sears, buy a crowbar, and place a bow on it, so it looks festive.

I don't mean to sound like Scrooge, though I admit I've used the line "Are there no workhouses?" more than once. It's just that from October on, an overdose of holiday cheer fills the air. First, there's Halloween, which I despise (if you have teenagers, you know what I mean). Then there's Thanksgiving. Sometime in between, I see trucks bearing Christmas trees and heading for some corner, where I'll blow half a week's salary on a four-foot tree only to throw it out two weeks later. And three weeks ago, I saw the first residential Christmas lighting in the neighborhood -- three weeks ago! Let's start stringing lights in August when it's still warm. That way, you won't lose your fingers to frostbite. Better yet, leave 'em up year-round.

Things were a whole lot simpler -- and more memorable -- when the holidays started in early December and when a thank you meant a warm phone call or a bottle of wine to a client or a handmade gift for your brother or sister. With technology changing so fast, and our workload the worse for it, it seems to me a nice holiday would be a warm cup of cider on a snowy morning.

George Giokas is the president and CEO of StaffWriters Plus, a specialty agency that places writers in temporary and permanent positions with corporate and other employers. It also provides editorial consulting work. His database includes 2,500 writers and editors specializing in more than 60 categories. His Web site is located at www.staffwriters.com, and you can E-mail him at george@staffwriters.com.