My involvement is organized religion has been sketchy. I blame my parents.

Over the past 53 years, I’ve attended many kinds of services from a broad range of religious traditions. I’ve seen a bit of everything along the way. Some of my exposure was deliberate, and some kind of accidental.

I remember going regularly to short weekday Catholic Mass with the mother of a friend because that was the only way to get her to drive us to school. We could’ve walked, but Mass was worth the ride, and we were really lazy.

I was a member of a Unitarian Church for a couple of years. The people were very nice.

That’s the tip of the iceberg. Over the years, I’ve attended synagogues, mosques, and churches all across the world.

Religion is amazing. Religion can also be confusing, especially when it comes to your business.

Religion gets serious when it comes to decorating your lobby for the holidays.

How the Rosen Law Firm Decks the Halls

I’ve experimented with various approaches to holiday decorations (mostly because I enjoy experimenting). People take the holidays pretty seriously in North Carolina.

• We’ve had a live Christmas tree in the lobby.
• We’ve had a fake tree.
• We’ve even had fake gift boxes under the tree.
• We’ve had a menorah on the coffee table.
• We’ve tried hanging stars from the ceiling.
• We’ve had wreaths on the door, gold bells on the walls, and assorted other decorations scattered about.
• We’ve taped the holiday cards around the lobby and made a mess with leftover tape.
• Sometimes, we’ve gone with no decorations. We just kept the lobby like it was during the rest of the year: a total Grinch approach.
• We’ve also simply scattered around some live poinsettia plants with red ribbons around the pots.

We’ve gone all in, and we’ve ignored it entirely.

During all that decorating (or not decorating), we’ve had a steady stream of clients, vendors, and employees streaming in through the lobby and absorbing the decor.

Does the Decor Make a Difference?

What was the impact? What’s best?

Here’s my advice:

1. If you’re having a party in the lobby, then do whatever is required to make the party nice. Personally, I’d suggest having a party at another time of the year when everyone isn’t having a party (so you’ll stand out). I’m distinguishing between employee holiday gatherings (which seem nearly essential) and parties for clients, referral sources, etc. Of course, you’re going to have to engage in some kind of holiday party for your team. (Can you sense my excitement?) So, if you’re having it at the office, use the decorations to take care of the party as well as decorate the lobby. Two birds, one stone.
2. If you care, then do whatever matters to you. Don’t let anyone push you around on your beliefs. If you lose clients by offending them, then you lose them. Aren’t your beliefs worth that? However, just because you’re a big believer doesn’t mean you’re required to plaster it in the lobby (unless that’s exactly what it means to you). Do what you like, and let the chips fall where they may. There won’t be many chips that fall because other people have their own issues to worry about. How you decorate your lobby isn’t all that high on their list of concerns.
3. If you don’t care, then do nothing. Rarely will anyone notice, and those who do won’t be offended. No one knows what’s appropriate for a law office—there are no standards—and they’re not going to freak out because you don’t have a tree in the corner.
4. Do something, if you like, just for the novelty of it. Putting out some poinsettias will perk up your team. They’re cheap and disposable (the plants, not your team). Our plant leasing firm places a bunch of them for us, and it takes all of 10 minutes.

Bottom line: don’t overthink it. Don’t worry about it, and don’t make a big investment in decorations and the need to store those decorations for the rest of the year.

We’re not running retail stores. We’re not promoting holiday sales. No one is all that interested in how we approach the holidays, and it’s not worth worrying about it because you’ll rarely find that others are thinking about how your business treats the holidays.