It was a few weeks before Christmas when I received a Facebook message from a social media friend. She wrote a blog and sometimes did publicity. She wanted to know if I'd consider writing a blog post about Dammit Dolls. I don't do a lot of product reviews these days, so I checked out the website and thought about it and then told her, sure, I'll do a review.

One of my co-workers has little kids, and does the whole Elf on a Shelf thing. I thought an interesting angle would be Dammit Doll on a Bar. You get the idea, "Are you tired of trying to keep up with all the Christmas trends, of trying to create as magical a Christmas as your co-workers do? Forget Elf on a Shelf, you need a Dammit Doll on a Bar."

So, one Thursday evening in the middle of December, my Dammit Doll arrived in the mail. It was cute, and seems to be about as indestructible as it was described. Our big fluffy dog Wesley stole it from my bag, thinking it was a chew toy for him, but he didn't manage to do any damage.

The next day, I took the doll to work to show to some of my coworkers and get their reactions as I thought about what I would write about the Dammit Doll. We have a lot of stress in our office, and everyone thought the Dammit Doll was cute, and was a good idea. Various coworkers would come over to my desk to borrow the doll.

I settled into my regular work schedule. I track what's being said online that would be of interest to the health center I work at. It was two Friday's before Christmas; likely to be a slow social media day. There was a story about a shooting in a town about half an hour to the west of where I work; not much for details. Yet as the day progressed, the details became more and more gruesome. Our health center provides services in some of the neighboring towns and in many schools around the state. Behavioral health is an important part of our services. As the story unfolded, it became clear what I would be working on for the foreseeable future.

I grabbed the Dammit Doll and gave it a few extra swings. The following week, I got an email from my friend. She lives fairly close to Sandy Hook. She wanted to know if I had gotten the doll, but also understood why I couldn't write about it at that point.

A few more weeks have passed. Students have returned to the relocated Sandy Hook Elementary School. The crisis interventions have wound down. Things are slowly getting back to the new normal.

Finally, I can take a moment to write about the Dammit Doll. I didn't get it done in time for Christmas, which I imagine was the original goal, but during these winter months, there remains more than enough stress to go around, and more than enough reason to get a Dammit Doll.