The Hipster Dad: "12 Dads of Xmas" DAY 1: Sam Means

1. Why don't you start by introducing yourself to our readers (Name, Kids (How Many / Names), Occupation, Location?)
My name is Sam Means. I have one beautiful, loud, little girl, named Lola Birdie, who just turned 3. We live in Phoenix, AZ, where I run a merchandise company (Hello Merch) for bands.. and I've also been known to make a little music every once in a while.

2. When does "the Holiday Season" start for you?
That's a tough one, living in Arizona. We usually force ourselves into it the day after Thanksgiving, but I don't think it fully kicks in until the 2nd week of December. That's usually when the temperature starts dropping a little. Although, the heat seems pretty relentless this year.

3. What do you and your family do to keep the magic of Christmas alive?
My wife and I both grew up with a lot of traditions around this time of year, so we try our best to keep those alive, while also working in a few new ones to share with Lola.

4. What's your favorite holiday movie?

So many great ones, but I think it always comes down to A Christmas Story for me. So cliche, but so classic.

5. Is there anything you always wanted for Christmas as a child and never got?

I really wanted this bike one year, I was probably around 10.. Santa hooked me up, but someone stole it out of my garage a couple hours later. For whatever reason, it didn't end up being replaced with the same bike and I was always a little bummed about it.

6. Holiday Tree or Christmas Tree: Real of fake? Discuss.

What's a Holiday Tree? I would love to get a real Christmas tree, but I don't think my allergies could handle it :(

7. Do you have any unique holiday traditions?

Since we're snow deprived, we like spread tons (bags and bags and bags) of foam peanuts in the living room at my parents house on Christmas morning.. then make my Dad clean it up.

8. Recently you launched "Hi Apparel" and it's seeming to get a lot of buzz (we bought a bunch for Sierra actually!) and I was curious where you got the idea for it and what the future plans are for it.

I've had the Hello line for quote some time, but never really gave it much attention after the initial launch. I just recently updated the entire Hello Merch store system and seeing its potential, really revitalized my interest the clothing line again. Once the new stuff started taking off a little, we were getting requests to print the shirts in kids sizes, so we launched Hi for Kids, shortly thereafter. We're just taking it all day by day right now, but our main goal is to keep everything fresh. Hoping to constantly release simple, cute and most importantly, cheap alternatives to a lot of the overpriced labels out there.