Fa La La La La

Office parties. Anyone who's worked in retail remember those? Apparently they are alive and well and living in relative comfort in offices all over the country. Who knew? My office, to my delight, had not one, not two, but three spankin' holiday parties. I'm in a department of nine within a larger department. So we had our small department holiday party on Monday, in which we all brought in yummies and the bosses handed out gifts and we were festive and played games (most notable two lies and a truth, which has always been a favorite of mine). Champagne flowed freely. Then on Tuesday, a second two-hour party for the department at large, but this time in the swank conference room downstairs with waiters carrying around trays of food, platters of snacks set out, and a dessert table that could put the Cookie Monster into a sugar coma. Beer and wine flowed freely and an office a cappella group did a beautiful rendition of, hmmm, what was it? Well, it was very pretty, but it was a Christmas Carol I was only somewhat familiar with (which means it wasn't "Silent Night" or "Jingle Bells"). Then, on Thursday, yet another two-hour affair for all of BU staff over at the student union, that had a dessert table that made the Tuesday one look like scraps set out for the dogs. I was fine at all the parties until the final one, when I discovered the strawberry petit fours with marzipan topping. Mmmmm. I didn't budge from that table. Oh, the rest of the food was lovely, and many drinks flowed there, but those petit fours. Mmmmm. Did I say that already? Let me say it again. Mmmmmm. I thought for a school that the afternoon was pretty swank (all parties took place during work hours, from 3 to 5).

After having the holidays ignored save for my "I survived CS/McDonough/Fernley this holiday season" T-shirts for the past bunch of years, it was cool to see people actually excited about Christmas. (And I'm not sure why they bother to bill these as "holiday" parties. They're Christmas parties, plain and simple. Hanukah ended ages ago and there wasn't a single dreidel in all the Christmas trees, so why not call it as it is. Although, at the BU party, in all fairness, there was a sign by the bacon-wrapped scallops that read "Kosher Food Available Upon Request." Of course, we could nitpick that and say, what about those who are Hallal, but really, let's just call this all Christmas and be done with it.)

There's also a genuine feeling of giving here, I think. Everyone had some sort of Toys for Tots program. A collection was taken up in the office to buy a gift for the women who clean our office. I'm sure if the folks at Amazon were consolidated at the holiday time, they'd be generous as well, but it was so easy to let the entire season slip by with little notice. But they do give in their own ways at different times. Which may even be nicer--all those people who are benefitting from people's holiday generosity still need things come January, February, March... You get the idea.