Holiday Party

December 15 was our holiday party. Now, we aren't suppose to call it Christmas or Winter Solstice party or Haunukah party. No siiireee. HOLIDAY. (whatever. I don't really care what it is called. Just give me food, fun and booze!)

As part of the M team I was helping coordinate some things to do. December was quite a busy month. We had a bring-your-cookies-to-work day. I made my vomit clusters, which went over very well. Some people brought in some really awesome cookies. We are suppose to share the recipes, but only one person gave me his. We were all able to share in the joy of eating cookies. That was really nice. Laurie's department had the idea and invited the whole company to participate. Even some of the tech dudes submitted cookies.

Then there was the Giving Tree. Our team came up with the idea to have a tree with ornaments that represented kids wishes. It then turned into gifts for one family. (Again Laurie's coordination efforts.) I was amazed at the response. There were people in the office who pretty much stick to their crew who reached out to the family. It was really great.

I also set up the kitchen for making greeting cards for the kids in a juvenile hall facility in Sylmar, CA. I have done it for years with friends back in LA. We take the cards to Juvey and pass them out on Christmas Day. It's always such a rewarding experience. I had hoped that people here would participate in making cards, and they did. Even Laurie took the idea home to her family and they made a bazillion cards. It was so cool!

THE PARTY

We had the party at a pretty decent Mexican restaurant. I have been struggling to find a decent Mexican restaurant in Vermont since I moved here. This one had really great guacamole, which is a good sign to me. The KJ (karaoke jockey) was already there when I arrived. A few of the Team M people helped me set up little candy bags and pass out raffle tickets.





Towards the end of dinner, Mark G. dressed up as Santa and had a few special gifts for the THREE ENCHILADAS. It was hilarious! Then we did the raffle. Though I think it went too long, we had a really nice variety of gifts thanks to Company X for giving us a budget. The gifts ranged from a leprechaun statue from the dollar store to an iPod Nanno, DVDs, and gift certificates to a variety of places. We then launched into the karaoke. It's a good thing that most of us have day jobs. It was so funny. One of the Enchiladas, MB, sang his heart out solo
and again with his fiancée, MM. I thought I would sing, "Material Girl", but as I a) don't really know the song that well and b) didn't know the key, I brought up some backup dancers to distract the audience. That went over quite well. I would say that the two kamkazi shots helped too. All in all, it was soooooo much better than last year. Last year MB had us answer a bunch of questions earlier in the day and then he read them at the party. We had to try to guess who did what. It was fine for the first 10 minutes but dragged on waaaaaaayyyyyy tooooooooo long. So this year with good food, Santa, karaoke, the raffle and gift bags - everybody had a great time. No arrests. No accidents (that I know about.)