Horridays - Part 2

It’s odd how my co-workers truly come together one day out of every year -- during our office Holiday Luncheon (or “Lunch-in, as the big boss calls it). We do a Secret Santa gift swap, eat lots of yummy food, receive our company gifts (this year: a backpack with the company logo -- in addition to the annual turkey and date book), and play a little game.

The company provides X dollars (like $7.39?) per person for catered food (we got deli and fruit platters from the grocery store) and we each contribute some kind of side dish, appetizer, salad or dessert to complement the meal. I made cocktail meatballs and sausage with good ‘ole grape jelly and chili sauce. So simple. So delish. There were all kinds of dips: Hot Crab, Dill, Tex-Mex. Desserts: Banana pudding, chocolate cake, figgy pudding, pudding cake with chocolate, gigantic decorated chocolate chip cookie. Cream cheese spread & crackers. Hot wings. Pasta salad. Cole Slaw. Potato Salad. Chips galore! I didn’t even fix myself a sandwich. I was full from sampling all the side stuff.

The best part is we have so many leftovers, we’ll have it all again today for lunch. Free lunch, two days in a row. What’s not to like?

The big boss also loves to create a game for all of us to play. He is really generous in that respect. A lot of thought goes into how his made-up game will work and he foots the bill on the prizes, which have included $25 to $75 gift cards in the past. Last year’s game involved wrapped boxes and clues to what was inside. You could keep the one you initially picked or pass it off to another one. This year’s game was a little more interactive with lots of number swapping. The game could have gone much longer, but someone picked a “Game Over” ticket. The number we were holding at the time “Game Over” was picked correlated to a prize. The boss’ young son stuffed and sealed prizes into numbered manila envelopes and the boss didn’t know what prize was in which envelope. Love the randomness! There were a few $5 McD’s gift cards for lunch off the dollar menu, lots of scratch-off lottery tickets (no, I didn’t become a millionaire), a $25 Visa gift card and a $50 Visa gift card.

It was a fun day.

Actually, the last time we had a big group meal like this was over the summer when we threw a Surprise Wedding Shower for young Bill, who got married in August (at age 23!). We had brunch foods and Bill was quite surprised, to say the least.

Gone are the days when companies held big Christmas parties for all their employees at some restaurant or rented hall where people got dressed up to attend with their spouses or dates. Fancy food, lots of free booze. I have a few friends whose workplaces still do that kind of party, but mostly, I think people hold their own little thing at the office. In these times of budget cutbacks and alcohol-related liabilities, I don’t really mind the potluck office party. I prefer the casual to some fancy schmancy deal. Actually, it would be nice to have the food from a fancy party (steak, shrimp, lobster, little puff pastry hors d’oeuvres, etc...) but in our office environment.

Tonight is our “Company Party”, and by that, I mean the annual pilgrimage down to the Bottom Line in DC to celebrate the season with our bestest buds. Before that, however, my work lunch mates are meeting for happy hour. It’s sort of a “happy holidays” and a “congrats” thing -- my current manager is going to become the new Assistant GM at White Marsh starting in January. We’ll definitely miss her!

Have a Very Merry!