Today was my company’s Christmas party. We worked until noon and headed to the local steakhouse for a nice lunch and grab bag. I decided to participate this year even though I’ve always had bad experiences with grab bags. Worst was when I was in the girl scouts, or possibly brownies since I was pretty young, and I made an effort to pick out a nice gift worth what the guidelines stated it should, and ended up with a cheap ass hollow chocolate santa. These things scar a person for life, people! Anyway…
They did the grab bag a little different this year where instead of taking the gift back to your table, you left it up front. And each gift could only be stolen twice instead of three times. It definitely sped things up, but it was harder to see what people were opening too.
This is the gift I brought:
I thought it would be perfect timing with the new Star Wars movie out. Incidentally, I have not seen it yet, but plan to very soon. We have been watching all six of the previous movies the past few days to “prepare”.
This is what I ended up with:
I originally chose to steal a game called Dirty Minds but that was stolen from me so I chose the Blackhawks mugs. I wasn’t about to unwrap a new gift and chance getting a bottle of booze since they dominate the grab bag. Granted, this year was better than last and we had more non alcoholic gifts which was nice.
Lunch was a nice juicy steak and I used my two drink tickets to try something new. Originally I ordered what is called a Southside but they didn’t have mint so I had a Tom Collins instead. It was quite tasty and made me feel good since I’m a lightweight when it comes to alcohol since I drink so infrequently! My second drink was a Kahlua and cream which was also good. I had to drink that one faster since things were already wrapping up by that time. Unlike last year where the party lasted four hours, this one was only two and a half. I was kinda bummed how quickly it passed by since I was having a good time. Many people went to a bar to keep the party going but I opted out. Figured I’d leave on a high and sober note. Haha!
In addition to the grab bag, the company gave everyone a portable battery to charge your devices on the go, and Christmas bonus checks.
I feel like I’m rolling in the dough lately between the money I made pet-sitting, the very generous check my mom gave us for Christmas, the money from Joe’s parents, and now the bonus. On top of that, when I came into work this morning there was a Christmas card from my boss with a $25 Amazon gift card inside. I wasn’t expecting that at all. He didn’t give us anything last year (not that I expected anything) so it was a pleasant surprise. I had to assure my coworker who is much younger than I that he shouldn’t feel guilty for not getting our boss anything since in business you’re supposed to gift down according to seniority, not up.
And now I’m off work until Tuesday. Let the relaxing begin!