Work Holiday Party

Our party this year was at The Boss's house. It was lovely. Everyone was there except for Susan who is in California. The Cheesecake Factory catered. I was so so good. All I had were the appetizers, I never even made it to the main dishes or the dessert because I was so full. My favorites were the fried dumplings and the quesidillias. I did swipe some strawberries off of Judy's cheesecake. Speaking of Judy, her daughter Sarah was there with her boyfriend. Sarah gets more beautiful every time I see her. Judy recently had a tragedy, her Jack Russell, Olivia died. She hung herself by her leash on the back porch. I wasn't sure what I was going to say to her and talked about it with PoPo Pop. He suggested I say: "Hi, how's your dog? Did you bring her or is she just hanging out at home?" He is so wrong even though he cracks me up. Back to the party... We had our annual gift exchange. I had drawn Patricia's name. We have this thing standing joke about snow. She hates it, I don't. Evey time I see it start to snow out my window I dial her extension and say, "Hey Pat, it's snowing." She usually says something impolite. If I remember correctly we began talking about the snow several years ago when we had been discussing the show "Gilmore Girls". Loralie on "Gilmore Girls" loves snow and there was a whole episode about it. Ok, now I'll really get back to the party... I got Patricia the same little baggie of snow I got the girls at the Conservatory, a great smelling candle and some organic dark chocolate. Lynn had drawn my name. She got me some awesome trail mix since I'm always eating it at work and a beautiful note pad since I love paper and making lists so much. It was the perfect gift for me. As I was leaving Ellen asked if I would bring my present to work next week. I love sharing a cubicle with her. Beth gave Stacey a box of chocolates that said Special Occasion Chocolates on the box. Well, Stacey had had a little too much to drink and read off the box, "special Caucasian chocolates". It was quite amusing. Among my observations of this year's part are how much thought everyone put into choosing their gift, how warm and inviting The Boss's home is and Ron's toast in Maria's honor. He gave a toast thanking The Boss for her hospitality and then gave a toast to Maria who was with us in spirit. Everyone almost cried.