This week I had the duty of making arrangements for our annual office party. In olden times, before the “new enlightenment” that began stripping us of our national and cultural identity, it would be called the Christmas party, and even the agnostics would attend and just ignore the December 25 name-dropping hoohah. Today we must refer to anything related to any of the gazillion recognized holidays this time of year as a “Winter Celebration.” Sounds more pagan to me that way.
I won’t go into all the details about what has been done to draw and quarter 12/25 over the decades, but it seems to me that the upgrades to our ways of recognizing the year end have done little to take the unnecessary hassle out of the whole event. We still have to settle with the restaurant we’ve chosen for the event on the issue of green salad versus Greek salad to satisfy the diet conscious, we have to be sure a vegetarian meal is offered, we can’t refer to Christmas at all, we have to be sure anchovies aren’t involved anywhere in the meal preparation, and the boss has now brought up the question of appetizers in a buffet meal that already includes beef, two types of chicken (one diet), and a dessert tray.
We’re also going to have karaoke this year. Last year a member of our happy work group sang for us at the start of the event: some people felt it went on too long. I think the poor volunteer lost track of the choruses and repeated two, but it was quite moving in my opinion. The evidence has been on UTube for a year now.
Our choice of venue is one that is actually closer to me and another employee than any other location in the prior four events we’ve been to. This means the boss has to drive the furthest of us all to get there.
It’s a family style restaurant sandwiched between a wheel alignment joint, a new car dealer, a church activity center, a moving truck company and a pizza joint. It also has no liquor license. My co-workers assure me that this is for the best, so that the people who provide the most entertainment each year will make better use of their wits instead of the wine to have a good time.
I’m still curious about those appetizers.
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