On Corporate Holiday Parties

There's a lot of buzz around my office this week as we are all anxiously awaiting our annual holiday party this coming Saturday. Overall I think that people tend to have a lot of mixed feelings on the issue, and as such, I have made a pros and cons list to celebrating the holidays with coworkers.

Pros:

-Dressing up: I like this for two reasons. 1) I am a girl. 2) We dress very casual in the office, so it's nice to see people all dressed up.
-Free meal: I'm a broke college student.
-Open bar: I'm a broke college student.
-Seeing co-workers in a non-work setting: I genuinely like the people I work with!
-Partying at a fancy hotel: enough said.

Cons:
-Dressing up: who am I really trying to impress?
-Free meal: okay, there is no con here.
-Open bar: this has the potential to go from awesome to awful in one shot.
-Seeing co-workers in a non-work setting: too many people are going to be talking about work!
-Partying at a fancy hotel: who are we kidding? We're not that fancy, most of us are twenty-somethings who don't need a waterfront hotel to make us happy.

A quick Google search for holiday office parties reveals only the obvious. The bottom line is that it's still a company function- don't be too revealing, don't flirt, and don't drink too much. But maybe these authors haven't been to one of our parties; we break EVERY rule in the book. Part of working for a young company seems to mean that people act all but professional. Our summer party was a mess and we're rampant with inner-office relationships on an ordinary day. We also do silly little awards. Remember "The Dundees" episode of The Office? Yeah, it's like that. This is more like a party with close friends than a corporate event- and maybe it's not so bad that this is the environment they have chosen to foster. I don't know too many people in their early twenties who would be up for some stuffy corporate party where fun isn't a priority.

Besides, I think it's always a good idea to take advantage of the company's generosity- it's not every day someone offers to buy me dinner and unlimited drinks. So tomorrow after work I'm going to hit up Newbury St. in the search for a classy but fun holiday dress and somewhere between now and Saturday morning I'll touch up my roots, put my best face forward and pray that I don't win "Part-Timer of the Year."

Getting Ready for the Holidays

It's the Sunday after Thanksgiving, Tuesday marks the start of December, and my DVR is set to record about ten different holiday movies and specials in the coming week. There's no doubt about it, the holidays are here and let me tell you, I am ready.

For the last week or so, my iPod has continuously looped a playlist consisting only of the three Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas albums, Josh Groban's holiday CD, and that annoying Mariah Carrey version of "All I Want for Christmas Is You." I was no sooner done eating turkey and apple pie on Thursday when I just had to watch Love Actually on TV and today I went to see my little cousin dance as Fritz in Boston Ballet's The Nutcracker.

Growing up we had the best holiday traditions. We went to my aunt and uncle's house in NH in early December to select the perfect tree from their Christmas tree farm. On Christmas Eve the whole family would gather at my grandparents' house for seven courses of seafood and presents. On Christmas itself, my granny would make a pot roast and spoil us silly with presents.

But with time, traditions have changed. My parents don't go crazy with decorating now that my sister and I have moved out and my roommates think I'm crazy for wanting to buy a real tree (which I expect them to help set up in our third floor walk-up). We still have Christmas Eve dinner with all that fish, but people have moved and there are fewer of us. My grandmother has cut back to a sensible amount of gifts but the pot roast is still amazing.

And despite these changes, I am still looking forward to the holidays as much as ever. My daily gingerbread soy lattes and never-ending lists of people to send cards to really seem to help.

Meanwhile, this year I find myself getting ready for the holidays at work as well. At CSN I am busy making sure that all of the holiday requests are in and that we're finding coverage for them. This coming Monday is the infamous "Cyber Monday," the e-commerce equivalent of Black Friday. At Second Time Around we had a post-Thanksgiving sale all weekend and we're encouraging people to stop in for gifts as well as fabulous outfits for holiday parties.

Oddly enough, I think that Twitter is the source of much of my early holiday cheer, both work-wise and personal-wise. Using Twitter to advertise holiday sales and seeing the holidays under trending topics is helping me realize that I am not the only nutcase out there who starts celebrating over a month early!