The parties were planned around small work groups. I'm actually part of two groups, so ended up invited to two parties. For the first, we went out to dinner at a small restaurant after work on Friday. Cody drove up from his work to attend the party (and drive me home afterwards). The food was good, although my salmon was "correct portion sized" and I was wondering when they'd be bringing the rest of it. After dinner, a smaller group of us walked down to a nearby bar for an after-party. The parents in the group didn't want to waste a babysitter on a short night and the rest of us figured why make it a short night. This bar has rotating local taps, so there's always a chance to try something new. I fell in love with a beer that tasted like molasses called Dark Hollow. After the party broke-up, Cody ditched his car behind the yoga studio, apparently inducing panic in the two yoga instructors closing up after an event. Fortunately, the second car following him belonged to another instructor and settled their fears.
The second party was at my boss's very nice house. I must be getting old because when given the choice between a restaurant/bar and a house, I picked the house party. My boss wisely had the meal catered. He'd also stocked up on alcohol (we ended up taking home one of the bottles of wine). The rum punch was my choice for the evening. After dinner, we did a Dirty Santa gift exchange. Most of the gifts were at least okay (with the coffee set & whiskey being the big hits), however one joker decided to include wooden porcupine & raccoon ornaments (they seriously looked like dead rats) & butt paste. Fortunately, the couple with the kids at the right age to enjoy that stuff took one for the team and "stole" that present. I ended up with a "fudge making kit," also known as "I didn't get to the store but this was in my pantry." Better than butt paste! After the gift exchange, two couples left and it looked like the party was in danger of breaking up early. But instead we broke out the game Taboo. That game is one of my favorites, sometimes it's amazing how you can jump into the answer from the clues given. We played guys against gals (and my boss's son...poor kid got stuck with "aromatherapy" on one round) and the ladies lead the whole way but the guys ended up winning by one point.
Cody's work managed to schedule their Christmas parties for the exact same times as mine. The first "party" was actually an offer of 34 hockey tickets to 50 employees on a first-come, first-serve basis. No spouses and no food or drinks provided. As the husband said, that made his decision pretty easy. The second party was in the home of his boss before he changed positions. We went to his party last year and had a pretty good time. Our decision in this case was made by distance (15 mins vs 45 mins), this being a former boss vs. my current one, & this being my group's first ever holiday get-together.
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