random thoughts – Day 1,723 – (Wednesday) – party mode commenced

The first festivity of the Christmas season is done and party mode has officially commenced. We had our Sales & Marketing gathering with a Yankee Swap at Cobblestone’s in Lowell. The restaurant is conveniently located across the street from our office, so we can wrap up work at 5:00 and be at our event by 5:05 – or 5:08 depending upon which floor the elevator is on. No driving or parking is required to get to the event and Cobblestone’s is in a lovely and historic building. Win, win, win.

The small function room is perfectly sized for our group. There was a steady stream of appetizers – cheese board, buffalo chicken eggrolls, burger sliders, rib eye grilled cheese, scallops, fried cauliflower, arancini – all of it delicious. We stood around and chatted about all manner of non-work things and ate the delicious appetizers.

For the Yankee Swap, we sat at small tables as the numbers were called and the gifts were opened. I had a lovely craft beer selection ever so briefly, but it was snatched from my grip by the same colleague from whom I stole the craft beer assortment last year. I guess I deserved it. And maybe next year, there needs to be more craft beer assortments (mental note made).

Gift received.

In the end, after my beer assortment was taken from me, I left with a lovely gift bag with a soft micromink/sherpa throw, Godiva travel mug with chocolates and tin of butter cookies. I love chocolates and butter cookies, but I have nearly enough blankets and throws at this point to open my own shop, the result of always complaining about being cold. Clearly it is time to cycle out the older throws and let the new ones come out to play. The hard part is the current throws were all gifted items and I have a hard time parting with gifts.

Our event is always fun and I know that well in advance, but it doesn’t stop me from getting all torqued up about shopping for the swap gift. I tend to overthink it (shocker to absolutely nobody). For example, alcohol is always popular and frequently stolen in the swap (this year a Tito's gift set was hot and stolen), but we almost always have a co-op who is not of legal drinking age on our team and some who don’t drink or keep alcohol in their homes, so I try to be mindful and bring something that isn’t alcohol. My grandmother always said a good gift is "one that you would like to receive," so I try to follow that guideline just in case I somehow end with the gift I brought.

The colleague who chose my gift of pasta, sauce, lemon wafers, and biscotti imported from Italy seemed happy with it, as in, they didn’t try to trade it away. I could have stolen it on my turn in the game because under Mummu’s gift guide I liked it, but I opted not to. Besides, I had lucked out with the craft beer (temporarily).

The festive season continues on Friday when a colleague and I attend a party on Friday at Whistler House Museum. Yes, Whistler, as in James McNeil Whistler. You may have heard of his mother. She’s kind of famous. His birthplace is an art museum in downtown Lowell and at Christmas, the place is decorated to the hilt like a magazine spread, and the auction selections are amazing.