Christmas Party OH NO

Hi all,
I hope everyone had a restful weekend.
I only have one more week of work until Christmas Vacation. 2 weeks off. It is going to be awesome.
Also this means our first year of blogging is coming to a close.
If you are a reader and have some comments or see somethings that you think I can improve on...let me know. Jgammichia@aol.com ....anytime.

My son got his cast off today. Yeah, you remember the roller skating accident about 7 weeks ago.
He played the entire flag football season with a broken arm.

I watched a couple of movies this weekend.
Namesake. It was okay. It was with the Middle Eastern looking guy from Harold and Kumar. It was a serious movie with a guy from the modern Cheech and Chong movies. I give it about a 4 and a half.
I saw Atonement. Another disappointing movie. I heard great things about this one and it wasn't that good. I thought it was going to be a chick flick and my wife would get all emotional and cuddle up close to me and....this is a family show so I will stop. But nothing.
She was like, "This movie is about an eleven year old screwing up her sisters life."

We had our Christmas party last week.
I know what you are thinking...."is he crazy?"

But....It went pretty great so I wanted to tell you about it.
This year the local mall put in a restaurant in the mall. On of those that is on the outside but it is connected to the mall. It is called the Elephant Bar.
I decided that we would do it after work on Thursday. Thursday is half our staff's Friday. So it is a much easier day to coordinate than Friday (especially close to Christmas).
We were to meet at the bar at the Elephant Bar about 30 minutes after work. We were to have a "happy hour". We were going to have a drink and enjoy each other's company.
After the "happy hour" is where the fun would begins. I was going to give each staff member $120 dollars to shop at the mall.
Here are the rules. You have this money and you can only buy gifts for YOURSELF. You have one hour and you have to spend all of the money. If you don't spend it all...You have to give it back.
I kept all this a secret until the day before the party. So on the day of the party someone downloaded the directory of the mall and they all started scheming out their plans for the one hour. They all loved the idea and it really was lots of fun.
Then after the one hour shopping, we were to meet back at the restaurant and have dinner. At dinner I was to collect all the unused money (yeah right) and then everyone was to show what they purchased.
It all went without a hitch and a ball had by all.
It was a great time. I truly enjoyed everyone company and I think they all had a great time.
The restaurant was perfect for what we wanted and we all left so full (you know the full when you are done with dinner and you unbuckle your belt. Then the server comes over and asks if you want desert. And you all perk up and say, "Well what do you have?") and feeling great about a really hard year.

I am so thrilled that it went so good. You know what is great about parties like this...is my dad.
He really has a great time at these kind of things. He lets himself have fun. He is the life of the party and it is so nice to be able to sit by his side (or down the table) and watch him enjoy himself and his staff.
Good times....good times.

Well it is getting late and I have to pick the kids up at school.
Have a great Monday,
john