Last night was our “office” Christmas party for IPA Productions (one of the educational theatre companies that I work for). If I had it my way, I wouldn’t have gone. Not because of any negative feelings I have towards the company or my co-workers – I love the job and really enjoy everyone that works there. You see, last night was also the Franz Ferdinand concert and Jan and I bought Juls tickets to the concert for her birthday about a month ago. But it turns out that Juls and I both work for IPA and the Christmas party was “obligatory”. I tried to sell my ticket but couldn’t find any takers so I had to eat it. Jan said the concert was excellent. It all turned out OK, though, since the party was really good fun, too.

We all went out to dinner at a restaurant just down the road from the IPA office. The food was very good, but the highlight of the evening’s activities would have to be the “Secret Santa” gift exchange and the subsequent drunken aftermath. We were only allowed to spend 1€ on the gifts. Foolish foolish Richard had me as his Secret Santa and, because of my “split personality between consummate professional and fun-loving rascal”, got me a pack of counterfeit euros and a water gun. I don’t know if the wine or apple Schnapps was to blame, but most of the table was soaked by the time the meal was over. Don’t look at me! It was the Schnapps!

Top 5 Pictures Missed Because I Forgot To Bring My Camera:
5. The “What a load of crap” face that most people made when they opened their Secret Santa gift.
4. The elephant underwear that Dermot received as his gift.
3. Ian laughing till he cried at Dermot’s antics.
2. Wet people.
1. Richard blowing a party noise-maker through the trunk of Dermot’s elephant underwear while wearing them on his face.

In unrelated news: after buying 50€ of Christmas lottery tickets, the numbers were chosen this morning and I didn’t win a bloody cent. Oh well.