Since this is being written around the time of the holidays, I’ll make this post apropos to the time frame. While they have been limited recently due to the pandemic, I will miss the holiday parties.

There were times at work where we would take a break or three and have a holiday party. And it was usually around Christmas time. And or it was around the time of Diwali. Just another reason to gather around a conference room, have a lot of great food, talk, and, best of all, NOT work. Eat a plate of food, talk to coworkers about non-work related things, have more food, more talk, and more not-working.

There were rare times where these parties got in the way of actual work, things that really sort of HAD to get done. But since pretty much every department had these sort of parties, it really wasn’t too much of a surprise. Plus they frequently took place toward the end of the year when projects were wrapping up, and or people started taking time off from work.

Sometimes there was, as one particular manager liked to do, prizes. We also had “Yankee swap” type events (draw numbers 1-x, pick wrapped gifts, [except for 1] take a previously selected gift or draw a new one). Sometimes these events were held off-site, which was also great – leave work early for the day!

But these sort of events, while not too frequent – annually – were thoroughly enjoyable. They will also be missed. And not just because of the “not having to work” aspect, but also the food and non-work related interactions with others.