Let the Christmas (party) season commence!!!

Hi folks,

This last week at work has been so stressful and busy but it’s the run up to Christmas and as you can imagine – the start of the many work (and personal) Christmas parties I’m due to attend. This time last year, I wasn’t exactly doing the most glamorous of jobs back in Wales (see here) so its fair to say the Christmas party I attended last year wasn’t as much a Christmas party as it was an excuse to get drunk and give my liver a good battering.

A bit of a sidetrack here but I just remembered that I’ve not even begun Christmas shopping yet. I do tend to leave it till the last minute anyway so there’s nothing out of the ordinary there but for some reason, I’m starting to stress about it. I say stress but it’s more like I remember every three days that I’ve still not started and I try to look on Amazon/Selfridges/Play.com and eventually get distracted by the shoes or bags, which I end up never buying. It’s a vicious cycle.

Anyway, after a stressful week, I was looking forward to one of many Christmas parties and it was going to be a laid back event with lots of friends and promised to be a good night. I showed up at the event which was pretty swanky in my old jeans, heels, and a Beatles shirt I got from a thrift shop in Camden and a nice little jacket (lazy and laid back – just how I like it! lol) and I felt like the bees knees… until I walked into the room and realised it was a black tie event! Oh the shame... *shakes head* I literally have no idea how this happened.

I’m not the kind of person that doesn’t take dress codes seriously and I even asked a few times this week about what the dress code for the event was! It was so cliché I just couldn’t help but laugh (not all out crazy laughter – more like an inside laughter) I already looked out of place standing at the entrance of the venue dressed like I was going to a concert or off to do my laundry - there was no way I was going to let people think I was crazy as well.

I looked at my invitation, which made no mention of a dress code thought it did mention a champagne reception and a nice 5 course meal. Retrospectively, the fact that it was a 5 course meal should have sent alarm bells ringing in my head but hey ho… After about a minute of laughing and trying to compose my self, I decided there was only one thing to do – go in there, have a great time and drink my faux pas away! I did get a few (okay, more than ‘a few’) strange looks but all in all, it ended up being a fantastic night!