Pomegranate Martinis and Crokinole

As usual, I enjoyed the staff Christmas party. We've all worked together for a long time, some of us close to ten years, so it's a relaxed and fun gathering.

I'm very pleased to relate that the present I brought was possibly the one most fought over at the gift exchange( just a little vain-glory showing through), followed closely by the package I was personally competing for.

Remember, the gifts are still wrapped up so we could be fighting over toe-nail clippers and bubble-bath for all we know. At this point we're just going for the pretty paper and anything attached to the outside of the present. I put a little red and gold velvet beaded stocking decoration on my gift tag.

But I felt like a crow spying something sparkly when I saw what Terry had put on the outside of her package. Ooh! I wanted it!(Never mind that I've got a whole collection of vintage sparkles already--you can never have too many!) And so this is the beautiful brooch that I ultimately didn't win.:



Here is what I DID win: a homemade teddy-bear made by Theresa and gingerbread cookie mix. The bear is rather sweet and I told Theresa I'd put his picture on the internet so that in some small way he'd achieve fame. Here he is.



And these are the little cushions that I brought as my present. Cushions are something that many people ( me anyway) feel like they can never have too many. I don't care if I don't have a spot to sit down on my sofa--they are a good thing. Luckily, Barb, who got them, thinks so too. :)



I especially had a lot of fun hanging out with Melanie and Justine and quaffing Oprah's Pomegranate Martinis, which are fruity and yummy and have juicy pomegranate seeds at the bottom of the glass. Not TOO many martinis though: the office party is NOT the place where I'd choose to let loose and wear lampshades on my head.

I had some beginner's luck in a game of crokinole too--it's a big wooden circular board with pegs and you flick little wooden disks around with your thumb and index finger to knock your opponents disks off. Lots of opportunities to knock someone's teeth out when the little pucks leave the board and become whizzing projectiles. It was good fun.