Company Party

It’s amazing that Rosy Posy knew that Autumn was staying at Mom & Dad’s house and was up to her usual antics at their house this morning.  I set my alarm early so I could get up and get ready and have enough time to go over there and get Autumn ready for school and get to school on time.  It all worked out perfectly.

I’ve been prepping for today for over a month.  Today we had our 1st ever company Holiday party.  I was in charge of everything.  There were a few other ladies in the office that helped me out a lot, but the bulk of the planning was on me.  We rented ten 60” tables along w/ 100 chairs.  I was pleasantly surprised that they were delivered and the guys had them set up before I even got to work!  I called Mom & told her to come on over whenever she was ready, b/c she was coming to help me decorate.  I could not have done it w/out her!  She is AMAZING!

My boss wanted the party to be laid back and nice but casual, especially since we were just holding it out in our warehouse.  Since we’re in the construction industry, the ladies in the office and I decided to go w/ a “Country Christmas” theme.  I got the red table runners at the $1 store, the 2 different sized Christmas trees for 50% off at Hobby Lobby, and then Mom had the pinecones, bells, tree toppers, etc.  We bought a huge bolt of burlap and just tied it off w/ plaid string.  One of the ladies in the office brought big sized Mason jars and we put sugar in the bottom and set a big tea light candle on top of it.  I think it all looked really nice.  I’m so thankful for Mom’s vision, b/c I had an idea of what I wanted to do but it would not have been very good.  She took the idea and made it 1,000% times better.

I spent most of the day decorating and running around putting some final touches on things.  We had an employee meeting from 3:00 – 5:00 and it was nice to have everyone together for the first time.  I’m so glad I got to finally put a name and a face together w/ people that I talk to on the phone every single day but hadn’t met yet.  We went around the room and introduced ourselves and explained who we were and what we did within the company.  We talked about how 2012 went and where we’re headed as a company in 2013.  They gave an award to the most successful sales rep and then they had me come up to the front of the room so they could thank me for all the work I do.  They lovingly refer to me as “The Den Mother” and it’s a title I love.

  Anyways, at 5:00 we had vendors and a few select clients come for a Holiday party.  We had the food catered by a BBQ company and they brought 6 pans of baked beans instead of 2 pans of beans and 2 pans of coleslaw and 2 pans of baked potato casserole.  So, they had to come back and bring the right sides.  But they couldn’t find the baked potato casserole so they brought us potato salad instead.  Then about 30 minutes later they came back w/ BBQ sauce that they had forgotten and the baked potato casserole!  By the end of the night we had triple the amount of sides we needed!  We’ll be eating that left over food for a few years!  LOL.

Long story short, the party was a huge success and I am so glad it’s over.  I tried to clean up towards the end of the party b/c I wanted to go home, but my boss said he didn’t want me cleaning up until all the guests had left.  He told me he & a few of the other guys would clean up and that I could go home.  But, I didn’t want them throwing away the 10 bags of opened chips they had left over.  I also didn’t want them throwing away the table decorations, b/c Mom is going to borrow them for her ward’s Christmas party in a few weeks.  So, I stayed until the end which was about 9:30 and then bagged up all the table decorations and came home.

I can’t imagine what I would do w/out Mom & Dad.  They have taken care of Autumn for me for the past 2 nights and let her sleep over and made it fun for her.  Usually Christmas time isn’t very busy for me but this year it’s just one thing after another.  I spent the night at Mom & Dad’s so I could see Autumn in the morning before having to leave again!