#1327 one week until Christmas

Christmas is just a week away! Remember when you were a little kid and you counted down the days until Christmas? I remember that excitement. I think it wears off as you get older; even T isn't so frantically excited about Christmas as he was even five years ago. I know he looks forward to it and he has an Advent calendar, but I think that is just a chocolate source at this point. :)

At work today we had our Secret Santa (SS) luncheon where everyone who was involved in the exchange got together and guessed who their Secret Santa was. I only had one guess, and if it wasn't her, I wouldn't have had much of an idea. Fortunately, I guessed right. My SS was my friend Nicole. Everything she gave me was perfect for me: some tasty hot sauce, a chocolate bar, a cool mug that says something like "I will make magic happen today" (it's something I say around the month-end close process because it's so complicated), a gorgeous dark orange scarf and some of the softest, bestest socks ever. Nicole and Kelsie are tea-drinkers and I've tried to get into it too, but I always joke around that tea just tastes like dirty water to me. For my final SS gift, Nicole gave me a really cool tea infuser mug and some delicious smelling Roobios tea flavored with white chocolate peppermint. I am excited to give it a try! Maybe 2015 will be the year that I move on from Diet Coke and become a tea drinker. I don't know. Maybe.

The person that I was the SS for took a few guesses before she guessed me. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I really enjoyed shopping for her. Another fun part of the SS exchange is trying to give the gifts in secret without anyone catching you in the act. My person, Olga, is at her desk a lot and she sits close to two other people, and all three of them were in the exchange. Usually at least one of them was sitting in the area so I had to be alert for when they were all away from their desks. It added to my fun that she didn't guess me right away. She told me she liked everything she got. Success!

Tomorrow is my second-to-last work day of the year! I'm off next week, then the last week of the year I'll go in on Monday or Tuesday to close out what I can so that when I get back to work on Monday Jan. 5 I won't have so much to do.  I'm looking forward to having a couple of weeks off. I'm hopeful that when I go back to work on the 5th I will have a positive attitude and some goals in mind to make 2015 a smooth and successful year. The past few years, since we got our new accounting program, have been difficult and although I know a lot more now at the end of 2014 than I did at the end of 2012, I still have lots of learning to do. I'm hopeful that 2015 is the year I find my groove and find the ability to really understand what is going on with this crazy accounting system! Wish me luck. I'm also hopeful that the new people we have brought into our department will be successful and good additions to our team.

That's more than enough about work! I'll chat with you again on Saturday.