Our own version of "The Office"

We aren't Dunder Mifflin, we are Visionmakers. We don't have Michael Scott, we have Lane Cook.

We don't have Jim, Pam, Dwight, etc. etc., we have Eduardo, Daniel, Mike, Carlos, Saul, Josh, and I guess once a week, they have me! (Kathryn)

Yeah, we are a bit smaller than last year :( but we are still alive and kicking, which is more than most of our competitors can say. It has been a brutal 2-3 years in the building and construction industry. Sometimes I ask myself why on earth Lane left the corporate world to start this business, but I think things are just hard everywhere.

So, we tried to scale down the Christmas party this year, but actually found that hosting it at your house really doesn't save you anywhere near enough money to make it worth all the work you go through to host! Lane learned the lesson, and I am happy to report that we will be going back to renting a room at a restaurant next year! :)

However, we did have a great time with employees and spouses/dates. We always start out meeting at Wal-mart and buying Christmas for a family. We make it a fun game. Each couple gets a paper with the name, age and list of ideas of gifts for a child or parent. Then they get $100 and have 30 mins to go buy stuff for the person. They have to be checked out and back to our meeting place in time. Also, you have to spend as close to $100 without going over. The couple who gets the closest without going over gets everyone else's change. Does that make sense? It is so fun. This year Lane and I were 5 cents under $100 and thought for sure we would win. But no, someone else was only 2 cents under! I love all the weird looks we get from people as we are all congregated at the front of the store with our carts full of stuff seeing who got what.

Anyway, we love doing Christmas for someone else. Everyone loves the tradition and really gets into it. It always feels better to give than receive, I say!

After shopping we returned to our house for a yummy dinner brought in from one of my favorite restaurants, Red, White and Brew. Yum! And no company party of Lane's is complete without some quizzes or trivia. I kid you not, the night before the party he was up til after 2 a.m. making these trivia posters. One was a bunch of company logos they had to name, the other were pictures that you had to figure out what Christmas carol it was naming. It actually was fun. I liked the Pictionary the best though, and I think everyone else did too.

We had a great time, tried to shovel in some dessert at the end, and everyone went home happy and tired. Now if we could just get rid of all the leftovers before they find their way into my stomach!!!!!