I wish it could be office Christmas party every day!

I have been to a fair few office Christmas parties in my working life, some in my opinion good and some shockingly bad. Over these years I have started to realise that a few fundamentals never seem to change, like the one random guy who no one seems to know but apparently works in the deepest darkest IT room. (Everyone has one of those right?)

The main reason for having these parties is to thank the employees for their commitment and hard work through the year and to celebrate the festive season with your work colleagues. It gives everyone the opportunity to relax and form friendships within their working environment.

My favourite of all the office Christmas parties without a doubt has to be the black tie, sit down meal and dance. This is where the alcohol is flowing in copious amounts and people start losing their inhibitions and end up showing their employer who they "really" are!

Everyone starts off the evening very reserved, having the usual work chit chat and not really being themselves, each and everyone looking like film stars. The men in their pristine suits and starched white shirts and the woman in stunning dresses, make up done to perfection and not a hair out of place.

After your reception drink of sparkling wine (not champagne, the reason behind this being the same as why you haven't had a pay rise in 2 years and all it takes is two words "credit crunch"!) you walk round the room to search for your table and oh yes the party organiser has done it again. You find yourself seated with people that you haven't spoken to since your very first day in the company (do they not realise there is a reason for this! I am told it is called team building). So after the very awkward silence where everyone is desperately trying to remember each others names the waiters appear with the starter giving you a few more valuable seconds and an opportunity to lean over and look at the place cards.

Before the waiters have even cleared the plates you can spot the smokers giving each other head tilts towards the door and within seconds a quarter of the room has disappeared, this again causes all sorts of awkward silences for the non smokers left at the table. Finally they return and the main arrives, a traditional turkey Christmas dinner and the obligatory nut roast for the vegetarians. Once pudding has been and gone everyone has had enough to drink to find them selves chatting quite freely to each other. Slowly people make their way from the table to the open bar (the open bar is always a great help in producing the funniest of Christmas party stories)

Then it is time for the DJ to announce himself with only a handful of comprehendible words and after a reasonable time at the open bar people start making their way to the dance floor. Since the television programme The Office there is always a manager that after a few too many decides now is the time to show off his best David Brent dance moves, his arms and legs flying around in all directions! Not forgetting Dave in accounts who suddenly believes he was John Travolta in a forma life!

The next couple of hours end up being a complete blur of people talking loudly over each other and not making any sense but with the odd agreeable nod through half opened eyes as they slouch against the bar. Slowly the music dies down and the lights go up and the room that was once full of film stars is now remanisant of a scene from Shaun of the Dead. The men have lost their ties and the once starched looking shirts are now covered in streaks of gravy and red wine, slightly open to reveal a beer belly and lots of chest hair. The ladies hair is no longer beautifully placed, the mascara has moved to the cheeks and she has somehow lost one shoe.

The evening is now over for another year but it is not to be forgotten, there is of course always one or two sober people there to catch all of these memories on camera and it makes for an entertaining Monday morning as people talk of nothing else but the girl on reception who ended up being sick in the toilets and the obligatory couple who declared their love for each other walk in to the office praying no one mentions a word. Preferably there will be a scandal running well into the new year to take the attention away from those bottom pictures that seem to have appeared on the sober person camera whilst it went missing for 20 minutes ( I promise it wasn't me!)

So the saying goes it all comes out in the wash but I personally believe it all comes out at the Christmas party. We all love it and wouldn't want it to be any different. Role on the next one!