So how are your feet?

Prepared to walk on a little glass?

I won't repeat it here, but that was one of the classic lines from movies, "Glass, who gives...."

Yeah, office parties can get to be a drag. More often than not they just seemed forced. Like you have to be nice and talk to people you never (or would never anywhere else) talk to. It is rough, and the games can get cheesy too.

Best holiday party I had was a few years ago at a different newspaper. We had a very nice buffet dinner at a restaurant and then we had "Casino Night" where each employee was given a certain amount of "money" in chips and then we gambled for a few hours in various casino-like tables (which were set up in this banquet room at the restaurant). At the end of the night, we turned in our chips for pieces of paper (so many chips go you so many pieces of paper), and then we put our names on the paper, put the slips of paper in baskets for different sets of prizes. The prizes were donated by advertisers and included several different items. We could see what was in each basket, and then decide how many slips of paper we wanted to put in each basket. If you had 40 slips, you could put 40 slips in one basket, or divy it up among differing baskets. Then at the end, one name was drawn from each basket for the winner. The more you put into one, the better your chances of winning. All in all, a very solid night, easily the best holiday party I have ever been a part of.

All in all, its nice to be rewarded for a year of hard work and be recognized, but often the actual "mingling" part is rough. Especially for the non-employees. Good luck with that.

(Brian Hall is the Sports Editor for the Jordan Independent and Shakopee Valley News, and can be reached at bhall@swpub.com.)

That’s true – I’ve had some wonderful free meals while interviewing people for the paper. I’ve eaten everything from chicken kabobs and hamburgers to turkey dinners. I’ll almost never turn down a free bite.