Who's Doing the Office Holiday Party This Year?
"Who's Doing the Office Holiday Party This Year? by Susan Dunn,
MA, The EQ Coach
If it's you, you're going to have your hands full. It's gotten
so much more complicated these days with diversity and PC, and
actually, at the goodwill-of-the-season level, a matter of
respecting the sensitivities of others; we're all too busy and
stressed, and it's become a chore.
New? Not really. I came upon an interesting quote from an
article published in the NY Times in 1937, which went like this:
"We hear the beating of wings over Bethlehem and a light that is
not of the sun or of the stars shines in the midnight sky. Let
the beauty of the story take away all narrowness, all thought of
formal creeds. Let it be remembered as a story that has happened
again and again, to men of many different races, that has been
expressed through many religions, that has been called by many
different names. Time and space and language lay no limitations
upon human brotherhood."
And earlier than that, in 1934, Julia Peterkin wrote: "I hear
that in many places something has happened to Christmas; that it
is changing from a time of merriment and carefree gaiety to a
holiday which is filled with tedium; that many people dread the
day and the obligation to give Christmas presents is a nightmare
to weary, bored souls..."
So nothing's new, really. We want to celebrate, not offend, and
somehow find the time and the money to do it. And this year
Hanukkah starts December 26th, as does Kwanzaa. Busy time!
Some offices are calling it a a"Kris Kringle Party," which at
least in the US is one-off enough to be palatable to most. There
are other themes you can adopt, centering on giving, goodwill,
and winter. Only the most obstinate among us realize that we
can't do everything at one time. We can leave the angel off the
tree, and the cr