Mine will not be mailed for another few days. A particularly awesome part of it, that I thought had fallen through, is now back ON. But will not be ready until Thursday.

Other happy things:

Big box waiting for me at the office today! (Actually it's been waiting since Friday but I've been working from home for dog reasons.) Yay!

Also, someone left an $85 bottle of wine on my desk. Um, for me, not left by accident. I don't know I've ever had such a thing. I'll have to find a good occasion for it.

Can you trade it in for four $20 bottles? I can tell terrible wine from good wine, but the different between good wine and really, really good wine is lost on me. In whiskey, I can tell.

Also, someone left an $85 bottle of wine on my desk. Um, for me, not left by accident

Oh, the private sector. I can't even say I miss it, because we did so much public-sector work that nobody had any cash to throw around for fancy holiday gifts.

OTOH, my sister, also in the public sector, spends hundreds of dollars every Christmas buying presents for her direct reports. Every workplace is different, I guess.

I have totally been working in the wrong private sectors, dudes. Though I am currently wrapped up in a blanket with my name and the company logo on it, which I got a couple years ago for Christmas. This year I got a card from one manager. In years past, I think I may have gotten some candy? And usually there was a Yankee Swap type exchange.

I got a $10 gift card to a lunch place across the street, and my boss just gave me a little package of madeleines. To be fair, he doesn't make that much, and he's got over a dozen people reporting to him, so it's not like I expect much.

For my first couple of years at my company (when there were about 10 of us) I got a sweet xmas time bonus. Now it's all a formalized annual process. I still feel very lucky to have the potential to get a bonus but it doesn't feel as much like a present.

Also, someone left an $85 bottle of wine on my desk.

My boss just dropped off some champagne for me. "Here is your champagne for re-gifting," she joked.

But I just got my Christmas present from my brother, and it's Quarriors! So, awesome.

I've been in the private sector for a while and not having wine like that dropped on me.

Can you trade it in for four $20 bottles? I can tell terrible wine from good wine, but the different between good wine and really, really good wine is lost on me. In whiskey, I can tell.

This is me, but OTOH I can buy the 4 cheaper bottles myself. I'm highly unlikely to buy the pricier stuff, so yay for someone else doing it. (Though real life, $20 bottles are special occasion themselves. Day-to-day wine is more in the $9-14 range. Assuming it's not in a box.)

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My house is a lot more x-massy than it was this morning. I am trying to hold off on ripping things open for a few days but I may not make it. Even Darby has a package!