I remember when I was a kid, I always had mixed feelings about my parents' work Christmas parties. Mom's was always at the Holiday Inn about 5 minutes from where we lived; Dad's was at his office by Scarborough Town Centre. As I was growing up, I always thought that the Christmas parties were more for the kids. After all, it was all about the roll call to pick up the presents--either sorted by age and gender or picked out by the parents ahead of time. But tonight, I had the first work Christmas party of my own... very different from the ones of yesteryear.

Apparently, it's a deeply entrenched tradition at the Blood Bank. There's always way too much food--tonight's festivities included crackers and cheese, chips and dip, lentil balls (much tastier than they sound), crudit廥, shrimp, quiche for appetizers; sausage, ham, potatoes, oriental napa salad for the main course; assorted nuts and chocolates, cinnamon crisps, Greek pie, cookies and brownies for dessert. There was also an open bar. (Manhattans seemed to be the drink of choice.)

But the main event is the white elephant gift exchange. As the ritual plays out, each person present gets 2 cards from a deck. When the first card is called, a gift is chosen; when the second card is called, the gift's fateful new owner can trade or keep. Among the gifts was the infamous AABB snow globe... representative of the rights and duty to host next year's party. (In years past, it was some old '80s tape, but that has somehow been misplaced.) The gifts were opened one by one and out popped from their respective boxes an empty pi鎙ta, penis-shaped pasta, pompoms, and several items of apparel that would cause both the worst and most avant-garde dressers alike to gag. Suspense mounted as half of the room had opened their gifts with no snow globe in sight. And then it came: Next year's hostess will be Debbie, also proud new owner of assorted coasters and a half-used candle.