Moments after the roof slid off the gingerbread house, we snapped this photo, with Aimee helpfully modeling the house/holding it together. The gummi bear totem poles are not as visible as I’d hoped, but they’re there.

A short week of work ended today, with our annual holiday party at noon, a brunch this time, with a host of delicious breakfast items, almost all of which were fried and could have doubled as dessert items, but we weren’t complaining. Awards for longevity of service were handed out, prizes were raffled off, and we got our surprisingly generous bonuses, which was nice. It has been a busy week at work, with lots of people trying to cram things in before the holidays. We had a great night at trivia on Tuesday, with a full complement of eight players contributing toward a team victory and a good night for me in Simon Says, winning a round of drinks for the team. It was a Christmas-themed evening, so we were tested on our cinematic Santas (note to self: David Huddleston, who played Santa in Santa Claus, the Movie, whose ad campaign I remember but which I never saw, also played Jeffrey “The Big” Lebowski – good to know) and our “Twelve Days of Christmas” recall.

We’re catching the Super Shuttle to the airport in a bit, and we’re on the red-eye to Boston, where we’ll spend the next eight days hanging out with Aimee’s family, which will be a lot of fun.